Guided Meditations

Meditating on your own requires some effort, while guided meditations literally walk you through a meditation and help you find a calm and peaceful state—one step at a time. With guided meditation, you don’t need to know how to meditate. All that’s required is that you listen, and you’ll move effortlessly into the renewing waters of your subconscious mind.

How does guided meditation work? Guided meditation is a state of relaxed concentration led by a meditation teacher. Guided meditation can be as short as a few minutes or as long as several hours. The purpose is to allow a guide using relaxation techniques to achieve mental, emotional, physical healing, and stress relief in the process.

Not every guided meditation is created equal, but there are common characteristics in almost all sessions or recordings. Firstly, the guide will help you relax by deepening your breathing and releasing tension in specific muscle groups.

There may be a grounding moment, where the guide asks you to visualize your bones and feet growing roots into the ground. You will be asked to be in the present moment by actively listening to your breath or heartbeat. The guide may have you visualize a healing light filling your body and dispelling any illness or negative energy.

If you want the type of meditation where an expert (live person or recording) guides you throughout the session then go for guided meditation.

Click here for our complete listing of guided meditations you can download and start using today…

Here are some techniques that you can try if you are a beginner:

1.) Make it a point to make meditation a part of your schedule no matter how busy you are. Meditation is not something that you just randomly do if you want to reap its full benefits. Setting 10 minutes aside from your daily schedule shouldn’t be so difficult. Allocate a space in your home or office where you can sit peacefully at the same time each day. This space should be free of clutter.

2.) Defocus your eyes by looking at 2 areas ahead of you to each side. Listen to the guided medication recording as it tells you what to do to clear your mind. Take 5 deep breaths- inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. On the 5th exhalation, close your eyes. Take a minute to settle into your body and focus on your posture. Feel the sensations where your body touches the chair and the weight of your hands resting on your legs. Open up your senses by noticing anything you can smell, hear or taste. Observe any discomfort and other sensations you are feeling at the moment.

3.) As you listen to the guide, focus gently on your thoughts and underlying mood. Now pause for half a minute and ask yourself why you are sitting here today. Recognize your expectations or desires and slowly let them go. Go on by telling yourself that there is nothing you are supposed to do right now and your only job is to sit throughout the session. Allow everything to unfold in its own time.

4.) Once you’ve let go of your desires, focus on your breathing. Observe the rising and falling sensation of your breathing patterns and notice where the sensations occur. Notice the quality of each breath. Now start counting your breaths silently- 1 as you breathe in, 2 as you breathe out and so on (up to 10) then start again at 1. While doing this, it’s important not to let your mind wander to other things.

5.) Before you finish the session, notice every sensation you feel. Slowly open your eyes and plan what you are going to do next like get ready for work or make a cup of tea. If you find yourself being stressed out during the day, just try to remember what it felt like when you were in a peaceful state of mind.

Dealing with Distractions During Guided Meditation

Distraction is the biggest problem most people have when it comes to meditation. You can only be in the meditative state if you have focused on your object of meditation. However, distractions are unavoidable. It can certainly be quite a challenge to meditate if you live with your family, especially when you have your children.

Distractions may be external, meaning they come from your environment. However, they can be internal, too, and they come in the form of worries and stray thoughts.

Ways to Deal with External Distractions

External distractions are actually easier to deal with than internal distractions. All you need to do is make your environment conducive to meditation. Here are ways of dealing with external distractions:

Create a sacred space. It is always good to have a place in your home or elsewhere reserved for meditation such as a meditation room because that place will serve as an anchor for meditation. Once you sit down to meditate, your mind will automatically get into meditation mode. Make sure that place is clean and uncluttered. Clutter can be a distraction to make sure that only the things that you need for meditation are there in your sacred space.

Your sacred space should be in the part of your house where you are least likely going to be distracted. You should also tell your family to respect this sacred space by not bringing any clutter there and by keeping it clean. Talk to Your Family. You do not want anybody barging in while you are meditating. You also do not want anybody to knock on the door. If you do not talk to your family about what you are doing, they would have no way of knowing that you are not to be disturbed at a specific time of the day.

You also have to make them understand that while what you are doing might seem weird to them, it is important for your health and well-being. Some of your family members may resent not being able to reach out to you at a particular time. Some might think you are being selfish. Let them know that you are taking care of yourself so that you can better take care of them.

Meditate at a specific time of the day or night. If you have a set schedule for meditation, you know exactly what you need to do at that specific time. You do not need to think about other things like household chores or any other tasks. Plus, it will be easier to tell your family not to disturb you while meditating. For instance, if you meditate at six o’clock every morning, they will know when not to bother you.

Unhook your phone and turn off your cell phone. The time you invest in guided meditation is your gift to yourself. Do not let anyone rob you of that gift, albeit unknowingly, by calling you on the phone at the time you should not be disturbed. Your meditation session should not also be interrupted by text messages. There is no place for rings and/or beeps in your inner universe.

What About Stray Thoughts? Guided meditation is easier than meditating all by yourself. When your ears are involved and you are following instructions from a guide, you are less likely to get distracted. However, stray thoughts do come and sometimes they can be annoying.

Here are some good ways to deal with internal distractions:

Before you meditate, write a to-do list. Some of the distractions that occur during meditation have something to do with thinking about the tasks that you need do during the day. If this often happens to you, grab a notepad and a pen and list down all the things you need to do during the day. Then, toss the note where you are unlikely to see it make sure that you forget about your to-do list while meditating.

When intruding thoughts come, just calm down. Acknowledge those thoughts, gently nudge them, and simply return to the audio. Do not allow yourself to get upset or else you will find it difficult to get into a meditative state.

Try to be aware of all the sounds that are in your guided meditation recording. This will help you to focus and be more present while you are having your guided meditation session. When you focus wholly on the present, there will be no room for worry because worry is of the future.

