After my second cancer diagnosis, and the marriage breakdown, I knew that it would be important to get a handle on managing the inevitable stresses and strains that would come with such a situation.

During the period of time between 2015 and the procedure in June 2018, I had explored a variety of alternative therapies to try and get perspective or relief for my (misdiagnosed) leg pain and consequent sleepless nights.

I tried everything from acupuncture, hypnotherapy through to EDMR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) and I will cover some of those experiences in other posts.

At the time, the buzz seemed to centre on so-called “mindfulness”. It seemed like everyone was a Mindfulness expert. It reminded me of a time back in the 90s when everyone seemed to have their own “life coach”.

But Mindfulness at its core is really meditation, and about being “present”. And when you’re dealing with something as confronting as cancer and mortality, a relationship breakdown, or any form of unsettling or stressful experience – clearing one’s mind and being “present” and “in the moment” is crucial to coping.

I attended a few classes at a local meditation/yoga school, and elsewhere. I was told to download the Smiling Minds app which I duly did.

When you first dabble in this space, one of the common introductory meditations is called the “body scan”. This is where, lying down, and concentrating on your breathing, you focus on one part of your body at a time, focussing on feeling the sensations from each part as you slowly traverse your body from head to toe. As your mind strays, you slowly bring it back to the point of focus (very similar to “transcending” which I will focus on shortly).

The first time you do this it is enormously relaxing and gives you a taster of meditation and its benefits.

A lot of people swear by this process. And it was enough to get me curious about the health benefits of meditation. But I knew the “body scan” would soon outlive its purpose and I needed something less regimented, more intense.

There are a few different types of meditation. It’s probably best to research each type and work out which type suits you best.

Deepak Chopra lists the five main types here in this article.

Different types of meditation

Vedic, Transcendental Meditation and Primordial Sound Meditation (which is something Chopra developed and teaches) are meditations generally practised in silence, repeating a designated Mantra (a non-descript word you repeat back to yourself, silently). This is sometimes called Non-Directive Meditation.

Mindfulness – like the aforementioned “body scan” mediation. This can be done seated or lying down.

Zen. This is the Buddhist seated meditation and is more of a life philosophy, and generally conducted in classes.

Kundalini is a combined form of Yoga and Meditation, which is much more physical and is a combination of sorts of the above.

Transcendental Meditation

I’d been reading about the benefits of Transcendental Meditation (TM) for some time. As a fan of the film director David Lynch I was aware of his foundation in the United States, that, at the time, was taking the process to schools in disadvantaged areas. The positive impact that TM was having on violence, truancy and more in those schools was considerable.

A colleague at work had also been practising Transcendental Meditation and spoke highly of its benefits.

And so I decided to explore the concept of meditation based around a Mantra. For me, the unstructured, do-it-anywhere methodology just felt right.

The idea of Mantra based meditation is, through repetition, and allowing thoughts to flow freely while we return to repeating the Mantra, is to go beyond to a deeper state of silence and relaxation and complete awareness.

The result is quite something, and if you can get into the zone, which comes with practice, you can truly physically feel the stress and strain seep away as you’re doing it. It can be done anywhere too, although it helps to have a quiet environment, free of distraction. And a chair with a supportive and upright back.

Transcendental Meditation doesn’t come cheap. You’ll be attending courses in person. TM Course rates in the US start from around $1000, £600 in the UK and $1500 in Australia.

Vedic Meditation

Vedic, a similar style of meditation to TM, is also taught in person and comes with a price tag which varies from teacher to teacher.

Primordial Sound Meditation

And Chopra’s take on non-directive meditation, “Primordial Sound Meditation” is an online course, and is about $300.00.

NSR / Natural Stress Relief

There is another way, and this may be useful if you just want to dip your toe in the water and see if this style of meditation suits you. It’s called NSR (Natural Stress Relief). It’s an online course, set up by an ex TM teacher and costs just $25 US. The site looks pretty basic but the information served up is excellent.

I began my exploration of meditation in an effort to relieve my leg pain (as mentioned elsewhere in this site).

What I uncovered though was far more powerful.

Techniques for modern living to help you manage stress, appreciate life, relax and truly live in the moment.

Enjoy.