What is your meditation style?
Whether you're new to meditation or looking to change things up, this quiz matches your personality with the most suitable meditation style (there are six of them) for you currently.
No email sign up is required to get your results. However, if you wish to access the full guide on all six styles, learn about the benefits and challenges for each one and access free meditations, you can subscribe to my newsletter to get your free copy.
Good luck and enjoy the journey wherever it takes you!
Love Anand
Founder, Wellness with Anand
I would like to meditate to
My learning style is
When I have a period of quiet, reflective time, I normally feel?
When experiencing my emotions, I tend to
The typical environment I like best is one that is
When I encounter suffering, I tend to
How do you incorporate sensory experiences into your daily life
Which aspect of your well-being do you feel most drawn to improving through meditation
Pick an activity that resonates most with you currently
How do you usually respond to moments of stress or overwhelm in your daily life
When connecting with my body energy levels throughout the day I tend to?
Which statement best describes your relationship with your body and physical movement?
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If you would like to get a copy of the free 'What is your Meditation Style' Guide which includes:
- All six meditation styles
- The benefits and challenges of each style
- Links to free meditations you can try today
- How I can support you in your meditation journey
You can sign up for my newsletter, I tend to email once a week or less and you can unsubscribe at any time, Or you can skip this and go straight to your results.
Witnessing Meditations
Your meditation style is Witnessing.
Witnessing meditations are where the practitioner watches their thoughts, feelings, body sensations, or other inner sensations in the present moment. Examples include Mindfulness, Zazen, Vipassana, or Body Scan meditations.
Some witnessing meditations invite the meditator to notice external stimuli such as sounds or the environment they are in. The purpose of these meditations is to notice, observe, and be aware of what is happening from moment to moment.
Witnessing meditations are often seated where the meditator does little to no movement. Some meditations like Zazen, Vipassana, or Mindfulness include slower walking or carrying out an activity with presence. The focus, however, is on witnessing or being aware, and not the activity itself.
Examples: Zazen / Zen meditation, Mindfulness, Vipassana, Sitting meditation, Body Scan meditation.
If you want 1:1 support in getting started based on your meditation style, feel free to book a discovery call with me or opt for one of my meditation packages.
Movement / Expressive Meditations
Your meditation style is Movement / Expressive.
These mediations use physical activity or expression through the voice or body to help the practitioner fall into silence more easily. They are ideal for those who struggle to sit in silence, or those with a very active mind, or who enjoy being very active physically.
Examples of Movement Meditations include Yoga or OSHO Active Meditations®. Yoga uses a variety of postures with the breath to help the practitioner be more aware. OSHO Active Meditations® use an activity first before moving into silence. Osho designed them in a structured way to specific music so it is easier to fall into a meditative space. Osho created them because our fast paced lifestyle makes it harder for us to just sit in silence and do nothing.
Examples of Expressive Techniques include Laughter meditations or Gibberish, whereby the practitioner speaks in a language they do not know followed by silence. Other techniques to try include dance meditations like 5 Rhythms or strong breathwork such as diaphragmatic breathing.
Examples: Yoga, dance meditation, laughter meditation, strong breathwork, OSHO Active Meditations®, or Gibberish.
If you want 1:1 support in getting started based on your meditation style, feel free to book a discovery call with me or opt for one of my meditation packages.
Heart Meditations
Your meditation style is Heart.
These meditations invite the practitioner to use the heart as a pathway to awareness. They are feeling meditations and devised in a way so the practitioner can connect with themselves and others in a more loving manner. They cultivate qualities of compassion, love, gratitude, and kindness.
One example is the Loving-kindness Meditation, also known as Metta. It takes the practitioner through a series of stages from loving the self, to friends, strangers, enemies, and all living things in existence. Another is Compassion Meditation which guides the practitioner to feel and cultivate compassion for those who are suffering. The OSHO Heart Meditation® combines these two approaches with its own unique flavour.
