12 Yogic Meditation Techniques You Need To Know

Many of my clients are surprised to learn that yoga is as much about training the mind as it is about training the body. Yoga meditation techniques, such as Trataka, Kundalini and Chakra Dhyana, are powerful tools for mental transformation. These exercises can enhance your yoga journey and deepen self-awareness. Let me share my favorite methods, and feel free to book a meditation class to explore them further.

13 Yoga Meditation Techniques

1. Meditation during asana exercises

One of the easiest ways to start yoga meditation is to bring mindful awareness into your regular yoga practice. Instead of thinking of asana as a purely physical exercise, observe your breathing, body sensations and thoughts as you move.

This transforms yoga from a workout into a meditative discipline while helping to develop concentration and body awareness.

2. Nada yoga

Nada Yoga is a form of sound meditation that uses both external sounds (such as singing bowls or music) and internal sounds (nada) as objects of concentration. It is traditionally described as a path to deep absorption through listening.

1. Start by playing relaxing healing sounds, such as a Tibetan singing bowl or some Kundalini Yoga music.
2. Take a comfortable position with good posture. The easiest way is while doing Shavasana. Lie on your back on the floor. Make sure your spine is comfortable (place a blanket under your spine for extra comfort). Turn your ankles outwards slightly. Allow your neck to relax and stretch. Close your eyes.
3. Concentrate your mind on the sound of the music you are listening to. Let your thoughts rest on the music. When thoughts come to mind, simply label them as you would in Vipassana and then continue meditating on the sound. Your mind will calm down and you will feel like you are one with the music. Continue meditating to the music.
4. Once you feel like you are one with the music, start tuning into your inner sound. Listen to the sounds of your mind and body. Meditate on it. Try to be one with them. Keep meditating on your inner sound until you hear the ultimate sound which is “Para Nada”, the universal sound manifested in “Om”.

If you want to learn more about nada yoga, I highly recommend the book The Law of Attention, Nada yoga and the Way of Inner Vigilance by Michael Edward Salim.

3. Mantras

Mantras are found everywhere in religion and spirituality. And they are also a yoga practice. Some people indeed think that mantras originated in yoga, but this is definitely not the case.

Mantras are the most are common in Kundalini Yoga, where we get the popular mantras ‘Sa Ta Na Ma’ and ‘Wahe Guru’.

Deepak Chopra [founder, The Chopra Center] states that “mantras serve as a vehicle for the mind to move from diversity to unity.” When you concentrate your entire consciousness on a mantra, you achieve unification of the mind.

4. Chakra Dhyana

Chakra Dhyana is a meditation practice that draws attention to the energy centers or chakras of the body. In yoga philosophy, these centers regulate the flow of prana, or life force.

By visualizing or focusing on each chakra in turn, practitioners seek to cultivate balance, emotional stability, and mental clarity.

5. Third Eye (Ajna Chakra)

Third Eye meditation is a specialized form of chakra meditation that focuses on the Ajna chakra, located between the eyebrows. In yoga traditions, this center is associated with intuition, insight and mental clarity.

The practice often involves Shambhavi Mudra (gentle brow gazing) combined with breath awareness or mantra repetition.

Here’s how to do Third Eye Meditation.

6. Trataka (“Still Staring”)

This is one of the best meditations in yoga for cultivating inner stillness and concentration, according to the Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine [source]. And according to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh [Dynamics of Meditation] it opens the mind to paranormal forces.

This is how you do Trataka:

1. Place a lit candle on a table or shrine about three feet in front of you. Sit close, but don’t burn your face on the candle.
2. Focus your gaze on the candle
3. Meditate on the flame of the candle.
4. Keep your gaze steady and continue meditating on the flame. Take 25 breaths
5. Now close your eyes. You will see the candle in your mind’s eye.
6. Meditate on the mental image of the candle for another 25 breaths.

When I practice Trataka, I can immediately concentrate better.

Note that we teach this method in our corporate meditation classes.

7. Bhakti

Bhakti meditation is a devotional practice that focuses attention on a chosen deity, spiritual teacher, or sacred symbol. The goal is to cultivate love, surrender, and a sense of connection to something greater than yourself.

Practitioners can use chanting, visualization or prayer as points of focus during meditation.

8. Dhyana Yoga (Jnana)

Dhyana is the classical yogic term for meditation itself and refers to sustained, uninterrupted concentration. It is one of the final stages of Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga.

With regular practice, Dhyana leads to deep silence and ultimately to Samadhi, a state of complete mental absorption.

9. Kundalini

Oh boy. Kundalini meditation.

Everyone likes to throw out the word ‘Kundalini’ like it’s this year’s must-have fashion item. So, what is kundalini meditation? It is a yoga meditation brought to the West by Yogi Bhajan. We use it to awaken kundalini energy (powerful feminine energy that lies dormant at the base of the spine). According to Om Swami [Kundalini: An Untold Story]this energy represents the divine feminine energy of the goddess.

10. Kriya Yoga

Kriya yoga is a collection of meditative exercises taught by the Indian yogi guru Paramahamsa Yogananda. It includes different levels of pranayama, mantra and mudra practices. These would promote spiritual development according to Timothy Miller, author of the book America’s Alternative Religions.

Yogananda stated that the Kriya Yogi is devoted to “directing life to the six centers of the spine relating to the zodiac.”

For example, read my guide to Kirtan Kriya meditation.

11. Tantra:

Tantric meditation includes a wide range of practices designed to increase consciousness by working with breath, visualization, mantra and body awareness. While popular culture often focuses on the sexual aspects of Tantra, traditional texts describe many non-sexual meditative techniques aimed at spiritual awakening and integration of body and mind.

12.Pratyahara

Pratyahara is a yogic mind training system where external stimuli are shut off to protect your mind. According to Patanjali, Prathyahara is ‘withdrawal from the senses’. It’s about removing the negative influence from your life. For more information, read my comprehensive guide to Pratyahara yoga.

13: Samyama

Samyama meditation is the deepest and most profound of all yoga meditations. That’s why I wrote a complete manual for it. Click on the previous link to learn all about it.

Summary

Yoga meditation is a diverse system that includes breath awareness, mantra repetition, visualization, devotional practices and deep concentrations. Each technique works with a different aspect of the mind and nervous system. Therefore, different people respond to different methods.

If you are new to yoga meditation, start with simpler practices such as breath awareness, mantra or meditation during asana. More advanced methods such as Kundalini, Tantra and Samyama are best explored gradually and, ideally, under guidance.

If you would like to explore these practices in a structured way, you can book an online meditation class with me and I will help you choose the techniques that best suit your goals and experience level.