Table of Contents
Meditation gets a weird rep. A lot of people picture someone sitting cross-legged in a completely silent room, trying not to think, levitating or glowing or whatever else Instagram throws at us. And if that’s your vibe, cool. But for most of us, especially if you’ve got a busy brain or you’re neurodivergent or just… human, that idea of meditation feels pretty impossible.
The thing is, meditation isn’t one-size-fits-all. There are loads of ways to do it and none of them require perfection or enlightenment. Some involve movement, some use sound, some are completely silent. Some are about focusing, others are about letting go. And the best part? You don’t have to stick to just one.
This post walks you through 12 different types of meditation you can actually try for yourself. You definitely don’t need to try them all. Just pick one or two that feel doable and go from there. Whether you want to go deep, chill out, or just explore something new, there’s probably something here for you.
1. Mindfulness Meditation
What It Is
Mindfulness meditation is about paying attention to the present moment. That might mean noticing your breath, your body, your thoughts, or what’s happening around you without trying to fix or judge anything. It’s not about clearing your mind. It’s about getting curious about what’s already there.
It’s rooted in Buddhist traditions but has been widely adopted in modern wellbeing spaces. It doesn’t require belief in anything specific. Just the willingness to show up and notice. Mindfulness can be practiced anywhere: at home, on the bus, or while doing the dishes.
I first tried mindfulness about a decade ago. It’s something I come back to in phases. As someone who’s neurodivergent, it can be tricky. Sometimes it really helps, and sometimes my brain just won’t have it.
What’s made it more useful for me is dropping the pressure to do it a certain way. I’ve realised that mindfulness isn’t about sitting perfectly still or doing it for ages. It’s just about noticing things as they are, without all the judgement. That’s where the power is.
How It Works
You sit or lie down, and you just notice. You might start by focusing on your breath or the sensation of your body against the floor. When thoughts come up, which they will, you notice them and return your attention to your anchor. That anchor could be your breath, a sound, or even the feeling of your feet on the ground.
It’s not about getting rid of thoughts. It’s about changing your relationship with them. Over time, mindfulness can help reduce reactivity and increase clarity, even in stressful situations.
Why People Try It
This type of meditation is everywhere for a reason. It’s simple, flexible, and backed by loads of research. It’s especially helpful if you’re feeling anxious, overwhelmed, or disconnected.
It’s also easy to access. You can do it in silence or with a guided track. You don’t need any special tools or spiritual background to give it a go.
2. Body Scan
What It Is
Body scan meditation is a way of checking in with your physical body. You bring awareness to different areas, from head to toe, and notice what’s there. This might include tension, tingling, tightness, or nothing at all.
You’re not trying to change what you feel. You’re just building awareness. That alone can be a huge step towards healing and self-connection.
This is one of the practices I come back to when I’m struggling to sleep. It helps me notice where I’m still carrying tension from the day without even realising it. I’ve used it in my guided classes too, and the response has been really positive. It’s often the one people say surprised them the most in how effective it felt.
How It Works
You lie down or sit comfortably and slowly bring your attention to different areas of your body. Start at your toes and work upward or go the other way around. You pause at each area and observe the sensations without judging or analysing.
If your mind wanders, you gently bring it back. Over time, this builds a habit of checking in with yourself. It can also reveal patterns of stress or disconnection you didn’t know were there.
Why People Try It
This is a favourite for people who struggle to get out of their heads. It helps you reconnect with your body in a gentle, non-invasive way.
It’s also great before bed or during high-stress times. In guided formats, it provides a clear structure that helps keep your mind from spiralling off.
3. Walking Meditation
What It Is
Walking meditation is a form of meditation you practise while moving. It shifts the usual expectation of being still and offers a more accessible path for people who find sitting difficult.
Instead of zoning out while walking, you zone in. It turns something automatic into something intentional.
This really clicked for me when I was training for a half marathon. I used guided runs from the Nike Run Club app, which had these collaborations with Headspace. They weren’t just helpful for my running. They helped me tune into my breath, my posture, and even the rhythm of my thoughts. I wouldn’t have called it meditation at the time, but it absolutely was.
How It Works
You choose a path and begin walking slowly and mindfully. Your focus is on each step, how your feet feel as they meet the ground, your breath, and the rhythm of your movement.