Sufi techniques like Dhikrs bring the meditator into a state of heart centred awareness through the repetition of sacred phrases, often accompanied by rhythmic breathing or movement.
Examples: Loving-Kindness meditation (Metta meditation), Compassion Meditation, OSHO Heart Meditation®, Sufi techniques such as Dhikrs.
If you want 1:1 support in getting started based on your meditation style, feel free to book a discovery call with me or opt for one of my meditation packages.
Grounding / Centering Meditations
Your meditation style is Grounding / Centering.
Like Heart Meditations, the practitioner focuses on a specific area of the body that includes the lower belly, hips, pelvis, legs or feet. Many of these meditations often refer to these areas as the Hara, which is the area below the navel, or the root chakra, which is an energy centre in the pelvis area. These techniques use centring and grounding to help the practitioner be more aware and connected with their inner self.
Examples of these techniques include Sufi Whirling, Hara Breathing, or OSHO Mandala Meditation®. Sufi whirling invites the meditator to rotate their body clockwise or anticlockwise with one hand raised to the sky to connect with the divine, and one hand to the ground for balance. While the movement is whirling, the focus is on reaching stillness while moving. The easiest way to compare this to is the spinning wheel of a bicycle. It keeps going round but the axle of the wheel stays still.
Other meditations like Hara Breathing invite the meditator to bring their breath to their Hara. OSHO Mandala Meditation® works with three energy centres that help with centering. It starts with running on the spot which grounds the legs to the earth, then spinning from the waist which centres the belly, and finally the circular movement of the eyes helps to connect with the energy centre located between the eyebrows.
Examples: Sufi whirling, Hara breathing meditation, OSHO Mandala®, OSHO No Dimensions®, or any techniques that work with the grounding of the feet or lower body.
If you want 1:1 support in getting started based on your meditation style, feel free to book a discovery call with me or opt for one of my meditation packages.
Sensory Meditations
Your meditation style is Sensory.
Sensory Meditations are experiential techniques that use one or more of the five senses. This means that a particular sense, such a sight or sound is used as the doorway to silence and awareness.
Probably the most accessible and well known type of sensory meditations are guided and sound meditations. In the case of guided meditations, the person will listen to the voice of the facilitator and use inner visualisation for the guided journey. There are many popular sound techniques that use chanting, bells, gongs, drums or a mantra.
The Osho Book of Secrets, known as Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, which Osho gave talks on, has 112 meditation techniques that come from Tantra. While Tantra is largely associated with sex, in reality, it forms a small part of it because all sensory experiences are included in Tantra as a means to jump into meditation including the sex act itself.
Examples: Guided visualisation meditations, sound meditations or sound baths, mantra style meditations, Tantra, and other techniques involving the five senses.
If you want 1:1 support in getting started based on your meditation style, feel free to book a discovery call with me or opt for one of my meditation packages.
Energy Meditations
Your meditation style is Energy.
Energy Meditations invite the practitioner to work with the subtle energies in their body. Many of us may lack an understanding of our energetic selves so of all the meditation styles, these techniques may appear mysterious on a practical level. However, many energy meditations use the body as a doorway to access our inner energy or what some traditions refer to as Chi, Prana, Elan Vital or Universal Life energy. The bodily movements in these techniques can help the intangible become tangible.
These meditations can help with a person’s physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing as well as being a doorway to awareness and higher consciousness. For example, Tai Chi, Qigong, and Reiki use body movements in differing ways to bring about wellbeing and awareness. They help remove energy blockages, reduce stress, and enhance vitality while also silencing the mind.
Chakra meditations work through the practitioner's energetic meridian centres to help them gain silence and awareness. There are also other meditation techniques that use darkness, light, or other subtle energies in the body.
Examples: Qigong, Tai Chi, OSHO Golden Light meditation®, Chakra meditations like OSHO Chakra Sounds® and OSHO Chakra Breathing®, or Kundalini meditations.
If you want 1:1 support in getting started based on your meditation style, feel free to book a discovery call with me or opt for one of my meditation packages.