While you are meditating, you will always be distracted. Again, distractions are inevitable, but they can be minimized and managed. Sometimes, there are distractions that you cannot get rid of, but you can always change your attitudes toward them.

For instance, if your kids are often rambunctious and you can hear them while you are meditating, there is no point in getting upset and yelling at them. Instead, you can simply accept them as part of your environment and go on with your guided meditation session. When distraction comes, relax. Do not struggle. It will just go away or your mind will simply adjust to it.

What is Guided Meditation Imagery?

Guided meditation imagery allows you to enter into a deep state of relaxation through a series of vivid visualizations (video or audio script). These visualizations are meant to give you positive changes in both your mind and body. This type of meditation is often used for stress relief, healing and personal development.

Guided meditation imagery encourages you to deal with whatever issues you are going through in a calming way. Because of the premise of the guide, you will essentially experience an induced dreaming or daydreaming. Your subconscious is actually expressing itself while you are awake. Unlike traditional meditation which focuses on the mind, imagery aims to engage your imagination and subconscious. If you do regular sessions of meditation imagery, you will enhance the flow of positive energy in your life.

The visuals are supposed to help you find a deeper spiritual connection so you can unleash your full potential and achieve whatever goals you may have. They are also a means for your mind to communicate and connect deeply with your body. Whenever you think of an unpleasant event, do you notice how your body reacts negatively to that specific idea? The opposite happens when you imagine fond memories- you feel more positive.

The mind is such a powerful tool and every person has the ability to conjure images in their heads. We often daydream about our life aspirations but the thing is, these mental wanderings are not as powerful and focused as meditation imagery. This is due to the fact that our regular mental activity is fairly undirected. Many of us do not really focus on one idea long enough. With imagery, you take the natural process of visualization further through the images towards your goals.

During your session, it’s important not to allow yourself to be stressed about something because this will attract negative energy. Let the meditation take over and once you are able to do this, your mind and body will follow through. Every set of imagery has a wide variety of scripts so it’s hard to predict where your mind will take you during a session.

Your guide may ask you if there is a particular image that helps you relax- it could be the beach or rainforest. They will then lead you through a number of prompts that will help you visualize the environment you want to be in. Guided meditation imagery will put your mind in a calm state and this can have a huge impact on your body.

What’s great about this type of meditation is that it has no possible damaging effects since you are only using your mind and imagination in a creative way. If you are stressed about work, family life or your relationships, guided meditation imagery can definitely help.

Using Guided Meditation to Help Reduce Anxiety in Children

Adults are not the only one who experience anxiety attacks. In fact, anxiety among children is more common than you think. Trying to calm an anxious child can be one of the most difficult things to do as a parent. You may blame your parenting skills whenever your child has bouts of panic attacks but you have to realize that this will not help the situation.

Anxiety happens and the way your child’s brain reacts to a perceived threat has a lot to do with their behavior. One of the best things you can do for your child is to engage them in a guided meditation.

Read the tips below to help you get started:

1.) Before you start lecturing your child about the importance of being calm, make sure you practice what you preach. You need to have a deeper understanding of what meditation means and what it entails for both you and your child. Simply put, you have to learn and practice it before you can successfully teach it.

2.) Start with baby steps so you won’t end up overwhelming each other. Children have very short attention span so don’t expect them to sit still for 20 minutes straight. Start with a session as short as 3 or 5 minutes and observe how well your child is taking everything in. Be patient and in a couple of days or weeks, they will be able to settle for longer periods of time.

3.) Your guided meditation sessions need to be set on a specific time every morning or evening. You should do it before you and your child proceed with your usual activities (early in the morning) or once the chaos in the house has died down (before bedtime). Make it a point to stick to your schedule even if you are very busy. Consider the meditation as something you have to do no matter what like cooking or brushing your teeth.

4.) Make every session enjoyable for you and your child so you’ll both look forward to it every day. Do whatever it is that will make the experience fun and relaxing. Play calming music or light some aromatherapy candles if that helps. Allow your child to pick out items that they think will help them relax. As much as possible, make them feel involved in building your refuge from the chaotic outside world.

5.) You can’t force your child to engage in meditation especially in the beginning. If you don’t know what else to do, giving them a little incentive won’t hurt. Partnering incentives with concrete goals often results in a favorable outcome. Incentives don’t always have to be material things, they can be something as simple as extra playing time with mom and dad.

Conclusion

Guided meditation is particularly effective because it combines the principles of meditation with external guidance, so we do not have to rely on ourselves or our “skillfulness” at meditation for it to be effective. In fact, you don’t even need to know how to meditate; just follow the instructions of your guide.

Additionally, when we are following the instructions of a meditation guide, we are less likely to lose track of our meditation by “spacing out.” In this way, following a guide helps you learn the meditative process, making guided meditation a particularly valuable tool.

Guided meditation is a simple strategy that can help you obtain better health and a happier life. It takes time to master, as does any other skill. If you stick with it and are willing to experiment with the different guided meditation methods, you are more likely to discover a guided meditation that’s perfect for you.

I have found in teaching meditation, many people want a direct, simple approach on how to experience the present moment in their everyday lives — listen to the podcast above and the video below to learn a way to practice meditation and awareness from renowned British Philosopher, and spiritual teacher Alan Watts.

Who is Alen Watts? British Philosopher and author who wrote countless essays, and over 25 books. He recorded nearly 400 lectures on subjects important to Eastern and Western religion. One of the first to interpret Eastern wisdom for a Western audience in the late ’60s and early ’70s.

