By Elena Hart · Wellbeing editor
TL;DR: The different types of meditation include focused attention, open monitoring, loving-kindness, mantra-based practice, movement meditation, and guided meditation. These practices share the goal of training attention, but differ in what you focus on, whether you sit or move, and how much guidance you receive. Trying two or three styles briefly is the most practical way to find one that fits.
So, What Are the Different Types of Meditation?
The different types of meditation fall into four broad categories: focused attention, open monitoring, loving-kindness and compassion, and mantra-based practice. Within those categories you’ll find named styles ranging from mindfulness meditation and Vipassana insight practice to guided imagery, movement meditation, and chanting. Many sessions blend more than one approach, so the categories are less like separate rooms and more like overlapping areas on a map.
Researchers and teachers commonly use these four groupings, though the labels overlap in practice. No single style is universally best; each one suits different temperaments, schedules, and moods. This guide describes each main type clearly so you can choose one to try without having to decode jargon first.
Focused-Attention Meditation: Breath, Sound, and Mantra
Focused-attention meditation is a practice of choosing one anchor and gently returning to it every time the mind wanders. The anchor is often the natural breath: the sensation at the nostrils, the rise and fall of the chest, or the pause between exhale and inhale. It can also be a candle flame, a sound in the room, or a small object placed in front of you. It’s less about keeping the mind perfectly still and more about noticing when attention has drifted and starting over without self-criticism.
Breath-awareness practice is closely related but even simpler. Rather than using the breath as something to return to after wandering, you observe it as it is: shallow, fast, or uneven, without changing anything. Many people notice the breath slows on its own once it becomes an object of gentle curiosity rather than a task.
Mantra meditation uses the quiet or spoken repetition of a word, short phrase, or sound as the anchor. The repeated phrase gives the mind something stable to return to when thinking picks up pace. Mantra practice appears across many traditions, from Sanskrit syllables in Hindu and Buddhist lineages to words chosen personally by the practitioner. Transcendental Meditation is a branded, instructor-based form of mantra practice with its own structured teaching method; it shares the broad mantra approach but is not interchangeable with every style of mantra work.
Try This: Sit comfortably and set a two-minute timer. Choose one anchor, the sensation of air at your nostrils or the rise and fall of your chest. Each time a thought pulls your attention away, simply notice that it happened and bring your focus back to the anchor. Returning to the anchor after wandering is the practice; there is no penalty for drifting.
Open-Awareness Meditation: Mindfulness and Vipassana Insight Practice
Mindfulness meditation is a practice of noticing whatever is present, whether a thought, a sound, a physical sensation, or an emotion, with a nonjudgmental, curious attitude. Instead of selecting one object and staying with it, you let awareness rest lightly on experience as it changes. This approach is rooted in Buddhist contemplative practice and also forms the foundation of secular programs such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), which is used in a range of wellbeing and therapeutic settings. Mindful.org offers a clear, jargon-free introduction to the basics.
Open-monitoring meditation is the broad research category that mindfulness sits within. In an open-monitoring session you observe thoughts, feelings, sounds, and body sensations as they arise and pass without chasing or suppressing any of them. The intention is to develop equanimity: things keep changing, and that’s fine.
Vipassana, often translated as insight meditation, involves close observation of the changing nature of experience, noticing how sensations, emotions, and thoughts appear and disappear. The word Vipassana can refer to this broad insight-oriented approach and also to specific silent retreat traditions. If a Vipassana retreat interests you, read carefully about the structure before committing; some formats involve several days of silence and are genuinely demanding.
Try This: Sit quietly for two minutes with your eyes softly closed. Rather than fixing attention on one thing, let awareness settle on whatever is most obvious right now: a sound nearby, a tightness in your shoulders, or a passing thought. When you notice you have started following a train of thought, gently return to open, receptive awareness. Nothing needs to be pushed away.
Loving-Kindness, Compassion, and Visualization Meditation
Loving-kindness meditation, known in Pali as Metta, is a practice of silently offering phrases of goodwill, beginning with yourself and extending gradually outward to other people. A typical sequence moves from someone you find easy to care for, to a neutral person, and eventually to someone you find difficult. Metta is rooted in Buddhist ethics and is also studied within contemporary positive psychology for its relationship with feelings of connection and emotional warmth. The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley covers research on compassion-oriented practices more broadly.
Compassion meditation overlaps with Metta but places its emphasis specifically on care and supportive intention toward people who are experiencing difficulty. Rather than offering general good wishes, you hold someone’s struggle in mind and cultivate a warm, supportive response to it. Both loving-kindness and compassion practices can feel unfamiliar at first, particularly when you direct them toward yourself. That initial awkwardness is common and tends to ease with repetition.
Visualization, sometimes called guided imagery, invites you to form mental pictures or scenes in the imagination: a calm place, a quality you want to strengthen, or a simple symbol that feels meaningful. Vivid imagery is not required; a rough impression is enough. Visualization often appears within guided meditation sessions, which makes it a comfortable entry point for people who find unstructured silence uncomfortable.
Try This: Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Bring to mind one person you genuinely like, and silently repeat a simple phrase for them, such as “May you feel at ease.” Stay with it for about two minutes. Notice whether the exercise feels warm, neutral, or a little awkward. There’s no wrong response; just observe whatever arises and let it be.
