I never did practice ritual meditation, at least aside from Catholic meditations and when I would take some quiet time as a teenager.
You said you didn't practice ritual meditation now, so I thought that you might have at one time.
Interestingly enough considering my general disposition toward the Catholic Chuch, one of my favorite prayers/meditations is the prayer of St. Francis, but I put my own little twist on it to suit my needs.
Would you mind giving examples on what you mean when you say "types" of meditation? I am not following.
8 Basic Kinds of Meditation (And Why You Should Meditate On Your Heart)
Just to start, but there are so many different types of meditations it's not even funny. Off the top of my head.
1. 7 - 12 chakra meditations depending on the system, each with their own unique alterations and benefits.
2. Silva ultramind methods - what I personally started with and still a fave to this day.
3. Mindfulness, Transcendental, Zen
4. Standing Tree meditation
5. Thunder gut meditation - a deep breathing technique - one of my personal faves as well.
6. Remote viewing
7. Astral Projection
8. Body awareness meditation - gets especially interesting, for me atleast, when you can focus on different activating different parts of the brain.
9. Mantra and Tantra
10. Qi Gong and other Chi based Variants
There's to many to list, within all these different types there are 100s if not thousands of variations. Basically within meditation, you are only limited to what your mind can concieve, since meditation itself is contained within the mind. That's part of the allure for me. It's something that you can never really master so it alway keeps you pursuing it. Also, meditation has been shown to cause permanent brain "restructuring", so you can literally change the way your brain functions.
Meditation appears to produce enduring changes in emotional processing in the brain
And this is something I have found very interesting as well. It's not neccesarily meditation, and it is definitely "out there", but is based, in theory at the least, on a legitamte scientific basis. It's just the question of whether you can actually control this or not, which other studies have shown you can to some degree. I have garnered some interesting results from practicing different variants of this technique.
The Frontal Lobes Supercharge - Neil Slade's Amazing Brain Music Adventure
Check out the study on Tibetan Monks.
Understanding LOVE
Meditation can calm me in the moment, but the overall battle against depression and addiction definitely requires active magick.
Meditation is just like any form of excercise in my opinion. You have to practice it on a regular basis to garner any significant results. Meditation has been shown to demonstrated permanent changes in brain function, but just like lifting weights you have to do it on a regular basis if you wanna get swhole lol. Active magick is meditation in my opinion.
Active being the operative word here. Exercise of any kind can be quite helpful along with your other methods of dealing with depression. Go ride your bicycle, or go running, dancing, kick boxing, aerobic exercise, or whatever active movement that gets your heart rate going on a regular basis can really charge up your other strategies for dealing with depression.
If you really like meditation, you can practice mindfulness meditation during your exercise for an added boost.
Playing basketball was my first from of meditation, and it helped me get over the worst depression I ever experienced in my life. I hold a special place in my heart for the sport, and I personally view it so much more than just a sport.