“ALAN WATTS HAD THE RARE GIFT OF ‘WRITING BEAUTIFULLY THE UN-WRITABLE’. WATTS BEGINS WITH SCHOLARSHIP AND INTELLECT AND PROCEEDS WITH ART AND ELOQUENCE TO THE FRONTIERS OF THE SPIRIT. A FASCINATING ENTRY INTO THE DEEPEST WAYS OF KNOWING.” — L.A. TIMES

The Easiest Way To Get Into The Meditative State

Instead of trying to control your thoughts, notice them. Observe them. Are they happy, positive thoughts? Or are they negative, depressing thoughts? One or the other isn’t bad it’s important to just observe them. Think of yourself sitting on a mountain by the highway and your thoughts being cars that go by.

The main thing I learned from Alan Watts meditation is that meditation is an experience, not a task. It’s about spending time alone with your thoughts without any judgment. This quick Alan Watts meditation should help you understand more of what is going on inside you.

Thought Provoking Video by Jim Carrey | Alan Watts

Jim Carrey talks about Alan Watts as he explores the profound mystery of creating who we really are. Credit: Impact Theory – Jay Shetty Tom Bilyeu https://youtu.be/GXoErccq0vw

If done over time on a consistent basis you can learn to be less judgemental of yourself and others. You don’t want to get too attached to anyone thought, especially negative ones. Your increased awareness can help you tons throughout the rest of your day. The next time you have a big meeting at work or date with someone special you can observe your thoughts.

“Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment. And therefore, if you meditate for an ulterior motive — that is to say, to improve your mind, to improve your character, to be more efficient in life — you’ve got your eye on the future and you are not meditating!” – Alan Watts

Alan Watts – Guided Meditation (Awakening The Mind)

Over 2,347,546 Youtube Views

 Here is Alan Watts, a name which needs no introduction, sharing his method of obtaining self-awareness. We are all looking for a way to find our answers, which is why this video was made, and you are here watching it. All the best…Indigo Bliss

Here is the complete text from Guided Meditation (Awakening The Mind) video:

Well now, the easiest way to get into the meditative state is to begin by listening, if you simply close your eyes and allow yourself to hear all the sounds that are going on around you.

Just listen to the general hum and buzz of the world, as if you were listening to music, don’t try to identify the sounds you’re hearing, don’t put names on simply allow them to play with your eardrums and let them go.

In other words, you could put it let your ears hear, whatever they want to hear don’t judge the sounds, there are no as it were proper sounds or improper sounds and it doesn’t matter if somebody coughs or sneezes or drops something, it’s all just sound.

And, if I am talking to you right now, and you are doing this, I want you to listen to the sound of my voice just as if it were noise, don’t try to make any sense out of what I’m saying because your brain will take care of that automatically, you don’t have to try to understand anything, just listen to the sound.

As you pursue that experiment you will very naturally find that you can’t help naming sounds.  Identify them that you will go on thinking, that is to say talking to yourself inside your head automatically, but it’s important that you don’t try to repress those thoughts by forcing them out of your mind because that will have precisely the same effect as if you were trying to smooth rough water with a flatiron. You’re just going to disturb it all the more what you do is this as you hear sounds coming up in your head.

Thoughts you simply listen to them as part of the general noise going on just as you would be listening to the sound of my voice or just as you would be listening to cars going by or – birds chattering outside the window, so look at your own thoughts as just noises and soon you will find that the so-called outside world and the so-called inside world come together. They are happening, your thoughts are happening just like the sounds going on outside and everything is simply happening, and all you’re doing is watching it now.

In this process, another thing that is happening that is very important is that you’re breathing and as you start meditation you allow your breath to run just as it will, in other words, don’t do at first any breathing exercise but just watch your breath.

Breathing the way it wants to breathe and the notice the curious thing about this, you say in the ordinary way I breathe because you feel that breathing is something that you are doing voluntarily just in the same way as you might be walking or talking but you will also notice that when you are not thinking about breathing your breathing goes on just the same.

So the curious thing about breath is that it can be looked at both as a voluntary and an involuntary action you can feel on the one hand I am doing it and on the other hand it is happening to me and that is why breathing is the most important part of meditation.

It is going to show you as you become aware of your breath that the hard and fast division that we make between what we do on the one hand and what happens to us on the other is arbitrary so that as you watch your breathing you will become aware that both the voluntary and the involuntary aspects of your experience are all one happening.

Now that may at first seem a little scary because you may think well am I just the puppet of a-happening the mere passive witness of something that’s going on completely beyond my control or on the other hand, am I really doing everything that’s going along?

Well if I were, I should be God. That would be very embarrassing because I would be in charge of everything, that would be terribly a responsible position, the truth of the matter as you will see it is that both things are true, you can see it that everything is happening to you and on the other hand you’re doing everything.

For example, it’s your eyes that are turning the Sun into light, it’s the nerve ends in your skin that are turning electric vibrations in the air into heat and temperature, it’s your eardrums that are turning vibrations in the air into sound and in that way you are creating the world, but when we are not talking about it when we’re not full of philosophizing about it then there is just this happening, and we won’t give it a name now.

Then when you breathe, for a while just letting it happen and not forcing it in any way you will discover a curious thing that without making any effort, you can breathe more and more deeply, in other words supposing you simply are breathing out and breathing out is important because it’s the breath of relaxation as when we say a sigh of relief so when you are breathing out you get the sensation that your breath is falling out dropping, dropping, dropping out

The same sort of feeling you have as if you were settling down into an extremely comfortable bed and you just get as heavy as possible and let yourself go and you let your breath go out, in just that way and when it’s thoroughly comfortably out and it feels like coming back again you don’t pull it back in you let it fall back in, letting your lungs expand, expand, expand until they feel very comfortably full there then once again you let it fall out.

