Meditation is concentrated awareness or re-collectiveness. If you are interested in practicing meditation, you must learn how to develop your concentration through Samatha or Concentration meditation. Samatha refers to the calmness that we experience by controlling and reducing the arising of mental impurities.

On the other hand, after learning how to develop your awareness or mindfulness, you can practice Vipassana or insight meditation. Vipasanna is the insight of clear understanding that we develop through analytical knowledge.

If you are interested in making use of this samatha meditation in your daily life, then learn to apply concentration. If you are interested in making use of Vipasanna meditation then learn to apply awareness to daily activities. In this way you can practice concentrated awareness in the common experiences and events of your daily life.

There is no doubt that samatha meditation helps to calm the mind by eradicating many mental defilements and to gain Jhana-absorption. But through Vipassanna meditation we can analyze every component thing and understand its true nature. Through this method we come to know there is nothing for us to cling to or to accept as a permanent entity which remains and that everything which exists in the whole universe is nothing but relative visible or invisible objects.