Meditation Techniques

There are countless types of meditation practice in the world that are available to spiritual adherents,

 or those who just want to get healthy, learn to relax or increase their life span and quality of living. In fact there are so many different meditation techniques that it's hard for people to choose between them or to understand what they're all about. These articles should help clear up much of the confusion about learning how to meditate and what it's all about. In short, at the highest objective meditation is a way to eventually arrive at the foundational root essence of the mind and consciousness.
The various methods of meditation available across the world's spiritual traditions all deal with the two principles of cessation, halting, stopping or "shamatha," which involve bringing the mind to a state of quiet stillness absent of thoughts. This is called "emptiness" which at its highest form is called samadhi. The principle of emptiness, or empty mind, holds for each and every stage of meditation and spiritual practice. What also hold is the principle of watching, observation, or wisdom, often called contemplation or "prajna." Prajna means to remain awake and aware of the workings of the mind whenever it's in a state of shamatha. The two principles of cessation and observation, or samadhi and prajna wisdom, are the basics within meditation that you should recognize and strive to master no matter which method you follow.