So in this way you will discover that your breath gets quite naturally easier and easier and slower and slower and more and more powerful so that with these various aids, listening to sound, listening to your own interior feelings and thoughts just as if they were something going on, not something you are doing, but just happenings and watching your breath as a happening that is neither voluntary nor involuntary you are simply aware of these basic sensations.

Then you begin to be in the state of meditation, but don’t hurry anything, don’t worry about the future, don’t worry about what progress you’re making, just be entirely content to be aware of what is, don’t be terribly selective in a particular way, say I should think of this and not of that just watch whatever is happening you, you, you.

HOW TO FULFILL YOUR HEART’S DESIRE, RETRIEVE YOUR DESTINY AND UNLEASH YOUR POWER TO CREATE THE “REAL” LIFE YOU TRULY DESIRE

(For Best Results Please Use Headphones)

If life is a journey, the Deep Self holds the map.

It holds your purpose, potential, and gifts.

It holds invaluable instruction.

It holds your destiny.

The Deep Self is eternal and always present, even if you don’t pay attention to it. It is your true self, your soul — your essence. It’s what makes you unique, valuable and exceptional.

We’re often out of touch with this vast and mysterious part of ourselves. Instead of reaching inward to discover our path, purpose, and potential, the ego leads us outward. We think about what we want, make lists, design a plan, set timelines, create new habits, and get on the metaphorical treadmill to achieve the goal.

ENGAGE THE MYSTERY OF YOUR DEEP SELF

When you manifest from the Deep Self, you don’t need goals. You go inside and engage the mystery.

You stay open; you wait and listen for what wants to come through. Instead of using personal will to force things into being, you allow the Deep Self to manifest for you.

Life advances in graceful and unexpected ways. What you need comes to you, as if by chance. Synchronicity abounds, and it feels like you’re on a cosmic conveyor belt. One by one, the pieces click into place. You don’t need to figure everything out because it all fits together perfectly.

Manifesting from the Deep Self begins in meditation. It starts when thoughts slow down, and you listen to the whispers of your heart.

The Theta state of deep meditation opens the gateway to the wisdom of your Deep Self. Theta is the brain state where the magic happens in the crucible of your neurological activity.

In Theta you are in a waking dream. Receptivity heightens, and you access knowledge and insight that lies beyond conscious awareness.

Mystical experiences arise out of the depths of Theta.

LISTENING FOR YOUR DEEPEST DESIRE

Listening to your heart’s deepest longing is different than mindfulness meditation, mantra meditation or Law of Attraction practices.

Going into deep meditation and attuning to your innermost longing, opens a two-way communication channel between your soul and the Universal Mind.

The heart has its own intuitive intelligence that when listened to, guides and informs us.

Seeds of desire exist for a reason. Each seed of desire is an invitation to experience new levels of living, learning and loving. You might be agonizingly aware of some, while others remain dormant and unknown to you.

Either way, it’s important to know and listen to your deepest purest desires for they will lead you to your destiny.

Desire is the soul’s primal scream. From unknown depths of your heart, it shouts, “Fulfill me!” “Make me Whole!” “Complete me!” If you ignore the call of your heart, the higher plan for your life might elude you.

In the depths of meditation, when your mind is quiet and calm, bring awareness down to the
heart, to the innermost sacred center of your being and listen.

Listen to your heart without judgment, without censorship.

If you’re not sure of what you want, ask questions like:

“What do I want?”
“What do I need?”
“What’s missing in my life?”
“What would make me happy?”

RETRIEVE YOUR DESTINY PRACTICE

Often we long for something, but in truth, we are not ready to receive it. Yearning ripens you to receive. It fertilizes the ground of your being. It pollinates the wind. It prepares the way for great things to come.

Yearning changes you in ways you might not imagine. It awakens higher creative functions of the brain. But the only way to experience this is through your own practice.

Brain Sync CDs and MP3s are clinically proven to provide all the life-changing benefits of brain optimization and deep meditation in just 20 minutes per day.

Brain Sync | Kelly Howell | Guided Meditation | Binaural Beats

What is a guided meditation? Guided meditation is simply “meditation with the help of a guide”. It’s one of the easiest ways to enter into a state of deep relaxation and inner stillness, and it’s one of the most powerful ways to eliminate stress and bring about positive personal changes.

How Does Guided Meditation Work? Guided meditations can be experienced either in a class with the help of a meditation teacher, or by listening to a guided meditation recording.

Most guided meditations follow this general format:

Your meditation guide will ask you to sit comfortably, or in some cases, you may be asked to lie down. You then listen to your guide while they lead you through a series of relaxing visualizations. As you gradually relax and become more and more still, stress fades away, and your mind becomes clearer and clearer.

While you are in this deeply relaxed state of mind, your subconscious is open to positive suggestions, and your guide will use this time to take you on an inner journey that is designed to improve one or more aspects of your life. For example, a guided meditation might be tailored to personal empowerment and positive thinking. Another might focus on emotional healing or spiritual development. You might be taken on a guided journey to unleash your full potential, or you may choose to go on a guided meditation journey simply for the sheer pleasure of experiencing profoundly deep relaxation.

As you can now see, guided meditation can be an experience that is not only relaxing, but one that enhances your sense of self, that transforms your perspective in positive ways, and that inspires you to live your life to the fullest.

It’s an effortless and very enjoyable experience that results in deep relaxation, elimination of stress and a heightened appreciation of life.

At the conclusion of your guided meditation, your guide will gradually bring you back to a state of normal awareness, leaving you feeling refreshed, rejuvenated and relaxed. A guided meditation might be as short as 5 minutes, or as long as an hour, depending on your personal preference. In most cases, a guided meditation of 15 minutes or longer is recommended if you wish to experience a truly deep state of relaxation and maximize the positive benefits of meditation.

