Help Your Clients and Yourself To Have More Self Compassion

Have you ever noticed how hard your clients can be on themselves? What would happen if they were kinder to themselves as they achieved their life goals? Loving-kindness or Metta meditation can help!

Kindness is one of the most powerful acts we can engage in as human beings, and it’s also highly transformative. Kindness can vastly change our inner-state from stress to ease, and you may be pleasantly surprised to know that ‘random acts of kindness’ have been scientifically proven to reduce stress and increase happiness.

Why is kindness so important?

When we experience kindness, we are often deeply touched. It’s easier to be present and to express love. We experience a greater sense of safety, generosity and a higher connection to the world around us. It doesn’t matter if you’re the recipient, the giver or someone who simply watches an act of kindness, we feel good just being around kindness.

It’s a positive vibe that promotes health, boosts your immune system and allows you to feel more gratitude on a daily basis. And the good news is, it’s simple to practice and share with your clients.

How can I learn to be more kind to myself while guiding my clients?

When we initially think of kindness, we might think of being kind to a loved one or stranger. We rarely think about how powerful it is to be kind to ourselves. But if we cannot be kind to ourselves, we cannot understand the essence of true compassion. We are each part of the whole. This is why it’s important for us to learn how to be kind to ourselves so we can transmit this wisdom to our clients.

Continued practice through ‘Metta’ or ‘loving-kindness’ meditation will help you learn to cultivate higher states of compassion and empathy. Metta meditation is also known as the practice of loving-kindness. And the practice of kindness always begins within.

If you can show your clients how to be less judgmental and more accepting of themselves, you offer them a lifelong gift that allows them to create their life dreams with more joy and ease.

Guided Meditation: Transform Your Life With A Blissful Experience

What does Metta meditation involve?

In the Metta meditation approach, you repeat a series of simple phrases. By repeating these phrases continuously you promote friendliness and compassion towards all living beings, including yourself:

• May all beings be free
• May all beings be peaceful
• May all beings be happy

Begin by sitting quietly with your spine straight and your body relaxed. Then start the practice of Metta by sending loving-kindness to yourself. Next imagine sending loving-kindness to a loved one, then a person you feel neutral about, and finally someone you are deeply challenged by. You can end your Metta meditation by sending loving-kindness to all beings around the globe.

Here is a 5 Minute Guided Metta Meditation Video

Below is a free guided 5 minute Metta meditation practice for loving-kindness. You can use this for yourself and also use this video meditation to guide your clients towards greater self-compassion, confidence, and self-esteem.

When should I use loving-kindness or Metta meditation with my clients?

You can show your clients how to be more kind to themselves by guiding 5 minutes of Metta meditation before a coaching session. You’ll find it relaxes the mind and helps put both of you at ease.

In addition, whenever you find your client being hard on him or herself, suggest a short guided Metta meditation. They will receive the calming benefit and appreciate the time to slow down to connect with themselves.

What are the benefits of Metta meditation?

You will be amazed at how transformative and rejuvenating it is to practice 20 minutes of Metta meditation a day. You may notice in the beginning that it releases a great deal of tension and stress from the body and mind. It also helps you feel higher levels of compassion for yourself and your clients.

It’s been shown that 20 minutes of Metta meditation a day for 21 days can boost dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin – the “feel good” hormones. The practice of kindness is good for us, inside and out. It decreases pain, slows down aging and helps you feel more energized on a day to day basis.

You’ll also find that if you’re working with challenging people or on difficult projects, the simple practice of Metta, wishing all people peace, will help to dissolve tensions large and small as well as help cultivate more bonding and empathy.

How long should I spend doing Metta meditation?

If you are new to meditation, you can simply listen to this Metta meditation practice for 5 minutes a day. Then you can practice on your own and work your way up to 10 minutes a day, then eventually working up to 20 minutes a day.

Wrap-up

Loving-kindness or Metta meditation helps people learn how to extend their circle of compassion. In the beginning, everyone tends to find it easier to send loving-kindness or ‘Metta’ to people they love. But with time, it gets easier to send Metta to those who challenge you, as well as yourself. And the more you develop this skill, the easier it is to share it with your clients.

