You do not need eleven ways. You need one you will actually sit with.
The live archive promised to enlighten your mind. I will not. This is a practice menu of named traditions. It is not a certificate. It is not a mystical-experience catalogue. It is not a ranking of paths.
I write as a public educator. Take one name into the week and leave. If you wanted a guru, an initiation, a six-month vow I grade, or a teacher who takes you as a client from this page, this is the wrong door — on purpose. New here? Start here. Who I am: About. Daily practices: Wellness. Inner maps: Metaphysics.
Do not treat this URL as a third homework list. Weekday noticing lives on the twelve drills: 12 mindfulness exercises to start using daily. How to sit six of the names below lives on the six-methods menu: 6 meditation methods never to overlook your brain will thank you. A recording to hold a sit: How to do a guided meditation in 5 steps.
This page is the wider map: named traditions people mean by spiritual meditation. I name them with respect. I do not deliver syllabi. Two minutes is a real practice. If sitting makes a feeling larger than a rough week, stop. The rule sits on Disclaimer.
A map, not a certificate
- Vipassanā
- Mettā
- Mantra
- Zazen
- Daoist sitting
- Gazing — trataka
- Self-inquiry
- Visualisation
- Kriya — as a named tradition
- Sound
- Kundalini — named, not taught here
The live post split “normal” meditation from “spiritual” meditation as if journalists sat one way and soul-seekers sat another. I will not. You can keep the faith you have, or none, and still notice a breath. Mindfulness is not a religion on this site.
1. Vipassanā
In Pali, vipassanā is often glossed as seeing things as they are. Several Buddhist lineages teach it, with their own teachers, retreats, and rules. I name the tradition. I do not deliver a ten-day course from this page.
The sit itself — breath, noting, returning — is already written on the six-methods menu. Use that page. This one only places the name on the wider map.
2. Mettā
Mettā is loving-kindness: a wish of goodwill that does not first check whether the other person has earned it. Buddhist compassion practice. Named. Not a course I run.
The phrases, the order (self, easy person, neutral, difficult), and the skip-if-it-distresses rule live on the six-methods page. I will not paste them twice.
3. Mantra
A phrase you repeat so the mind has one job. Traditions use sacred sounds. Beginners sometimes use a plain English line. The rope, not the shop, is the method. Full sit: six-methods menu. I will not assign you a “personal” mantra, and I will not send you to a trademarked programme that charges for one.
The live post listed a shelf of mantras and named enlightened consciousness as the goal. I dropped the goal. A phrase that helps you stay is enough.
4. Zazen
Zazen is the sitting of Zen Buddhism. Soto and Rinzai streams have their own teachers. I name the tradition. I do not run a zendo.
Sit. Feet on the floor if a cushion is a fight. Feel the breath. When a thought arrives, see it. Return. Open awareness is a cousin of vipassanā noting, not a higher rank. Posture is kindness to your knees. If pain is sharp, shift. I will not cite a paper I did not review as proof that sitting unlocks the unconscious. Weekday sitting without the Zen name is drill 3 on the twelve-drill page.
5. Daoist sitting
Daoist — Taoist — meditation sits inside Chinese religion and philosophy: contemplation, inner observation, a wish to live in better accord with the Dao. I name the tradition. I do not deliver a qigong syllabus or a meridian map as anatomy.
Sit as you would for any other quiet minute. Feel the body already breathing. Do not learn advanced breath retentions from a paragraph. If a breathing practice makes you dizzy or odd in the hands, stop. Drink water. Curiosity belongs with the lineage’s own teachers, not with slot five of a listicle.
6. Gazing — trataka
Trataka is a Sanskrit name for gazing: rest the eyes on one outer object. A candle is the picture people know. A stone, a leaf, a mark on the wall also works. This is not a third-eye cleanse. Chakras on this library are a map, not a lab: Chakras a beginners guide to the 7 energy centers.
Do not stare at the sun. Blink. If the flame bothers you, use a still object or feel the soles instead. One or two minutes is plenty. When the mind runs, return to the object.
7. Self-inquiry
Some Advaita and related streams ask Who am I? — not as a riddle, as a way to notice that thoughts and roles are objects in awareness. Named. I am not selling non-dual awakening.
The sit is on the six-methods page. If the question makes you unmoored, stop. Use a method with a physical object — breath, soles, a phrase.
8. Visualisation
An umbrella, not a school. You picture a tree you know, a colour, a quiet room. Optional. Attention works without a picture. I will not tell you to visualise healing light as medicine. If a picture helps you stay, use it as a picture. If it becomes a hunt for a cure, feel the feet. A voice on a free public recording is allowed. I do not sell an app.
9. Kriya — as a named tradition
Kriya Yoga is a lineage of breath, attention, and devotion associated with Lahiri Mahasaya and, in the West, Paramahansa Yogananda and the organisations that carry that work. I name it with respect. I do not teach it. I do not initiate. The six-methods page already drops the enlightenment timeline. Same rule here. A blog cannot speed your awakening.
10. Sound
Sound as practice is older than a singing-bowl shop. A hymn. A kettle. A bell. Named instruments — a didgeridoo, a bowl, a drum — with respect. I do not sell them, and I do not run sound-healing as therapy.
Hear one sound until it ends. When the mind writes a story, hear the next one. Music as a drill already lives on the twelve-drill page. A phone can play a bell. It cannot sit for you. If volume distresses you, stop.
11. Kundalini — named, not taught here
Kundalini yoga and related practices are lineages with their own teachers. I name the tradition. I do not teach it. I do not initiate. I do not run a kriya from this page.
The live post called it complex and dangerous, then still used it as slot eleven. I keep the caution and drop the invitation. Do not learn this from a listicle. If a sitting or breathing practice leaves you frightened or unmoored, stop. This blog is not your method.
How to choose, and how little is enough
You do not need all eleven. You do not need six months as a vow this page grades. Stay with one long enough to know if it fits. If sitting is a fight, walk. If a lineage already has you, practise theirs. This menu is not a conversion. Awe is a poor teacher of chairs.
I do not take 1:1 clients. There is no call to book. Leave with one practice.
Next: Wellness, Start here, About, Disclaimer.
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This page is education, not medical advice, not a diagnosis, and not a treatment plan.
I write as Ultimate Wellness, a public educator — not a doctor, not an HPCSA-registered dietitian, and not a therapist.
I don’t take 1:1 coaching clients from this library; take one useful idea and use it.
If you have a condition, take medication, or need care, please see your own clinician — more on Disclaimer.