The Best Way To Experience A Guided Meditation

Guided meditation CD’s and MP3’s are extremely useful as they allow you to experience meditation at any time or place that suits you.

Ideally, your guided meditation will include tranquil meditation music that will help you to relax even more deeply.

Some guided meditations also include nature sounds that are synchronized with the visualizations that you are guided through during your meditation. For example, if you are guided to visualize yourself standing in a forest, then you may hear the sounds of birds and trees swaying in the breeze. If you approach a waterfall, then the sound of that waterfall may become apparent.

You’ll find that when you listen to guided meditation audio productions that include a vivid tapestry of visualizations, music and environmental sounds, your senses will be immersed in the experience and you’ll be drawn deeper into the meditation.

But enough talk! Rather than read about it, why not download this free guided meditation and experience it for yourself!

Guided Meditation Makes It Easy!

Most traditional types of meditation require you to take command of your own awareness by concentrating your attention on a single point of focus.

This point of focus might be your breathing, it might be a physical action, or more commonly, it may be on a mantra – a sound, word or phrase that you repeat to yourself mentally so as to stabilize your attention.

While these powerful traditional meditation techniques are wonderful for achieving inner stillness and for enhancing your ability to concentrate, some people find them difficult to master.

One of the main reasons why guided meditations are such a popular alternative to traditional meditation techniques is because they require no previous training or effort to enjoy.

Even if you are someone who finds it extremely difficult to let go of thoughts, even if you are highly stressed or overloaded with mental activity, you will quickly achieve inner stillness and peace of mind when you listen to a great guided meditation.

Because guided meditation is so easy, it is very useful for people who are new to meditation. However, guided meditations can also be of great benefit to people who are very experienced at meditation. Experienced meditators will still use guided meditations in order to experience a deeper or more vivid meditation, to delve deeper into their mind than they are normally able, or to target a specific aspect of personal development that they wish to accomplish.

Still wondering “what is guided meditation?” Ultimately, the best way to find out is to experience one for yourself. So follow this link to Download a free guided meditation mp3 and get ready to enjoy the bliss of effortless, relaxing meditation!

The Special Benefits of Guided Meditation

Guided meditations utilize the power of your imagination and the power of visualization to effect positive personal changes. In this regard, guided meditations are even more powerful than traditional, passive meditation techniques. To find out more about how guided meditation can help you, please click here to move on to the following article on the benefits of guided meditation.

How To Prepare For Mediation

You can meditate almost anywhere and anytime, but it’s always a good idea to have a routine for your meditation practice. There are several reasons for this, including getting your mind and body ready to get quiet, getting your family to recognize that time and place as your quiet space and to ensure your meditation practice is consistent. Try these ways to prepare for mediation.

Choose The Time and Place

You want to decide on a time and place that will be quiet, with as few distractions as possible, for meditation. Turn off your phone, shut out the lights, tell your loved ones you are unavailable. It doesn’t matter if you choose to meditate in your bedroom or in your office. The time of day is totally up to you also. Maybe when the kids are in bed or first thing in the morning is good. Just choose a time when you can have solitude and are alert enough to concentrate. Space can be big or small. The most important thing is consistency.

Light Scented Candles or Incense

This isn’t something everyone might want to do, but it’s a great way to set the tone for mediation. Our sense of smell is the best for recalling memories, so when you smell that familiar smell, your mind and body will start to prepare automatically for mediation.

Play Background Music

Some people prefer silence, and that’s fine too. But beginning mediators find that total silence can be a bit too overwhelming at first. That might sound strange but think of all the noise we are used to. No matter where you go, you hear TV’s or music piped in. If you want to play some music while meditating, find something soothing with no lyrics. Our minds tend to “grab” the words the singer is singing and wants us to sing along. Best to avoid that. Play the music softly so that it doesn’t end up becoming a distraction.

Wear Comfortable Clothes

There may be times when you are in a suit and want to mediate. That’s good too. But most people find it easier to sit for a while if they are as comfortable as possible. This means comfortable clothes. But if you get the urge to meditate in your suit or dress and heels, go for it!

Get Your Body Ready

Since we hope to reduce the amount of distraction, it’s always a good idea to go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, blow your nose, put on a sweater, etc. before you sit. It’s hard to concentrate when your throat is dry and you keep coughing.

Yoga Stretches

It’s always a good idea to do some stretches before sitting, especially if you plan to sit for an extended period (whatever that means to you). While certainly not mandatory, doing a few simple standing yoga postures before sitting can prepare both your body and mind for sitting. Some that are good for this include cat pose, sun salutation, standing forward bend, chair pose and downward dog pose.

Article by Christopher Lloyd Clarke from www.The-Guided-Meditation-Site.com.

About the Author…

The author of numerous articles on the science of sound, Dr. Christopher Lloyd Clarke is well versed in the scientific principles of psychoacoustics and music psychology, and he applies these principles whenever he writes music for hypnosis and deep relaxation. A long-time meditator himself, he combines the artistry and science of music composition with his own unique insights into relaxation states. Not only does he compose and produce music for professional meditation teachers, hypnotherapists and holistic healers, but he also has hands-on experience in personally using music to achieve deep, healing, transformative states.

Quick Meditation For Anxiety & Stress Release In Just 12 Minutes

In this guided meditation, Linda is a Clinical Hypnotherapist at Feel Good Dynamics. She guides you through tried and tested simple techniques to help you to relax. These meditation techniques help to calm you in order to release stress, tension, and anxiety.

The meditation above is just around 12 minutes and suitable to fit into your busy day and can allow you to relax and unwind in a short space of time.

It can be used any time of day or night, a quick fix when you need it most! Learning these simple techniques can allow you to feel more in control of your life in many situations.