Movement Meditation and Guided Meditation
Movement meditation applies present-moment awareness to the body in motion. Walking meditation is one of the most accessible forms: you walk slowly, noticing the sensation of each foot meeting the ground, the shift of weight, and the small adjustments of balance. Gentle yoga, tai chi, and qigong are movement-based practices with long contemplative histories, each offering its own rhythm and set of forms to move through mindfully. The NCCIH meditation overview includes movement-based practices in its broader account of meditation. If sitting still for more than a few minutes feels genuinely uncomfortable, movement meditation is worth exploring before dismissing seated practice entirely.
Try This: Walk slowly for two minutes, indoors or outside. With each step, notice the moment your foot lifts, swings forward, and meets the ground. When your mind drifts to a task or a conversation, bring it back to the next footstep. No app or special space is needed; a short hallway works perfectly well.
Guided meditation involves following spoken instructions from a teacher, an app, or an audio recording. A guided session might draw on mindfulness, a body scan, visualization, loving-kindness phrases, or simple relaxation prompts; many sessions blend several of these. Because someone else structures the experience, guided meditation tends to feel lower-risk for beginners. You don’t need to know the rules in advance, and a wandering mind matters less when a voice is there to bring you back.
Gratitude meditation is a gentler variation worth mentioning on its own. You take a few minutes to bring to mind people, places, or ordinary comforts you appreciate, holding each one briefly in awareness before moving to the next. It asks less of the attention than other styles and fits easily into a morning or evening routine with no special setup required.
How to Choose the Right Type of Meditation for You
Three practical questions can narrow down the right meditation type quickly. Do you prefer structure, or are you comfortable with open-ended awareness? Guided sessions and mantra practices offer more built-in structure. Do you find sitting still genuinely difficult? Movement meditation and walking practices are real alternatives, not consolation prizes. And if you’re drawn to cultivating warmth toward others rather than holding a neutral, observational stance, loving-kindness will feel quite different from open monitoring.
Styles also overlap readily in a single session. A guided recording might open with breath awareness, move through a body scan, and close with a few loving-kindness phrases. That doesn’t mean you’re doing several separate types at once; it simply means the session uses more than one technique. What matters most, especially at first, is that the format feels approachable and that you’re willing to return to it a few times before deciding whether it suits you. Consistency across short sessions tends to be more useful than one long sit followed by a long gap.
If a session ever feels distressing, it’s always fine to stop, open your eyes, and move around. Meditation is an everyday practice, not a performance. And if you have a history of trauma or ongoing mental health challenges, it’s worth a conversation with a qualified professional before beginning any intensive practice.
Quick Takeaways
- Meditation is an umbrella term covering many styles that differ by anchor, posture, tradition, and intention.
- The main types most practitioners encounter are focused attention, open monitoring, mantra, loving-kindness, movement, and guided meditation.
- Styles often blend within a single session, so don’t worry about committing to only one correct type.
- Match the format to your personality: structured or open-ended, seated or moving, silent or voice-guided. A short trial of two or three styles is all it takes to begin.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is one type of meditation better than all the others?
- No single style is superior across the board. Different practices suit different personalities, schedules, and life situations. Someone who finds a mantra grounding may feel nothing from open monitoring, while another person experiences the reverse. Rather than looking for a universal ranking, try a couple of formats briefly and pay attention to which one feels approachable enough to return to a few days in a row.
- Can I mix different meditation styles in one sitting?
- Yes, and many recorded and teacher-led sessions already do this by design. A single session might begin with a few minutes of breath awareness, shift into a gradual body scan, and close with some gentle loving-kindness phrases. There’s no rule against drawing on more than one approach. As you get more familiar with the individual techniques, you’ll develop a feel for what combination works on any given day.
- How long does a meditation session need to be?
- Even two or three minutes gives you a genuine sense of what a style involves and whether you want to return to it. Over time, regularity tends to matter more than the duration of any single session. Many practitioners find that five to ten minutes on most days is far more sustainable than an occasional long sit. Starting short and letting the length grow naturally, only if the practice appeals to you, is a common approach.
- What is the difference between mindfulness and meditation?
- Meditation is the broader term for a deliberate practice of training awareness, usually in a dedicated session with a clear start and end. Mindfulness describes a specific quality of attention: staying present with current experience in an open, nonjudgmental way. That quality can be developed through seated meditation sessions, and it can also show up informally in everyday activities like eating or washing dishes. All mindfulness meditation is a form of meditation, but not all meditation styles are mindfulness-based.
- What if I find it hard to sit still during meditation?
- Movement-based styles exist precisely for this. Walking while attending closely to each footstep, gentle yoga, tai chi, and qigong all cultivate present-moment awareness while the body stays in motion rather than a fixed posture. A lying-down body scan is another option that removes the pressure of sitting upright. Starting with sessions as short as two minutes can also reduce the discomfort; stillness is a preference, not a hard requirement for meditation to be worthwhile.
Whatever style you decide to explore first, a little curiosity goes a long way. Give it a few honest tries, and see how it settles.
This article shares general wellbeing ideas for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. If you have a health concern, please speak with a qualified healthcare professional.