Contributing Author: Sura is a highly experienced Meditation Coach and Trainer, and is passionate about helping people tap into their joy through the practice of meditation. She first discovered meditation when in severe pain while working on Wall Street. After receiving profound healing benefits from her sitting practice, she left New York to study meditation in Asia and went on to teach meditation around the globe. She offers certified Meditation Coach training courses based on her approach, Sura Flow, which includes meditation, energy cultivation, and healing. Her work can be seen on Huffington Post, Daily Om, and other major publications. Learn more about Sura and her work at SuraCenter.com where you can receive a free meditation toolkit and begin a practice of daily calm.

Meditation was once thought of as a practice that is generally done by New Age hippies. The Beatles were a big fan of it. The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the Transcendental Meditation Movement, was their spiritual advisor. Many people used to think that meditation was a fad and that it was “cool” to meditate.

However, in recent years, nobody thinks of meditation as a weird practice limited to hippies, Buddhist monks, or yogis. Many average Joes and Janes meditate to reap the benefits that meditation has to offer. Scientists have examined meditation’s effects on the body and mind and hundreds of studies have proven its benefits on one’s overall health. Technology has made meditation even easier. Nowadays, you can purchase a guided meditation and easily download it to your iPod or any other mp3 player.

What Is 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.

Anyone approaching their golden years can tremendously benefit from guided meditation. It can help you deal with the challenges and difficulties that most middle-aged and elderly people face. Not only will meditation improve your health, but it will also enable you to deal with your emotions in the healthiest possible way.

This meditation guide talks about meditation for beginners in general and discusses what meditation is not. However, in the succeeding sections, it zeroes in on guided meditation, the easiest form of meditation. This article will help you understand what guided meditation is and how it differs from meditation and hypnosis.

The benefits of guided meditation are also discussed here. You will also see how it can improve your mental and physical health. This report mentions some studies that have verified the claims made by proponents of meditation on its positive effects on one’s body and mind. It also explains how guided meditation can help you with life’s challenges and how meditation can help you attain specific goals.

What is Guided Meditation? A Free Guided Meditation Download…

This meditation guide will also teach you how to choose the best-guided meditation audio for you. You may hire a meditation guide, but it would be a lot cheaper and more convenient for you to purchase a guided meditation recording. However, you must learn how to choose the right guided meditation recording for yourself so that you will get the most out of the audio and you will not suffer from buyer’s remorse.

Find Even More Free Guided Meditation Downloads From Meditation Life Skills HERE…

This meditation guide will also guide you through some things you need to consider before you start meditating. Making sure that your environment is conducive to meditation is crucial. This report offers some practical advice on things like choosing where and when to meditate.

Meditation is a journey to self-awareness that can change your life for the better. If you have not meditated before, you are going to wish you had started sooner. Meditation may seem to be intimidating to first-timers. However, it does not have to be difficult. Guided meditation will make the experience easier and more worthwhile for you. This report is meant to help you learn more about this wonderful journey.

Learn How To Meditate

Meditation is narrowing your focus and concentrating your attention on an object such as a word or a phrase, an image, or your breathing. Because your nervous system reacts to fewer stimuli when you meditate, your brainwaves slow down. Your mind becomes calm and relaxed and the tension in every area of your body melts away.

There are many meditation techniques which have been practiced throughout the ages. These include repetition of a mantra (a meaningful word or phrase), directing your attention to your bodily sensations, focusing on a geometric shape or an image such as a mandala (a Buddhist or Hindu representation of the universe), visualizing a “spirit guide,” and simply being aware of the present moment.

What Meditation is not

There are many misconceptions about meditation. In the Western world, the word meditation is used in different contexts. To understand the context in which the word is used throughout this article, it helps to understand what meditation is not.