GET MORE FREE GUIDED MEDITATION and FREE STRESS RELEASE MP3s From Meditation Life Skills HERE…

Does meditation reduce stress and anxiety? Meditation practiced for as few as 10 minutes per day can help you control stress, decrease anxiety, and achieve a greater capacity for relaxation and healing.

While all these changes can help, there is one thing that is more powerful than any other tool when it comes to combating stress: meditation.

Meditation is something a lot of people don’t fully understand. There is the assumption among some that meditation is somehow ‘mystical’ or that it is necessarily linked with religion. Neither of these things is true.

There are many different types of meditation from transcendental, to mindfulness, to religious meditation but all of them really just have one thing in common: they involve the purposeful direction of attention inward.

Whether it is reflecting on your own thoughts, praying or just sitting silently and trying to clear your mind, meditation involves making the conscious decision to take control of what you’re thinking and to try and stop your thoughts from jumping around everywhere. And when you do this, you will find it has a truly profound effect on your ability to stay calm in stressful situations, to control the nature of your thoughts and to combat many of the negative effects of stress.

Studies show us that meditation can improve the areas of your brain that stress destroys – actually increasing the amount of grey matter in the brain and the amount of whole-brain connectivity.

Furthermore, it can help to improve areas of the brain specifically related to motivation, attention, and willpower. One study shows that it only takes 8 weeks to see amazing positive changes to the brain and restoration of grey matter in particular.

People who use meditation will usually report that they feel generally calmer, happier and more at peace throughout the day. This results in a better mood heightened attention and general improvements in cognitive function and productivity.

All these things mean that meditation is actually the perfect antidote to stress and can undo a lot of the damage that stress causes. Apart from anything else, meditation will help you to take a small break from the constant stress of daily life and from the racing thoughts that come with this.

More to the point though, it will teach you to take control of racing thoughts at will and simply to put them to one side. Meanwhile, allowing your brain some time to enjoy this highly relaxed state will encourage the reparation of neurons and the cementing of things you’ve learned through the day.

Finally, it makes sense that areas controlling self-control would develop during the process of meditation. Meditation uses certain brain areas and we now know that the more you use an area of the brain, the more it grows. This works just like using a muscle and is a process known as ‘brain plasticity’.

And by practicing reflecting on your own mental state and being more aware of your own emotions, it only follows that you would better be able to control it and to avoid letting stress or impulse get the better of you in future.

How to Get Started With Meditation To Reduce Stress

So this is what meditation does for you and why it is the ideal antidote to stress.

The next question is how can you get started with meditation? Meditation For Beginners: 8 Easy Tips From Meditation Life Skills To Get Started Now…

Do you need to attend a class? Do you need to be a Buddhist monk? Fortunately, meditation is actually pretty simple and this is what ends up making it hard even in some cases. A lot of people who first try meditation feel that it is too simple and thus assume they must be doing something wrong!

The easiest way to get started if you’re a complete beginner is to try a guided meditation. Guided meditation means using a pre-recorded script that will talk you through everything you need to be doing at any given stage. Essentially, this works to help direct your attention and show you what you need to be reflecting on or paying attention to at any given time.

A good one to try is ‘Headspace’. This is available as a website and as an app and in either case, you’ll find a selection of guided meditations to walk you through. The only downside is that headspace is not completely free. The “Basics” Free Trial is a free-of-charge program, which gives unlimited access to ten days of there “Foundation Course.”

Fortunately, those first ten days are more than enough to give you a taste of meditation and to teach you the basics. From here, you’ll then be able to take what you learned and re-apply it in order to continue on your own.

If you’d rather not start a paid system though, then you can always use one of the many free YouTube videos that will do the same thing!

In general, most guided meditation will take you through the following steps.

To start with, you will sit somewhere comfortable and close your eyes. Set a timer for 10 minutes, or however long you have until you need to be doing other things. While you should be comfortable, you shouldn’t be too reclined or generally put yourself in danger of falling asleep!

The next thing to do is to bring your attention to the sounds and the world around you. This means just listening to the sounds and noticing what you can hear. This is an interesting exercise in and of itself: if you actually stop to listen you’ll be able to pick up on a lot more information than you were probably previously aware of.

Don’t strain to listen but instead, just let the sounds come to you – whether those be barks from dogs next door, the sound of birds or perhaps chatter from someone in another building that you can heal through the walls.

After you have done this for a little while, the next step is to bring your attention to yourself and to notice how your body feels. This means noticing the way that your weight is distributed on your buttocks. Is it evenly distributed? Are you leaning slightly to one side? Likewise, try to notice the air against your skin, the temperature, any aches, and pains, etc.

You can then try the 5-Minute Mindfulness Body Scan Meditation Script & Mp3 I Put Together For You HERE…

This is something that some people use as the main basis for their meditation and it involves focussing on each part of your own body, starting right from the head and then moving down the body slowly from the face to the chest, to the legs, to the feet. Each time you get to a point on your body, make a conscious effort to release any tension you might be holding on too and then just relax.

You can even turn your attention inward further by seeing if you can feel the beating of your own heart or the movement of your diaphragm.

Either way, we’re now going to focus on breathing. This is something that a lot of people will again use as the entire basis of their meditation. Simply count the breaths in and the breaths out and each time you get to ten, start again. The aim now is to have all of your focus and all of your attention on the breathing and not to be distracted by anything outside.

Now, from time to time, you will notice that your thoughts start to drift and that you end up thinking about other things. This is a fantastic example of just how hard we find it to focus on any one thing for a given period of time. It’s a fantastic example of just why you need this meditation!

Don’t fret when it happens though. This is the worst thing you can do! Instead, simply ‘notice’ that your mind has wandered and then bring your attention back to your breathing again. Each time it drifts off, just re-center and don’t worry about it.

