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.

I use hypnotherapy Mp3’s as part of my meditation practice often. The advantages of hypnosis therapy are widespread. Many people from all walks of life report positive changes with hypnosis and it’s recognized as a valid type of holistic alternative medicine.

Is hypnosis therapy a safe alternative Medicine? There is no danger in hypnotherapy, but it is able to help you build many positive aspects of living a better life. Hypnotherapy can also help you become more mentally aware and has been shown to have healing aspects.

I ask that you do nothing else while listening to our series as you should be relaxed and focused. Listen to this series often to get the repeat benefits of the message and to bring about the positive results.

Be kind to yourself and allow yourself to take the time to relax and go through the session to create your own success.

How does hypnosis work on the brain?

Hypnosis is a popular technique utilized for weight loss, smoking cessation, healing, relaxation and stress relief. It’s utilized to get rid of undesired behaviors and beliefs and to manifest new desires. If you wish to influence your subconscious mind to accept new programming for positive alterations hypnosis is an effective technique for doing that.

A few experienced hypnotherapists regress patients into childhood and past lives in order to find the cause of present-day problems. A few individuals regress just to learn about forgotten past experiences. Please, if you had a traumatic early life or have mental health concerns, don’t regress except under the counsel of a medical hypnotherapist.

Among the chief advantages of hypnosis is that when you in a hypnotic state brain wave frequencies decelerate. You center or focus your awareness and you’re actually much more aware than usual.

A state of centered awareness almost feels as though you’re more of an observer of thought and images rather than a part of them. This allows you to bypass the “gatekeepers” at the entrance to the- 6 – subconscious and superconscious so you are able to access these levels of consciousness directly, and the brain is much more receptive to suggestion.

The unconscious or subconscious may then be reprogrammed so it lets go of old patterns, beliefs, and feelings that no longer serve you. They may be replaced with suggestions that are favorable and affirming. The superconscious mind may open you fresh insights and originative ideas.

A common misperception is that you only have to be hypnotized once to make lasting changes. Occasionally this is the case, but for lasting positive changes, hypnosis suggestions need to be repeated several times till your mind accepts the fresh programming.

What is Hypnosis? Is hypnotherapy really effective?

There’s a lot of myth around the idea and practice of hypnosis. A few people fear hypnosis because they think they’ll lose control and someone will make them do something they don’t wish to do. They envision barking like a dog or telling somebody they married the man on the moon with no memory of the event. We may thank stage hypnosis for these basic beliefs.

In reality, hypnosis is a common state of mind that we all experience throughout the day. When you’re lost in a daydream while driving, you’re in a moderate hypnotic state. We enter deep hypnosis daily as we enter sleep and wake up.

Next time you’re deeply engrossed in work or a movie or hobby notice how you’re aware of nothing else. This is the light hypnosis state that we enter frequently throughout the day.

All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. You’re fully in charge of the experience whether you’re utilizing self-hypnosis downloads or working with a hypnotist in a live session.

You can’t be hypnotized against your will. Frequently individuals allow themselves to enter deeper into hypnosis as they trust the process and the hypnotist. It becomes easier to enter a hypnotic state rapidly. You are able to end a session at any time merely by opening your eyes.

You’ll need to enter hypnosis and listen to your script multiple times. Don’t expect that one session will set up and run your new programs. This is why the hypnotist or hypnotherapist will often give clients audio so they may continue to experience further advantages of hypnosis therapy at home.

How a hypnosis session works with a hypnotherapist

A hypnosis session commonly consists of 3 parts. The induction consists of words, phrases, and imagery that guides your attention into centered awareness of your inner world.

The first stage is the induction phase. Although relaxation isn’t requisite for hypnosis, you might be asked to visualize a relaxing scene. This is where the progressive relaxation and the familiar ten-to-one count down happen. If you’re working with a hypnotherapist, a touch might be used to deepen the induction.

The 2nd stage is the hypnosis experience itself. This will vary based on the purpose of your hypnosis session. You might be guided to a part of your body, an issue or a memory.

It is at this stage that you’ve access to the subconscious and superconscious mind as pertinent. Imagery and/or direct suggestions are utilized to guide you to make positive changes or gain the information you want. The 2nd stage is where the advantages of hypnosis are realized.

The third stage of the hypnosis experience is called the emergence phase. Generally, this is an easy five-to-one count with direct suggestions that guide you to your normal conscious state. The emergence is commonly quite brief.

These 3 stages make up a hypnosis script. Scripts are frequently used for guided visualization, imagery, relaxation and meditation purposes.

If you decide to utilize a written script or write your own, be sure it includes these 3 stages. You can read a script into a recorder and utilize it to hypnotize yourself, but generally, you’ll respond better to someone else’s voice.

Among the advantages of hypnosis therapy from a trained professional, whether live or by audio, is that they know how to guide you through a session and modulate the voice to enhance your experience.

Composed and audio scripts geared to the particular benefits of hypnosis that is appropriate for you are readily available at reasonable prices.

