Hey,

I am currently a university student looking to start meditation. My marks first term were not the greatest and I believe a lot of it can be attributed to the fact that I generally lack an ability to concentrate. When doing school work, unless I totally isolate myself from all possible distractions (cubical in a library), I cannot study. Even then so, my mind tends to wander. Also, I find that my memory is not the greatest.

I have started to do some Zen meditation. I just wanted to know if there are any other types of meditations I could try that would help calm my mind and help me in concentration and memory?

Thanks

There are all kinds of different types of meditations. There are many variations. There are many things that you could do yourself to see what works best for you.

There is focusing on breathing.
There is focusing on all your body parts.
There is mantra.
There is imagination. Using your minds eye.
Every day meditation, every living experience is a meditation. Walking, cooking, cleaning. Everything is a state of being.

I think it is better to learn one method and good at one method. It may take several weeks to notice a big improvement. Learn how to focus and meditate using the method you have now and then when you feel good and confident about the changes then try another kind. I suggest after some practise your able to use several different forms of meditation. Make it a regular routine. How much time do you dedicate to meditation. Increase the amount of meditation you do every week.

Joe

Jesushelper has a wonderful point, and allow me to elaborate on some of the things that he/she mentions:

Focus on breathing:
Experience your breathing in and out, feel how much air you take in and release out.

Focusing on all your body parts.
Make sure you do this at the beginning to help you relax. Begin with your feet, working your way up your legs, making sure all your body is relaxed.

Mantra.
There are many many different types of mantras, from the famous OM, brahma, (repeating this "words" or vibrations) but you can also concentrate in something like: I love me, I am infinite with all, I am love, you must choose one, whichever sounds appropriate for you and repeat it.

Counting:
(this is my personal favorite to start) begin at 100 and begin counting backwards, imagining the numbers in front of you. As soon as a thought comes up and you forget or lose track of where you are, start all over. Do this until you are able to go all the way down to 1 or 0 without problems and without getting lost in your mind.
Once you master this technique of 100, try 500.

The only thing I don't agree with JesusH. Is the imagination. Imagination is very important in the development of your mind, but at the same time is a process of the mind. Your goal with meditation is to QUIET your mind and imagining things only makes it work more.

Also, I know that people use candles, concentrating on the flame, the way it moves, it's colors, etc.

So basically you want to focus all of your attention and being into a single thing, and as jesush said, focusing on daily activities, being HERE and NOW is the biggest purpose of meditation.

Good luck!