You might also include awareness of your surroundings, such as noticing colours or sounds. But the goal is to keep your attention with the experience of walking itself.
Why People Try It
It’s brilliant for folks who feel restless or overstimulated. Walking gives the body a job, which can make it easier for the mind to settle.
It’s also a sneaky way to bring mindfulness into your day. You don’t need a cushion or a special room. Just a willingness to pay attention.
4. Loving-Kindness Meditation (Metta)
What It Is
Loving-kindness meditation is about cultivating feelings of compassion and goodwill. You begin with yourself and then extend those wishes outward to others.
It can feel soft, warm, or even challenging, depending on your relationship with yourself and others. The goal isn’t to force love but to gently grow your capacity for it.
How It Works
You sit quietly and repeat specific phrases like “May I be well, may I be safe, may I be at peace.” After a few rounds, you direct those phrases to someone you love, then someone neutral, then someone you struggle with.
You’re not trying to feel a certain way. You’re just practising the offering. Over time, this practice can soften resentment and strengthen connection.
Why People Try It
It’s ideal for those working through grief, self-criticism, or strained relationships. It also helps expand your sense of empathy and connection to others.
I’ve led this practice quite a few times in class, and the emotional response is always powerful. People often say they didn’t realise how hard it was to offer kindness to themselves until they tried. I’ve had people cry, laugh, go quiet. It tends to sneak up on you in the best kind of way. There’s something really moving about watching people open themselves up to gentleness they didn’t know they needed.
5. Sound Meditation
What It Is
Sound meditation involves listening deeply to tones, frequencies, or music. This might include singing bowls, gongs, ambient tracks, or natural sounds like water or wind.
It’s more about sensing than thinking. Sound can help guide your brain into deeper states of rest and awareness.
How It Works
You get comfortable, close your eyes, and let the sound move through you. The tones might vibrate in your chest, create tingling sensations in your arms, or bring a sense of calm to your breathing. Rather than controlling the mind, you let the sound lead.
Some practices involve specific frequencies designed to affect your nervous system. Others are more intuitive, inviting you to listen and receive without expectation. You might focus on the rise and fall of tones, the space between sounds, or how different instruments resonate in your body.
Why People Try It
If silence makes you squirm or your brain doesn’t shut up, sound can offer relief. It’s immersive and often easier to drop into than breath or body-based meditations.
It’s also accessible. You can listen to recordings or attend live sessions. Either way, it gives your mind something steady to follow.
This is one I have a particular connection with. I’m a trained sound healing practitioner, and while I don’t usually use live instruments in my guided meditation classes, I do sometimes include sound bowls or gongs in the background music. I also offer sound journeys as part of my wider practice, where sound is the main focus of the experience. It’s a powerful way to drop people into a meditative state quickly, especially when silence feels overwhelming or inaccessible.
6. Mantra Meditation
This practice has deep roots for me. Back when I was still a Christian, mantra-style repetition was a big part of my practice. I wouldn’t have called it that at the time. Prayers, chants, even scripture verses repeated like mantras helped me stay grounded. These days I still return to it now and then, especially with simple, powerful phrases like “I am loving awareness,” which I first heard through Ram Dass. While it’s not a traditional mantra in the Vedic or TM sense, it works in the same way for me, offering a steady rhythm and an anchor for my focus. That one’s stuck with me.
What It Is
Mantra meditation uses repetition to guide your focus. A mantra is a word, phrase, or sound repeated continuously to help settle the mind.
It can be rooted in spiritual tradition or be completely secular. What matters is that it has meaning or rhythm that resonates with you.
How It Works
You choose a mantra and repeat it with each breath, silently or out loud. The repetition creates a rhythm that the mind can rest on. Some people use beads to count their repetitions.
If your mind wanders, you gently return to the mantra. Over time, it becomes almost automatic. Like background music for your inner world.
Why People Try It
It’s great for people who struggle with open-ended silence. The rhythm of a mantra provides structure and focus.
It can be spiritual or not. Either way, it works as a centring tool for busy minds and overstimulated bodies.
7. Candle Gazing (Trataka)
Trataka is traditionally considered a kriya, a yogic purification practice, in classical Hatha Yoga. It’s used not just for improving focus, but as a cleansing and meditative tool to clear energetic and mental blockages.
What It Is
Candle gazing is a visual meditation that involves focusing your attention on a single point, usually a candle flame.