Focussing on the breathing is simply giving us a way to center our thoughts and to remove the distractions that normally interrupt. This could just as easily work by focussing on anything else: for example, some people will focus on a single word called a ‘mantra’. A mantra is what is often used in transcendental meditation for instance and might mean just repeating the word ‘Om’ in order to busy your internal monologue.

Finally, the last stage of our guided meditation is going to be to just let the thoughts wander freely and to let them go wherever they want to. This last stage is essentially mindfulness meditation. The idea is that you’re going to detach yourself from those thoughts and simply ‘watch them’ rather than feeling emotionally affected by them.

This last part is the part where you get to really relax and stop ‘fighting’ your brain and it’s a great way to end. Then bring your focus back to your breathing, then back to your body, back to the world around you and eventually open your eyes.

Congratulations, that was your first meditation session!

Meditation Tips For Beginners To Reduce Stress

Learning to meditate and make it a part of your life are two very different things and a lot of people reading this are now going to struggle to adopt this new behavior in a meaningful way.

The first issue is that a lot of people get frustrated when they feel that their meditation isn’t ‘working’ and they thus give up. This is entirely the wrong way to look at meditation – this is not a means to an end but rather a relaxing place you can come and visit whenever you need it, or a great interlude before you start your day.

This extends to how you start out. A lot of people want things to go perfectly right away and they’ll wonder why they haven’t achieved enlightenment as soon as they close their eyes! Then their hair gets in their face, they become stressed that they aren’t doing it right and they get up. Then they need to itch. Then they’re not comfortable.

Don’t worry about it. It’s fine to move. It’s fine to open your eyes for a moment. All that’s important is that you then bring your attention back. In time, you’ll find you are less distracted. But to begin with, you won’t be ready for that yet and you mustn’t get frustrated when you find that distractions do arise.

The next tip is to think carefully about how you’re going to sustain your meditation training using the Meditation Life Skills Podcast and make it a feasible part of your routine.

A lot of resources will tell you how easy it should be to take 10 minutes out of your day. They’ll claim that ‘everyone’ has five minutes.

In reality, though, it’s not easy. If it were, then everyone would already be doing it! Most of us are so busy that we legitimately struggle to find five minutes of free time and so we need to be realistic about what we can and can’t achieve.

Look at it this way: it’s much better to practice for two minutes twice a week and actually stick with it than it is to try and practice for an hour a day and to give up after day two.

The best thing to do is to find an opportunity when you waste time in the morning or the evening.

This might be while your partner goes through the shower in the morning, or it might be when you get home from work. Whatever it is, most of us have a few short periods of time in our usual routine and the great thing about meditation is that you can do it anywhere and with no props.

Even if it’s on the train to work, or if it is when you get into work 10 minutes early. If you can find a ‘slot’ that already exists, you’ll find it’s much easier to fit meditation in and to stick with.

Correct Breathing for Stress Reduction

When meditating it is important to try to remember to breathe properly. And better yet is to try and make this into a habit so that your breathing is better during your waking day as well.

The thing is: a lot of people don’t know how to breathe well and are unintentionally breathing incorrectly most of the time. The theory has it that the reason for this is closely linked to the way we sit at work.

This is a big deal if you’re trying to reduce stress, seeing as your stress levels are closely related to the way you breathe. We’ve already seen that there is a strong connection between physiology, feelings, emotions, and psychology. When we are stressed, we breathe more quickly and not as deeply. But likewise, when we breathe more quickly and not as deeply, we become more stressed.

Right now, take both hands and place one on your stomach and one on your chest. Now breathe normally. Which hand is moving first? Is it the hand on your chest or the hand on your stomach?

For most people, the answer is the chest. But to be optimally healthy, it should be the stomach. When we’re infants this is how we breathe and it’s also how animals breathe. Years of sitting in an office desk though, or on a sofa, mean that we’ve spent too long with our stomachs compressed and learned to breathe differently.

Stomach breathing means that you are relaxing your abdominal muscles, thereby opening up your abdominal cavity and allowing your diaphragm to drop down into that space. This then creates more room for the lungs and they will automatically inflate as they enlarge. You then bring your chest in and open that up to take in even more oxygen and as a result, you breathe a lot more deeply.

This oxygenates your body and it calms your heart rate and helps you to feel less stressed. In fact, one of the very best ways to help yourself feel instantly less stressed is to start taking deep, controlled breaths. This puts you in a rest and digest state and stops the fight or flight response in its tracks.

So if you’re about to go to an interview or give a presentation, practicing some controlled breathing for a while is the perfect antidote to the stress you’re probably experiencing stress.

Meditation is a great way to manage stress. Plus it has many other health benefits, as you have learned. It’s also wonderful because you can do it just about anywhere and it costs nothing. And, it’s simple enough that you can start right away. It’s been proven effective for stress management through the ages and has now become a scientifically-proven way to keep stress at healthy, manageable levels in our complex world. 

Whether you find guided meditation in the form of a podcast, video, or even an in-studio class, a guide can help you meditate in a step-by-step format. Then, you can concentrate on relaxing and meditating, rather than worry about your technique or your form.

Sometimes called guided imagery or visualization, with this method of meditation you form mental images of places or situations you find relaxing. Guided meditation is like delegating your mind momentarily as you follow the instructions and you pay attention to how it feels as you listen to affirmations and you allow the music and the words to guide you to a better state of presence.

Throughout the centuries, people all over the world have used meditation to transform their lives. They have used it to improve their health and to better manage their emotions. However, there is more to meditation than meets the eye. It can improve many aspects of your life. Here are some of the ways that meditation can change your life:

Meditation can help you make better decisions. You won’t be operating on autopilot. You will gain better control of your mind. You become more aware of what’s going on in your life and you can make the necessary changes to transform it.