Alan Watts Meditation Hack (Awakening The Mind)

Meditation is not thinking about a particular subject. The word meditate is sometimes used interchangeably with think, contemplate, or reflect as in “You should meditate on what the future holds for you.” Thinking is a purposeful mental process and it usually involves your judgment. For instance, you may think about a problem to arrive at a possible solution. Meditation, on the other hand, is simply directing your focus on something without making any judgment. Thinking can be mentally exhausting, but meditation refreshes the mind.

Meditation is not fantasizing. Although some meditation techniques use visualization, it is different from daydreaming. When you fantasize about something, you temporarily escape from the realities of life by simply entertaining pleasurable thoughts as they come. On the other hand, meditation is a focused mental activity that leads you to a state of “thoughtless awareness” where your mind becomes clear. Meditation may be a temporary respite from the pressures of life, but it equips you and strengthens you as you meet the challenges that life throws at you.

Meditation is not repeating affirmations. Most people swear by the effectiveness of repeating positive affirmations. You may use a positive affirmation as a mantra. However, if you simply repeat an affirmation mechanically for a certain number of times without entering the meditative state, it will not work. If you are in a meditative state, the affirmation will make its way into your subconscious and will leave an indelible imprint in your mind.

Meditation is not praying. Prayer is generally taken to mean a conversation with God or a divine being. When you meditate, you do not converse with God. You simply focus on something. However, you can use the name of the God you worship as a mantra or focus your attention on your representation of God while you meditate.

Best Guided Meditation For You

Guided meditation is a form of meditation where an expert verbally guides you into a deep state of relaxation and serenity.

This may be done with a live person or with a recording. It is usually combined with hypnotic suggestions to achieve a specific goal such as self-confidence, weight loss, overcoming anxiety, getting better sleep, achieving peak performance, and many more.

A guided meditation session usually begins with the meditation guide asking you to either sit comfortably or lie down. You may be led through a series of visualizations that will bring you to a meditative state or you may be made to listen to a series of positive suggestions. Sometimes, your guide may do both. You will feel peaceful and calm, and your mind becomes clearer. Before the meditation session ends, your guide will lead you back to a state of alert wakefulness.

Immediately after the session, when you open your eyes, you should feel refreshed. Your senses may be heightened. Colors may become crisp and vivid. Sounds may be clearer. You will feel a general sense of well-being.

Guided Meditation Techniques For Beginners

What Makes Guided Meditation Different from Meditation?

Meditation is usually described as the deliberate direction of attention towards a point of focus such as a mantra and/or a mental picture. The meditator gently pushes away any intruding thoughts to attain a state of consciousness where she is aware of what is going on within her thoughts at the present moment.

There are many forms of meditation. Guided meditation is just one of them. You may meditate on your own by repeating and directing your focus on a mantra. However, this type of meditation requires more discipline and practice.

Sometimes, it is difficult to get into a meditative state because you have to keep distractions at bay and to maintain your focus. Some people do get frustrated when they try to meditate. They give up altogether, wondering whether they were doing it right or wrong.

Guided meditation is sometimes called “the lazy man’s meditation” because it takes less effort than when you try to meditate on your own. All you need to do is get into a comfortable position, close your eyes, listen, and let the other person lead you into a meditative state. The voice of your meditation guide helps you to stay focused on the meditation session and is likely to keep you from nodding off and falling asleep.

Is Guided Meditation the Same as Hypnosis?

Strictly speaking, guided meditation is the process of leading someone into a meditative state and nothing more. On the other hand, hypnosis is effecting a behavioral change while a person is in a meditative state. When you are in a meditative state, your subconscious becomes open to positive suggestions.

Some guided meditation recordings and sessions have elements of hypnotic suggestion. You will be guided to an inner journey that will help improve one or two areas of your life. Guided meditation usually has a two-fold benefit. You reap the benefits that meditation generally has to offer while attaining a specific goal.

What Can Guided Meditation Do for You?

As already mentioned, many researchers from various medical fields have found that meditation has a positive effect on a person’s overall health. A number of life-threatening medical conditions have been blamed on stress. Meditation can help you deal with stress in a positive way so that stress does not make you sick.