It’s traditionally used in yogic practices to improve concentration and clear inner clutter.
How It Works
You sit in a dark or dim room, place a candle at eye level, and focus on the flame. Try to keep your eyes steady without blinking. When your eyes water, close them and picture the flame in your mind.
This cycle of looking and visualising can be repeated for a few rounds. It helps sharpen focus and reduce mental noise.
Why People Try It
It’s particularly helpful for visual learners or people who get overwhelmed by internal focus. The flame provides a steady, mesmerising object to return to.
It’s also a great practice if you want to improve concentration or ease into more abstract types of meditation.
8. Lectio Divina
What It Is
Lectio Divina is a slow, reflective reading practice that traditionally follows four steps: reading, meditation, prayer, and contemplation. Traditionally it uses scripture, but it works beautifully with tarot, oracle cards, or even quotes and poetry.
This was actually one of the first ways I learned to meditate. When I was a Christian, Lectio Divina was a really powerful way for me to sit with sacred texts. I still practise it now. Not always with scripture, but often with tarot or oracle cards, or even poetry. There’s something grounding and spacious about just letting the words or imagery sit with you without rushing to figure them out.
It’s less about interpretation and more about letting meaning rise organically.
How It Works
You draw a card or choose a text and read it slowly. Then you ask: what stands out? What moves you? What do you feel drawn to explore?
Traditionally, this practice moves through four steps: reading, meditation, prayer, and contemplation. If prayer language feels loaded or off-putting, you can reframe it as simply offering a response or intention, something that arises naturally from your reflection. That could be a word, a feeling, or even a pause.
You sit with the imagery or words, reflect on them, and allow insights to surface. There’s no need to force an outcome. It’s more about spacious listening than analysis.
Why People Try It
This is perfect if you’re intuitive, symbolic, or drawn to imagery. It creates room for the unconscious to speak.
It’s especially good in group settings, where everyone draws their own insight from the same source. It’s reflective, creative, and surprisingly grounding.
I’ve been thinking about weaving this into my guided meditation classes. Not with scripture, but with tarot or oracle cards. Oracle decks in particular can be really beginner-friendly, especially for people who don’t know the ins and outs of tarot. There’s something quite powerful about sitting with a card and letting the meaning come to you rather than being told what to think about it.
9. Apophatic Meditation
Apophatic meditation has deep roots in Christian mysticism, particularly in the writings of figures like Pseudo-Dionysius and the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing. These traditions describe a spiritual path of unknowing, not trying to define the divine, but resting in mystery.
What It Is
Apophatic meditation is a way of connecting to what can’t be defined. It involves letting go of language, labels, and form, and resting in the mystery that remains.
It’s sometimes called via negativa or the path of unknowing.
How It Works
You might start with a phrase or image like “God is love,” then undo it by saying “God is not love.” You keep releasing whatever comes up, allowing yourself to sink deeper into openness.
This kind of meditation often involves silence and the willingness to sit without answers. It’s about presence without grasping.
Why People Try It
It’s helpful for people deconstructing rigid beliefs or craving space beyond definition. If you’ve felt let down by certainty, this kind of practice offers a place to rest.
It’s also powerful for those who want a spiritual connection that isn’t boxed in. It meets you where words run out.
10. Zazen (Zen Meditation)
What It Is
Zazen is a stripped-back form of seated meditation from Zen Buddhism. It’s about being here, with no extra frills.
There’s no mantra, no music, no guided voice. Just sitting and breathing.
How It Works
You sit with a straight spine, usually on a cushion or bench, facing a blank wall or a plain space. Your eyes stay open with a soft gaze, looking slightly downward without focusing on anything in particular. Your hands typically rest in a mudra (a specific hand position), and your mouth is closed with the tongue gently resting on the roof of the mouth.
Breathing is natural, and there’s no attempt to control it. When thoughts arise, you simply observe them and let them pass. Zazen isn’t about visualising or following an anchor — it’s about being fully present with exactly what is.
It’s a discipline of showing up, again and again, to the moment. Nothing fancy. Just you, your breath, and your body.
Why People Try It
Zazen is for people who want to meet themselves honestly. It’s quiet, confronting, and sometimes uncomfortable.
But it’s also deeply clarifying. It offers space to notice what’s real without distraction.