Meditation helps you become more loving and compassionate towards yourself and others. If you’re one of the many people who have the tendency to put themselves down and you want to change the way you have been treating yourself, meditation can help you stop thinking on autopilot and start being more aware of your inner dialogue. You will then start telling yourself more positive things. When you give yourself more love and appreciation, you will find it easier to love and appreciate others.

Meditation can help you banish anger, fear, and other negative feelings. When you meditate and try to be more positive, that doesn’t mean that you have to ignore or repress your negative feelings. On the contrary, meditation allows you to confront these feelings without shame or judgment toward yourself or others. Confronting these feelings will help you to know yourself better, accept yourself just as you are, and work towards overcoming these negative feelings.

Meditation can help you have better relationships. It can help you be truly aware of the present moment. This helps you to be a good listener. You also stop being judgmental and be more forgiving because you no longer see them as they were in the past. You give others the freedom to be who they are without burdening them with expectations for the future.

Meditation can help you to be more productive. It helps you focus by helping you to be clear about what you need to do at the present moment. That way, you won’t overwhelm yourself by thinking of all the things that you need to do or try to do things all at once. It helps you have a laser-like focus while you do things one at a time. It also helps you finish your work a lot faster because you are not distracted by anything in your environment or by intruding thoughts.

Meditation can help you stop worrying. Worrying is thinking about the worst that can happen in the future. Meditation helps you focus on the present moment. As the hunas of Hawaii would say “Manawa; now is your moment of power.” You can exercise some control over your future by being in the present moment.

Meditation leads you to acceptance. People often say, “Life is unfair.” Meditation helps you look at your present situation without judgment. When you accept life just as it is, it is only then that you can transform it for the better. Making positive changes will be easy because you will then be in the path of least resistance.

If there is a particular area in your life that you want to transform, the best form of meditation can practice is guided meditation. It is easier than meditating all by yourself because, when you listen to your guide, you are less likely to get distracted.

More importantly, guided meditation sessions are designed by experts to help you attain a specific goal making it easier for you to change a behavior or attitude which then leads to transformation. It is no wonder that guided meditation is sometimes called “the lazy man’s” meditation.

Finding Bliss and Balance with Guided Meditation

Meditation is focusing your presence in the present moment. Another way of putting it is “Meditation is being present in the present.” It is the practice of quieting the mind and turning it inward.

Meditation is not just for Buddhists and Hindus, but for people of all faiths. If you are not religious, you can still benefit from regular meditation both physically and psychologically.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institute of Health further state that meditation has been shown to decrease the incidence of insomnia, anxiety and depression, aid in the cessation of smoking, reduce anger and promote feelings of optimism and wellbeing.

It’s A Positive Chemical Reaction For Healing

During meditation, your body produces and releases good chemicals, giving you positive thoughts and feelings and jumpstarts your immune system. Meditation helps the body heal itself. It also helps protect it from illnesses. Here are some of the good chemicals that your body releases during mediation:

Endorphins are neurotransmitters that act as painkillers. They are also responsible for the sense of happiness and well-being that we sometimes feel. They are also believed to lower one’s blood pressure and are said to help fight cancer. When you exercise, you may experience an emotional high. That is because exercise stimulates the production of endorphins. When you meditate, you also experience these pleasant feelings because meditation also causes the body to release endorphins.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that influences mood and behavior. Low serotonin levels are associated with depression. Drugs that inhibit the reuptake of serotonin (like the bestselling Prozac) are prescribed to those who suffer from depression. However, you wouldn’t want to be pumped with drugs and suffer the adverse side effects that can sometimes be risky. Fortunately, you can increase your serotonin levels by meditating.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid, also known as GABA, is another neurotransmitter that your body releases while you meditate. GABA stabilizes mood and helps ease anxiety. Low levels of GABA are associated with addiction. Those who meditate are found to have increased levels of GABA.

The human growth hormone or HGH is another hormone that is released when you meditate. While meditating will not make you grow taller, it will protect you from a reduction in bone density and muscle mass associated with a decreased level of HGH due to aging.

Melatonin is a hormone that helps you sleep restfully. It is produced by your pineal gland. However, stress can lower the production of melatonin. Meditation relieves stress, thus enabling your body to produce more melatonin so you will sleep soundly and wake up feeling refreshed and revitalized.

Psychological Benefits Of Living In The Present Moment

Meditation helps you change the way you think and feel by making you focus on the present moment. In the present moment, there is no place for your fears and worries because they are about the future. Also, when you are meditating, you become aware of your feelings. Dr. Phil McGraw said, “You cannot change what you do not acknowledge.” When you become aware of the way you think and feel, you can now decide to change your thought patterns and therefore change the way you feel.

Some people think that meditation weakens the mind and makes you vulnerable to outside influences. The truth is meditation actually makes your mind stronger. You are in charge of your mind. You can only be influenced by anything outside of you with your permission. Meditation allows you to shape your inner world by taking control of your mind.

Why Guided Meditation? Isn’t That Like Cheating?

Meditation is a skill. It requires focus. Refocusing your thought to your mantra or any object of meditation can be challenging. You need to be gentle yet firm with yourself. You must learn to gently nudge intruding thoughts aside and go back to your point of focus. However, if you want an easier route to being in a meditative state, guided meditation can get you there.

Guided meditation is a form of meditation where you listen to a guide as he or she leads you into a peaceful meditative state. This may be done “live” or you may use a guided meditation recording. It is easier to focus and visualize when you follow a guiding voice. Meditation may be combined with hypnosis to achieve certain goals.

Is guided meditation less effective than meditating on your own? The answer is no. On the contrary, guided meditation may even be more effective. When you struggle to focus, you end up not being a meditative state.

Meditation should not be a struggle. It should be pleasurable. Guided meditation removes the struggle and makes it easier for you to have a blissful experience.