There are hypnosis series available online and sometimes you are able to find free hypnosis Mp3’s like the one above. I suggest you order free or low-priced self-hypnosis downloads or CDs to better your outcome with something you are trying to alter.

Hypnosis is a Natural State For Healing the Body, Mind, Spirit, and Many Other Life Issues

Don’t let the idea of hypnosis keep you from experiencing it. In fact, you’ve already experienced it without even realizing! If you’ve ever found yourself daydreaming while reading a book or watching a movie, that’s exactly what hypnosis is like. You lose yourself in what you’re doing, and your attention is focused entirely on the act you’re performing to the exclusion of everything else.

During hypnotherapy, the therapist helps you achieve this daydream-like state on purpose. You shut out all external stimuli and direct your attention to a single thought, helping fire up your imagination and switch off your logical conscious mind. And that’s when you are most susceptible to suggestions.

If there’s an issue in your life you need to resolve, mental or physical, then maybe it’s time you thought about hypnosis as a possible solution.

These days you can find a qualified hypnotherapist in any city, or you might prefer to tackle the problem in the comfort of your own home using hypnosis audio MP3s. Whichever route you decide to take, hypnosis could turn out to be your new best friend.

Related Questions

Can hypnosis help with mental illness? Hypnosis allows patients to focus and sustain concentration so they can be taught a well-thought-out behavior modification program. Hypnosis can be an effective aid in treating these problems. But not enough psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychotherapists use hypnosis or understand what it can and cannot do.

Does hypnosis work on everyone? Research explains why hypnosis doesn’t work for all. Not everyone is able to be hypnotized, and new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine shows how the brains of such people differ from those who can easily be.

What can hypnosis can help someone with? Hypnosis can be used in two ways, as suggestion therapy or for patient analysis. Suggestion therapy: The hypnotic state makes the person better able to respond to suggestions. Therefore, hypnotherapy can help some people change certain behaviors, such as stopping smoking or nail-biting.

Does hypnosis really work for anxiety? Research has shown that hypnotherapy can help relieve stress, fear, and anxiety. It can also be used to help in coping with the symptoms of panic disorder. For example, once the hypnotist has helped the client become relaxed, he may ask the person to focus on their panic attacks.

How does hypnosis work on the subconscious mind? Hypnosis works by tapping into the power of your subconscious mind and directing that energy towards achieving your goals. Hypnosis is a natural state of relaxed focus that allows you to access that deep, inner part of you – your subconscious mind.

This Blissful Mind Guided Meditation uses plenty of guided imagery to lead you into a state of deep relaxation and then opens your heart and mind to experience a natural state of bliss.

It is very peaceful and positive guided meditation that lasts for about 15 – 20 minutes. It will leave you feeling calm, centered for deep inner peace.

Meditation techniques allow you to use your cognitive ability to pay close attention to your feelings at that moment without judgment, fostering emotional resilience. It also helps you to develop positivity in life by helping concentration in class, work, and even home.

How does a guided meditation work? A guided relaxation meditation is a powerful tool to manage stress, find inner peace, and improve mental function, cultivate self-awareness, compassion, and empathy. Meditation slows down brain wave activity and subdues stress triggering human growth hormones (HGH). Meditation also decreases inflammation at the cellular level neutralizing acidosis, minimizing pain and anxiety.

Stress can manifest itself in many ways causing physical, emotional, or even mental issues. We need tools to find the optimal approach to either minimize or end it. Stress can often make our life feel so difficult as if it’s a constant struggle, but using these tools can make a significant change to your life if you use them regularly and correctly.

How to Use the 80/20 Principle to Reduce Stress

The 80/20 rule popularly known as the Pareto Principle was born by an Italian, Vilfredo Pareto, after observing that approximately 20% of the people living in Italy owned an astonishing 80% of the wealth. It reflected a simple symmetry of inequality then, and the principle gradually spread to other areas of life, particularly stress relief. According to Pareto, the majority of any output comes from the minority of any input.

From a wellness perspective, 80% of your health problems will come from 20% of the lifestyle choices you make. Smoking, for example, is a small thing that causes many people health problems. When it comes to stress something that seems trivial would be enough to trigger major problems in some people.

Someone might say something about your appearance thinking it’s a joke but if you take it to heart, chances are that it will weigh down on your mind. To deal with the negative thoughts you will probably run to the pub for a drink but end up spending money that was meant for your bills. Later you might have to lie and the domino effect of stress continues.

Depression easily steals 80% of one’s quality of life and most often, we fail to realize that its root cause is not what people say but low self-esteem. Simply working on your confidence would, in this case, be the 20% you need to do to avoid stress.

In today’s society, people with depression or ADHD quickly turn to drugs in a bid to manage the situation but if you were to follow the 80/20 principle, that is a drastic turn. Attention deficit problems, stress, and depression are usually as a result of lifestyle choices so the simple solution would be making changes the foods you eat, how you work out and improve your outlook on life.

Anyone can use Pareto’s principle to reduce stress, especially during this festive season when there are countless matters to attend to. Try making two columns of things that bring you stress and those that bring you joy. If for example, you find that shopping causes you a great deal of anxiety, have someone else do it for you so you can focus on activities that bring happiness.