Meditation also protects you from cognitive decline. Studies show that meditation slows down the aging of the brain and preserves one’s cognitive abilities. The results of the tests conducted by researchers showed that long-term meditators in an old age group performed better in attention and memory tests.

Regular meditation promotes mental health. It can actually protect you against mental illness by making positive changes within the brain itself. Meditation has been found to increase axonal density. The higher the axonal density in your brain is, the stronger your neural connections are. This puts this old saying to rest: “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” If you have the ability to build strong neural connections in your brain, it means that you are able to learn new skills regardless of your age.

Guided Meditation For Reducing Anxiety and Stress In 12 Minutes…

Meditation also enhances the production of myelin, a white substance made of protein and phospholipids that protects nerve cells and is essential for the proper functioning of the nervous system.

Research has shown that those who meditated for at least 30 minutes a day for two months had measurable changes in brain density especially in the locations of the brain associated with memory, empathy, stress, and self-awareness.

Studies have also shown that meditation helps improve performance at work and in school. Researchers at the University of California in Santa Barbara have found that meditation improves working memory, verbal reasoning, and focus.

Meditation actually enhances the synchronization of the left and right hemispheres of the brain, making you more creative and more analytical at the same time.

Brainwave Entrainment: Achieve Deep Relaxation and Emotional Balance

A study published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience Researchers reports that you can still benefit from meditation even when you are not actively meditating. Meditation changes the amygdala’s response to emotional stimuli, and this effect continues even after meditation.

Facing Life’s Challenges with Guided Meditation

Life is stressful even for young people. However, as women age, they come face-to-face with emotional and health issues. They find themselves losing their self-confidence and self-esteem as their looks change and their physical and mental abilities decline. Hormonal changes intensify the negative feelings that postmenopausal women experience.

Some women cope with stress by overeating, drinking, and smoking. However, these are poor ways to deal with stress. Poorly managed stress and anxiety can lead to a host of physical and mental problems such as depression, difficulties in concentration, sleep disturbances, anxiety, loss of self-esteem, weight gain, headaches, and even cancer.

External events, as well as other people’s words and actions towards you, do not actually make you either happy or miserable. You create your own inner world with how you respond to external events. Guided meditation can help you respond positively to the challenges of life by helping you achieve clarity and by relieving negative emotions. It also helps you to be less emotionally reactive to unpleasant or upsetting experiences.

A study recognized by the American Psychological Association has found that people who have meditated anywhere from one month to 29 years are able to detach themselves from emotionally upsetting pictures and are able to focus better on cognitive tasks better than those who have not meditated at all.

Women who suffer from psychological trauma, such as the loss of a loved one, can benefit greatly from meditation. Sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) swear by its healing power. Some army veterans take meditation classes where they learn meditation techniques that help them deconstruct thoughts and emotions that trigger negative reactions associated with PTSD.

If you are prone to depression, regular meditation can help you feel centered and balance. Studies reveal that meditation allows you to use a part of your brain that is inactive or underactive when you are depressed. It can also help you overcome self-defeating thoughts and emotions which usually occur when you are depressed.

Guided Meditation: Transform Your Life With A Blissful Experience

Guided meditation can also empower you to get rid of your bad habits and to improve yourself. It allows you to see yourself objectively and thus overcome your blind spots. When you see you see yourself as you are, you become aware of your shortcomings and you can then take specific actions to overcome them.

Meditation leads you to a greater acceptance of the way things are so you can better deal with emotionally challenging situations. It can help you to think objectively, detach yourself emotionally from your problems and channel your energies toward solving them. You will be better able to cope with stressful situations and respond positively to challenges and difficulties.

Using Guided Meditation For Relaxation

Stress is associated with a number of serious medical conditions. It weakens the immune system leaving the body defenseless against diseases including cancer. Stress is also linked with heart disease as well as premature cellular and cognitive aging.