11. Transcendental Meditation
What It Is
Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a specific, trademarked method where you repeat a personalised mantra silently for twenty minutes.
TM is only taught by certified teachers through official courses, and the mantras used are assigned to you rather than chosen. It’s taught through a formal course, but once learned, it’s simple to practise on your own.
I first came across a TM-inspired practice on a meditation retreat. It wasn’t official Transcendental Meditation, but it was based on the same principles, using a repeated mantra to access a quieter mental state. It was one of the few practices I actually found myself wanting to keep doing afterwards. I’ve also used a pendulum with it sometimes, as a way of checking in. Kind of noticing when I felt connected to something deeper, and when I was just repeating words. That combo really helped me figure out what was going on with my energy.
How It Works
You sit with your eyes closed and repeat your mantra quietly in your mind. When thoughts come, you gently return to the mantra without effort.
The practice is meant to settle the nervous system and help you access deeper states of rest and awareness.
Why People Try It
It’s especially popular with people who want structure and results. TM is used for stress reduction, emotional resilience, and focus.
Even though it has a formal process, the actual practice is simple, portable, and effective.
12. Qi Gong / Moving Meditation
I’ve played around with this one in my own practice, though what I’ve done is probably closer to Tai Chi than traditional Qi Gong. I don’t currently lead movement in my group meditation sessions, but Transcend offers dedicated Qi Gong classes if you want to explore this practice in more depth with someone who specialises in it.
What It Is
Qi Gong is a meditative movement practice from Chinese tradition. It uses flowing movements and breath to cultivate balance and vitality.
It’s used to shift emotional energy, calm the mind, and regulate the nervous system.
How It Works
You move through a series of slow, intentional gestures, focusing on breath and internal sensation. Movements are often repeated and flow gently from one to the next, with sweeping arm motions, subtle shifts in weight, and soft bends in the knees. It’s a bit like slow, graceful stretching, almost like dancing in slow motion with your breath as your guide.
The breath and the body are closely linked, as you move, your breath deepens and slows, syncing naturally with your physical flow. You might visualise energy moving through different parts of the body, or simply stay aware of how each motion feels in the moment.
This focus on breath-body connection makes it incredibly grounding and calming.
Why People Try It
It’s brilliant for people who feel stuck or too restless to sit still. Qi Gong engages the body gently, without pushing or forcing.
It’s a great way to combine meditation with movement, especially for those looking to regulate stress or reconnect with the body.
I’ve played around with this one in my own practice, though what I’ve done is probably closer to Tai Chi than traditional Qi Gong. I don’t currently lead movement in my group meditation sessions, but Transcend offers dedicated Qi Gong classes if you want to explore this practice in more depth with someone who specialises in it.
Let Yourself Explore
You don’t need to find the perfect meditation. Different practices meet different needs at different times. What matters is that you start somewhere and stay curious. There’s no right way to do this. There’s just your way.
Let meditation be an exploration, not a performance. You’re allowed to show up messy, bored, distracted, or sceptical. That’s still practice. That’s still valid.
Which of these stood out to you? What would it feel like to try just one this week, not to master it, but just to see how it lands? Trust your curiosity. That’s where the real magic begins.
You don’t need to find the perfect meditation. Different practices meet different needs at different times. What matters is that you start somewhere and stay curious. There’s no right way to do this. There’s just your way.
Let meditation be an exploration, not a performance. You’re allowed to show up messy, bored, distracted, or sceptical. That’s still practice. That’s still valid.
Try These for Yourself
Many of the meditation styles I’ve talked about in this post show up in my guided meditation class, we explore a different one each week. It’s a chance to try them out in a supportive space and see what clicks for you.
If you want to experience some of these styles in a gentle, welcoming space, I run a guided meditation class every Tuesday night at FLOW by Transcend in MediaCity. We explore a different meditation each week, always beginner-friendly, and always flexible to what people need on the day.
Come try it. No pressure. Just bring yourself. You can book your spot through the Transcend website by heading to the class page and finding the Tuesday night session.
Still Not Sure Why Meditation’s Worth It?
If you’re still not convinced, I wrote another post called 5 Surprising Benefits of Meditation over on the Transcend blog. Might be worth a read if you want to know what this work can actually do for your mind, body, and spirit. It talks about unexpected benefits like stronger boundaries, more clarity in relationships, and a deeper connection to yourself, all from just showing up to practise.
