Meditation Techniques Benefits In Counseling

Do you want to learn many meditation practices from counselors themselves? What meditation techniques can you apply in your own meditation sessions? Keep reading to learn more about using meditation techniques in counseling.

More therapists now include specific mindfulness and relaxation techniques in their patient’s treatment plans.

Engaging in mindfulness, mantra meditation, body scanning, spiritual meditation, or transcendental meditation techniques helps and offers relaxation and brings awareness to this chaotic world. Incorporating this practice regularly can harmonize the mind and body, enhancing one’s focus on the present moment.

A woman sitting on the bed while practicing meditation techniques
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But people don’t know that not all different types of mindfulness practices can be useful.

Even if there is no “right way” of practicing mindfulness, you still have to explore the different forms until you find the perfect fit for your personality, physical sensations, and lifestyle.

Meditation Techniques Benefits In Counseling

Progressive Relaxation Technique

This form of meditation, also called body scan meditation or transcendental meditation, is a type of mindfulness practice that enables individuals to touch their bodies and search areas for tension. The goal is to find these spots so the stress in these areas can be released.

“Practicing PMR (progressive muscle relaxation) helps reduce tension and stress levels and will help you relax when you feel anxious,” Jon Reeves, Ph.D. added.

A woman doing a meditation technique near the ocean
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To start the body scan, therapists begin at the feet of their client and work towards the top until they reach the head.

This form of mindfulness meditation involves focusing where patients alternately relax and tense their muscles. Through this meditation practice, they can slowly release the tension inside their body and relieve stress, promoting inner peace, compassion, and complementary and integrative health.

Other people also use guided meditation styles and other exercises to calm themselves down and help them sleep.

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A Few Tips For Mindfulness And Relaxation You Can Practice On Your Own

Guided Imagery (Focused Relaxation)

According to positive psychology, transcendental meditation requires the therapist to encourage his or her client to focus attention and visualize a particular object or a pleasing scenario to help them relax. Among the various types of meditation, this particular type of meditation involves focused attention.

However, for this focused attention practice to work, the therapist should first know the history, lifestyle, behavior, and personality of their client, so that they will know which images to focus on.

For example, the therapist might ask the patient to visualize a beach on a sunny day or engage in a walking meditation. From here, he or she can conjure the sense of touch by asking them what the sand feels like on the body and nervous system or how hot the sun is. Another option might be to guide them towards a loving kindness meditation, sending well wishes to themselves and others.

Once this exercise begins, the therapist should observe signs of contentment from the client.

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This change can be in the form of a change in voice tone, posture, or facial expression in the daily practice.

Bolette Daniels Beck, PhD and collaborators, discuss the findings in the study they conducted, “The results indicate that GIM [Guided Imagery and Music] is a promising treatment for work-related chronic stress, and further studies are recommended.”

Breathing

Many mindfulness practices revolve around mindful breathing exercises. Therapists guide their clients in breathing deeply and slowly while counting their breaths.

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The goal when you practice meditation techniques is for you to reach a peaceful state  of mind where you simply focus your attention on your breathing instead of entertaining other thoughts.

“Mindful breath awareness involves paying attention to a deep breath and observing thoughts, feelings, sensations, and other experiences that arise without becoming fixated on them,” Grace Bullock Ph.D. added.

Breathing awareness has many benefits. These include reduced anxiety, better emotional stability, and improved concentration in daily life.

Hypnosis

Hypnosis is almost similar to guided imagery. However, instead of using sensory engagement, hypnosis uses verbal suggestions. The process starts with the therapist leading the client into a hypnotic trance.

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This is considered one of the silent meditation practices that hold trance as an intense phase of relaxation.

Once they reach this stage, the client receives specific and goal-oriented suggestions which can help them change behaviors, adopt new habits, and improve their mindset.

 

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For example, a client is having a difficult time quitting smoking. What the therapist can do is put the client into the said hypnotic trance and suggest that this habit is no longer healthy and enjoyable. He or she can also plant the idea that whenever the client sees or touches a cigarette, the desire to smoke disappears. In addition to this approach, the therapist might recommend the client try loving kindness meditation, which has been shown to have various health benefits, including reducing blood pressure.

This form of kindness meditation can also foster a sense of compassion towards oneself, potentially aiding the quitting process.

Zen Meditation And Yoga

Zen meditation or the Zazen Technique, is a type of practice that is part of the basics of Buddhism. A critical aspect of this exercise is the presence of a teacher or a coach since this involves specific steps and postures.

The goal of the Zen meditation is to come up with the most comfortable position, focus on breathing, and erase other thoughts circling in your wandering mind. Most people would think this practice is all about loving and kindness, but what’s difficult with it is finding the position which you can bear for longer periods. Hence, Zen meditation takes practice and focus.

Kundalini Yoga

Kundalini yoga is an ancient tradition practice that is perhaps the most complicated guided formal technique. This non-walking technique requires a physically active process combined with deep breathing and mantras.

These technical mantras are pre-determined mantras, whose goal is to improve the mental and physical well being of the patient and put additional positive reinforcement to his or her mind. Some individuals compare Kundalini to the typical relaxed breathing yoga minus the mantras.

Kundalini Yoga as technique for meditation
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Meditation Final Thoughts And Insights

Aside from these six techniques, there is still a dozen more types out there. It only shows how mindfulness techniques are not as simple as everyone thinks. They require patience, practice, and focus to achieve mastery.

Regular meditation prompts a whole-body relaxation response in the present moment. This helps with body awareness as it relaxes muscles, lowers blood pressure, slows breathing and heart rate, and focuses the mind.

Aside from these, many methods also help clients manage their mental health and emotions well, which enables them to make better decisions in their lives.

Meditation FAQs

What are the five ways to practice mindfulness?

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