However, stress is unavoidable. There is no such thing as a stress-free life no matter how well you plan for life’s eventualities. Some of the most stressful situations in life are unexpected.

The most important benefit of meditation is that it relieves stress and lowers the body’s cortisol level. Cortisol is a hormone released by the body in response to stress. When your cortisol levels are constantly elevated, it can lead to quite a number of disorders including thyroid and metabolic dysfunction, anxiety, depression, a compromised immune system, abnormal glucose levels, hypertension, and many others.

Stress can be managed so that you do not suffer from its harmful effects. Meditation is one of the best ways to manage and minimize the impact of stress in your life. Those who regularly practice meditation claim that it improves mood increases mental alertness, and raises self-awareness.

Regular meditation helps you maintain cardiovascular health. When you are meditating, your heart rate decreases and your blood pressure goes down. Many health practitioners recommend meditation, in addition to a healthy diet and exercise, for the prevention of hypertension.

Dr. Dean Ornish, founder, and president of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute conducted a study that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. Ornish found that it is possible to reverse heart disease without surgery or drugs by simply implementing some lifestyle changes. This includes switching to a low-fat diet, exercising regularly, and meditating daily.

A National Institutes of Health (NIH) panel found meditation to be useful in treating patients with chronic pain and sleeping problems such as insomnia. It helps the brain to better process pain and emotions by controlling the cortical alpha rhythms. While there are is no scientific evidence that suggests that meditation can cure illnesses, it is useful in preventing diseases and improving the quality of life of those who are already sick.

For instance, researchers have found that breast cancer survivors who practiced meditation have less hot flashes and can sleep better than those who have not. An analysis of 10 studies has found that meditation promotes mental health among cancer patients. People with rheumatoid arthritis found that meditation reduces the psychological distress associated with their condition.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine states that meditation can minimize your need for health care services. It has also been found that regular meditation can reduce chronic pain, PMS, anxiety, cholesterol, and substance abuse.

According to a study published by Perspectives on Psychological Science, meditation has four components: regulation of attention, body awareness, self-awareness, and regulation of emotion. While meditating, you regulate your attention so you can be aware of your body.

Awareness of your body leads to awareness of your emotions, which makes it easy for you to regulate them. Also, when you are aware of your emotions and the things that you focus on, you attain self-awareness. When you are aware of your physical and emotional needs, you can take steps to improve your physical and mental health.

Choosing The Best Guided Meditation That’s Right for You

With all the high tech gadgets, software, and royalty-free music available today, anybody can record guided meditation audio. There are probably hundreds of free guided meditation recordings that you can download off the Internet.

However, it takes an expert to create good guided meditation audio. Some of the good audios are free, but many of them are available for sale.

Do not buy guided meditation audio without listening to a sample of the recording. A sample should be at least a minute long. Because Amazon and iTunes limit samples to 30-seconds, you should visit the website of the creator where there are no such restrictions. Every creator of guided meditation audio should have a website where longer audio samples are available for download or streaming.

Why is it important to listen to a sample? Not all guided meditation recordings are the same. Some guided meditation recordings may have poor sound quality. You may also find a recording disconcerting instead of relaxing and you may not get the benefit that you want from it. Worse, it may do more harm than good.

Here are some of the things that you must listen to when you play a sample:

Listen to the speaker’s voice. How does it make you feel? Does it feel soothing? Does the speaker drone on in a monotonous voice, making you bored and sleepy? Some creators of guided meditation audios claim that the recording influences your subconscious mind while you are asleep. However, you don’t want to sleep during a guided meditation session. What you want to attain is a state of relaxed wakefulness. You may also want to follow the visualization technique in the recording.

You also want the speaker to talk at the right speed. If the speaker talks too fast, you may have a hard time following his or her instructions. If the speaker talks too slowly, you might find yourself dozing off. You might also want to check the speaker’s tone of voice. You may find a high-pitched voice distracting and unpleasant. A low-pitched voice may sound scary and weird to some. You might also prefer a male speaker over a female one or vice versa. Watch out for accents that may either be distracting or difficult to understand.