Trying to impress others is one of the reasons why many people feel dejected, rejected and unwanted. In line with Pareto’s principle, you should protect the 80% that encompasses happiness and wellbeing by invoking positive thoughts and embracing simple solutions to seemingly big problems.

6 Easy tips to help you get the most out of your Guided Meditation Session

Tip 1 – Listen More Than Once

Be sure to listen to your guided meditation on more than one occasion. This is particularly important for two reasons:

1. You might need to listen a few times before you get really relaxed and comfortable with a new guided meditation. We’ve noticed that some people have a tendency to over-analyze guided meditations when they first listen. Try to just “go with the flow”.

The more you listen to your meditation, the more you will become attuned to it. You’ll become familiar with the music and you’ll start to feel acquainted with the speaker. You might need to listen to your guided meditation a few times before you really get into the groove.

2. The positive effects of guided meditations are cumulative. So even though you will experience benefits from your guided meditations from the first time you listen, with repeated use these benefits become more deeply embedded.

So relax. You can come back to your guided meditation tomorrow and the day after that for as long as you like. The more the merrier!

Tip 2 – A Little Ceremony Goes a Long Way

You can actually enhance your guided meditation by creating a sense of “ceremony” around it.

Sure – you could just pop on some headphones and listen to a guided meditation right now without any prior preparation, but imagine this…

You take a nice warm bath while you listen to some relaxing music. You dry off and get into your favorite comfy clothes. Perhaps you’ve even reserved these clothes for when you meditate. You light a candle and lower the lights in a room that is clean and warm. Now you’re REALLY ready to go on a deep guided meditation journey…

Taking extra time out to get into a relaxed state of mind before you begin your guided meditation can help to take your experience to a whole new level. You’ll go deeper, the health benefits will be greater, and you’ll emerge from the meditation feeling far more relaxed and whole. You’ll find that guided visualizations will be more vivid and much easier to connect with when you begin your meditation in a nice relaxed state.

Of course, these steps aren’t essential. Guided meditations are innately relaxing and you can enjoy them whenever you’ve got some spare time up your sleeve. But if you can afford to spend a little extra time creating a sense of occasion around your guided meditation, you’re going to double both your enjoyment and the positive benefits too.

Tip 3 – Create a Space For Meditation

A great way to enhance your guided meditation is to create a relaxing atmosphere in the place where you intend to listen to it.

Light a candle or three. Burn a little incense. Play some meditation music. Dim the lights. Goodness…I’m starting to feel relaxed just writing about it! If you like the idea of creating your own special sanctuary for meditation, stay tuned for a future email from us. We will soon send you a free e-book that’s all about how to create your own meditation room.

Tip 4 – Set Your Intention

This one simple step is one of the easiest, quickest and most powerful ways to enhance any form of meditation.

“Setting Your Intention” means focussing yourself and dedicating yourself to the guided meditation you are about to enjoy.

How to set your Intention

Setting your intentions is an incredibly easy thing to do. All you need to do is come up with a positive intention statement that helps you to feel committed to your guided meditation journey. Then speak this statement to yourself, either mentally or verbally.

Here’s an example of a statement of intention:

“I now intend to meditate deeply for the next thirty minutes. During this time I will give my full attention to this guided meditation. I devote my mind, body, and spirit to this guided meditation, which is dedicated to peace and healing.”

Your positive intention statement should be personal and meaningful to you. It need not be a page long! A few well-chosen words may be all that’s needed for you to feel a connection with your intention.

Here’s another simple example:

“I am here to meditate. That is all. I let go of everything else for now.”

The most important thing to remember when setting your intention is to take it seriously. Connect with the words as you speak them. If your intention is sincere, then it will be all the more powerful. Before you begin a guided meditation, start by repeating your positive intention statement to yourself. Notice how doing this makes you feel much more focussed and more “here and now”.

Tip 5 – Remember to Ground Yourself

Grounding is an important step after any meditation. During your meditation, you may have become very relaxed as you journeyed into your mind, so it is very important to come back down to earth. Grounding yourself basically just means getting your feet back on the ground…or more accurately back into the real world. You can try one of the following examples. They only take about 30 to 60 seconds to complete:

Example 1:
Place your feet on the floor and visualize roots extending from your feet deep into the earth.

Example 2:
Imagine yourself in your favorite location on this earth and imagine holding a red ball in your hands. Extending from the ball are tentacles like roots. Imagine the roots penetrating deep into the soil and anchoring you firmly to the earth.

Example 3:
Doing something physical like wriggling your toes and gently stamping your feet can also help you to reconnect with your physical body and come back down to earth.

Tip 6 – Come Back Slowly

When your guided meditation is complete and you have finished your grounding exercise, please don’t jump to your feet and start rushing about. You might feel drowsy, so take a few minutes to gradually return to a normal waking state.

As you slowly become more alert, you might like to contemplate your guided meditation journey and bring to mind any notable events that took place along the way. This is a great time to reflect, contemplate and assimilate what you’ve just experienced.

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