
What is meditation?
Meditation is a mental practice that involves focusing the mind on a specific object, thought, sensation, or activity with the goal of cultivating mental clarity, concentration, relaxation, and well-being.
What is the purpose of meditation?
Meditation is a way for a person to take a moment to refocus on themselves. Refocusing on oneself means finding one’s own essence on the one hand by freeing one’s mind from negative, limiting or even harmful thoughts and on the other hand by being a parenthesis in one’s often busy, stressful and noisy day.
Who practices meditation?
Meditation is a versatile practice that can be adapted to each person’s individual needs and goals. Here are some examples:
- People seeking personal growth and well-being,
- Health professionals in supporting patients,
- Athletes to improve their concentration and performance,
- Religious and spiritual people who meditate in their religious and spiritual practices.
What are the effects of meditation?
The effects and benefits of meditation are notable. Among the main benefits, they are attested and proven in the reduction of stress, the improvement of concentration, the promotion of relaxation, the development of mindfulness and the exploration of the nature of consciousness.

What is the difference between meditation and relaxation?
Relaxation and meditation serve two distinct purposes that can be complementary, differ in uses, but can complement each other. The goal of meditation is to develop awareness, potentially using spiritual, philosophical or personal development aspects. However, the goal of relaxation is to reduce stress, muscle tension and to promote a state of calm and relaxation.
What are the different types of meditation?
There are many different types of meditation, each with their own techniques, goals, and traditions: mindfulness, transcendental, vipassana, Zen, concentrative, guided, Tibetan, tantric, and chakra.
This is one of about ten meditations that can be practiced, we will focus on four here:
What is mindfulness meditation?
Mindfulness meditation is a meditation that involves paying open and non-judgmental attention to the present moment. To do this, one observes thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations and the environment. It is practiced with the aim of developing self-awareness, presence and has virtues on stress reduction.
What is Concentrative Meditation?
In concentrative meditation, one comes to concentrate on an object, a specific element. The object of attention can be one’s breathing, an image, the flame of a candle, a flower, or even a sound. The goal is to cultivate concentration and mental clarity.
What is guided meditation?
Guided meditation is meditation led by an instructor. It can take the form of an audio recording, a video or during a yoga class. This meditation guides the practitioner through a theme, a speech, breathing and visualizations that aim to achieve a particular goal: relaxation, introspection, stress management or the resolution of a specific personal problem.
What is tantric meditation?
Tantric meditation is a type of meditation that comes from Tantra: an ancient spiritual and philosophical tradition that originated in India and is based on sacred texts. Tantric meditation is based on characteristics specific to Tantra such as the union of polarities, duality, visualization and rituals, and the awakening of the Kundalini.
The choice of sound for meditation
The choice of sound is a very personal choice that depends on what will best help you relax, concentrate and achieve your meditation goal. Among the sounds that can be used, we can find: silence, nature sounds, Tibetan bowls, sacred songs and sounds, mantras, musical instruments.
How to meditate for the first time?
Meditating for the first time can be unsettling, but here are some tips for successfully meditating for the first time:
- Find a quiet, secluded place, away from any distractions and where you feel good
- Start with a short duration, why not start with 5 minutes? If you feel good, you can go up to 10 minutes for your first
- Being kind to yourself, it is essential to remember that meditation, like everything else, is learned and takes time. If you don’t succeed the first time, that’s normal.
- Opt for a guided meditation, for a first meditation, guided meditation will help to organize your meditation session and not lose the thread. In audio, video format or through a yoga or meditation teacher

How to do 5 minutes of meditation
5 minutes of meditation is a great way to incorporate meditation into your daily routine.
Here is a short guide that can be used for a 5 minute meditation:
- To begin, it is important to find a quiet place, a soothing atmosphere and a comfortable posture.
- You can choose a meditation that focuses on your breathing, ideally with your eyes closed.
- You can choose soft music, Tibetan bowl sounds lasting 5 minutes so as not to have to worry about the time passing.
- In the first minute, we take the time to find the verticality of our posture, we relax our body and we concentrate our attention on our breathing without trying to control it or modify it.
- Then take one or two deep breaths to completely relax before beginning a breathing exercise.
- For the rest of the time, we can perform square breathing, samavritti:
- Over the same number of beats, we complete a cycle which consists of an inspiration, a retention of the breath with a full lung, an expiration and a retention of the breath with an empty lung.
- We can make 4-stroke cycles to start with,
- We end the meditation with two deep breaths in and two deep breaths out.
Throughout the 5 minutes of meditation, we try to remain aware of our thoughts and always bring our mind back to our breathing.
How to do 10 minutes of meditation
For a 10-minute meditation session, you have to tell yourself that if you managed to do the 5-minute meditation while keeping a calm and focused mind, then you can try 10 minutes.
For 10 minutes of meditation, we can start again on the same basis as the 5-minute meditation by extending the meditation and extending the cycles to 5 and 6 beats.
To vary your meditation, you can opt for the 5-minute meditation explained above and add a concentrative meditation by focusing for example on the flame of a candle. We come to focus our attention on the flame, these movements and we let the gaze do all the work. As soon as our mind wanders, we refocus on the flame, on the present moment. We come to finish the meditation with two deep breaths in and two deep breaths out.
How to learn to meditate alone?
To learn to meditate, aim for short durations to start with and regularity. Like everything, meditation is learned and understood, by being regular, we train our mind to find the state of meditation to be able to gradually extend the durations. There are multiple guided meditation supports that will be very good to help you in your first steps of meditation: online video, social networks, audio recording.
Key message
Meditation allows you to take time for yourself, to refocus and to get your mind out of the stress of everyday life. Meditation is for everyone, you just have to find the meditation technique that suits you best, learn to start gently and be consistent.