Meditation can profoundly transform how we experience ourselves and the world. It can open us to a more spacious, clear, and liberated awareness rooted in presence. While meditation is often understood as a way to calm the mind or manage stress, the heart of the path lies in awakening and liberating insight — seeing clearly into the nature of experience and the release of awareness, the unbinding of awareness from its objects of attachment.

In Buddhism, this is referred to as emptiness (śūnyatā): the absence of an inherent, independent self. In Advaita Vedānta, it is expressed as non-duality (advaya): the recognition of undivided being or oneness. These are not opposing views, but complementary ways of pointing to the same fundamental truth. Below are four foundational categories of practice, each offering a distinct doorway into deeper presence, clarity, and freedom.

Vipassana (Insight Meditation): Vipassana is an open-monitoring practice that cultivates deep insight into the nature of mind, self, and reality. The term Vipassana means "clear seeing" or "insight." By observing thoughts, sensations, and emotions without judgment or attachment, practitioners begin to perceive the impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and selfless nature of all phenomena — known as the Three Marks of Existence: Anicca (impermanence), Dukkha (suffering or unsatisfactoriness) & Anatta (not-self).

Samatha (Calm Abiding): Samatha is a concentration-based practice that gently trains the mind to rest in the present moment. By focusing on a single object, often the breath, it cultivates calm, clarity, and sustained attention. Over time, this practice purifies the mind, reduces mental agitation, and builds a stable foundation for deeper meditative absorption (samadhi).

The Brahmavihāras (Four Sublime States): Through consistent practice, the Brahmavihāras nurture open-hearted awareness, emotional resilience, and a deeper connection to others. They also support the development of jhānic states, deep meditative absorptions. These heart-based practices cultivate qualities of Metta (loving-kindness), Karuna (compassion), Mudita (sympathetic Joy) & Upekkha (equanimity).

Emptiness & Non-Dual Awareness: Non-dual practices such as Dzogchen from the Tibetan tradition, point directly to the nature of mind, beyond concepts, stories, or egoic identity.