Listen to the background music. The music should be calming and relaxing. It should be pleasing not only to the ears but also to the spirit. Avoid weird sounds that are usually produced by synthesizers. There should be no loud, startling sounds. Believe it or not, some guided meditation audios have background music that leaves you frazzled instead of relaxed.

Some guided meditation audios use pleasant nature sounds like the chirping of birds, the gurgling of a brook, or the crashing of sea waves. Some use flute, singing bowl, sitar, and tambourine. Remember, the music should be relaxing and should help you focus.

Listen to the script. First of all, the script should match your specific meditation goal. For instance, it makes no sense to listen to a guided meditation for losing weight if your goal is to overcome anxiety. Also, make sure that the script is written in a language you understand. There are guided meditation scripts written for members of specific organizations or religions with terms that you, as an outsider, may not understand. Also, make sure that the script does not contain anything that runs contrary to your own religious convictions.

Usually, the first part of the script tells you what the guided meditation session is for and should reassure you that you will be safe throughout the entire session. Then, the speaker guides you to a relaxed, peaceful state. You may be led to visualization or the speaker may feed your subconscious with positive suggestions while you are in a relaxed state. In the last part of the guided meditation session, the speaker should bring you back to alert wakefulness and you should feel refreshed and calm.

Best Way To Meditate – Some Basic, Practical Things You Need to Consider

Before you start meditating, you should know that there are a few factors that can greatly affect the quality of your guided meditation session.

First is your physical environment. Is it conducive to meditation? You are going to need a place where you will not be distracted. You may need to turn your phone off or tone down the volume of the ringing tone so that you do not hear it if somebody calls while you are meditating.

If that is not possible, you may need to meditate in an area of your home where you will not hear the phone ring. You can also tell your family and friends to avoid calling you at the specific time of the day when you intend to meditate.

You also need to be in a comfortable place. Is the temperature of the room comfortable enough? Is it well-ventilated? Discomfort can be very distracting so make sure that you are as comfortable as possible.

3 Easy Steps To Start Your Own Meditation Practice At Home

Next, make sure that you are wearing the right clothes when you meditate. No, this does not mean that you need to go shopping for new clothes and be on the lookout for the latest “meditation fashion.” The right clothes for meditation are those that you are most comfortable wearing. You can even meditate in your pajamas. Just make sure that you are comfortable with the fabric and that it does not make you itch. Your clothes should not be too tight and should allow your skin to breathe.

The best time to meditate is in the morning, right after you wake up. Your mind and body have been refreshed by sleep, and the day’s worries and concerns are still far from your consciousness. Thus, it will be easy for you to stay focused and aware of the present moment. However, if you can’t meditate in the morning, any time of the day will do.

You may find it a bit of a challenge though to meditate at certain times of the day. For instance, you want to meditate at the end of the day, just before you sleep. However, you might often find yourself too tired or too sleepy to meditate. When you meditate in the middle of the day, this is when you are likely to be interrupted or distracted. That said, if you get into the habit of meditating at a certain time of the day, you might be able to come up with good ways to deal with the difficulties that you encounter while meditating.

You also have to consider how often you should meditate and for how long. Meditation is most effective if done frequently and regularly. Fifteen minutes of meditation per day is definitely better than three hours of meditation once a week. If you are going to use guided meditation audio, the length of your guided meditation session must run the entire length of the recording especially if that audio is tailor-fitted for a specific goal or purpose.

You are least likely to get the results that you hope for if you do not finish the entire recording. You either have to look for a shorter recording that will produce the results you want or make the time for regular guided meditation sessions every day. Considering the positive effects of meditation on both the body and the mind, you will find that the time you spend on guided meditations is worth it.

How to Use a Guided Meditation Audio

Free Guided Meditation For Blissful Deep Inner Peace and Relaxation

Listening to guided meditation audio makes meditation a lot easier for you. However, you must do it properly. Here a few pointers that will help you get the most of a guided meditation session:

1. Find a quiet, comfortable place to meditate. This could be anywhere as long as you will not be distracted or interrupted.

2. Take some time to settle into that place (at least 5 to 10 minutes) before you meditate, especially if you are tired or just had a rough day.

3. Play the guided meditation audio. If you are going to use an mp3 player or an iPod, make sure that you will be comfortable with the earphones or the headphones you wear. Follow the directions of your guide. Close your eyes and be in a relaxed position, either sitting or lying down, depending on what your guide tells you.

4. As the voice guides you in your inner journey, allow your imagination to enter into the story. Make your visualizations and other imagined sensations as vivid as possible. Be aware of the emotions that you experience during the session. If you get distracted by noise, itch, or intruding thoughts, do not allow yourself to feel angry or annoyed. Simply acknowledge the distraction and gently return to the meditation.

5. At the end of the guided meditation session, do not be in a hurry to open your eyes. Let your body tell you when you are ready. When you open them, do it slowly.

Talking to Your Family About Meditation

While meditation is becoming more and more popular these days, some people find that their loved ones do not support them in their meditation practice. Some are even antagonistic towards it.

A few religious groups still believe in the myth that meditation is evil and that it leaves people vulnerable to the devil’s tactics. Some of your family members might feel that your meditation practice is robbing them of your time and attention.

If you are one of those who have a hard time getting your family to support you, the best that you can do is to educate them about meditation. They might initially be against it, but once they see what medical researchers have to say about meditation, they are likely going to be interested in it. They may even want to try it.

Do not let the people close to you discourage you from meditating. If you persevere, you will soon see positive changes in your life. Your loved ones will see these changes, too. Once they see a happier and healthier you, they will have a hard time arguing against meditation and they may eventually have a change of heart.

If your family, especially your children, feels threatened by meditation because it takes some of your time and it is high in your list of daily priorities, let them know that you are meditating, not only for your own sake but for theirs as well. Explain to them that you need to be healthy and happy so you can better take care of them. You can invite them to try meditation. Again, if they see the positive changes that meditation brings to your life, they might be willing to try it.

If there are people in your life who are stubbornly against meditation, you will have to tell them to respect your decision to make meditation a part of your daily life. You also need to respect their beliefs and attitudes toward meditation. If they are against it, let them be and ask them to let you do as you please.

You may want to meditate on the sly, but this is not a good idea. The worry about getting caught will always stay at the back of your mind. Besides, you may be robbing your loved ones of the opportunity to learn more about meditation and what it can do for their lives if you just keep quiet about it.

Conclusion – How To Start Meditating

Guided meditation can improve almost every aspect of your life. Scientific research has shown that it can make you physically and mentally healthy. It can help you perform well in the workplace.

It can relieve stress and helps you deal with challenges that come with aging. Meditation also helps you see yourself as you really are and overcome your shortcomings and bad habits.

However, to make guided meditation work and to get most out of it, you must first understand what it is. You also need to carefully choose the guided meditation audio before you purchase one. Be sure to listen to a sample and find out if the music, the speaker’s voice, and the guided meditation script are all right for you.

Life is meant to be beautiful. Guided meditation gives you a whole new perspective on life. You are able to see things clearly and objectively without being blinded by your emotions. It also empowers you and helps you to be in charge of your thoughts and feelings so you can re-create your inner world.

Meditation Techniques For Beginners To Start Meditating Today

Certainly, you want to have less stress, less pain, and more happiness and peace of mind. You may want your life to change for the better. However, keep in mind that all change must start from within. Guided meditation may be just what you need to make life better for yourself.

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.

Guided Candle Meditation – Step By Step Guide

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.

Creating Your Own Private Meditation Room In Your Home

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.

Free Guided Meditation For Blissful Deep Inner Peace and Relaxation

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.

Angelic Chakra Cleansing Meditation Guided Meditation Mp3

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.

Guide to Mindfulness & Meditation for Children

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.

What is Guided Meditation? A Free Guided Meditation Download…

Guided meditation is a simple strategy that can help you obtain better health and 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.