What is Guided Meditation?
Guided meditation is a meditation practice whereby you meditate using a guided track, usually soft music with either breathing or relaxation and visualization instructions, or all 3.
It is a style of meditation that can work very well for beginners or people that find that their mind is very noisy and reluctant to quieten down for that period of meditation (common amongst all meditators, especially beginners.)
This phenomenon is described by Ellen Degeneres in the video below.
She is discussing TM ( Transcendental Meditation ) in the video above, which as the official UK website says “is the purest, simplest, and most effective form of meditation the world has known. It is the pure technique of transcending – settling to the simplest, most powerful state of awareness – untainted by any mind control or thought process.”
Guided meditation can actually help with this form of meditation as focusing on the words of a guided meditation can help rid the mind of any thought processes or any need to try and focus on something other than guided instructions.
A Great FREE Guided Meditation
Below is a fantastic guided meditation from the star of law of attraction classic “The Secret” Lisa Nichols on “Discovering Your Worthiness.”
Just set aside 20 minutes, put some headphones on, close your eyes and breathe, and let Lisa do the heavy lifting for you.
Why Use a Guided Meditation?
Guided meditation is a great tool for beginners as we have mentioned above, mainly because it makes it much easier to quit your mind to focus on the words being spoken, but it also has benefits to offer even advanced practitioners.
Guided meditations vary massively in their content and can be quite specific. So the meditation above focuses on worthiness.
I have listened to guided meditations on everything from allowing more money to flow into your life, to attracting great relationships, to help sleeping, releasing anxiety and worry, being more self confident, in fact you name it and chances are there is a guided meditation available ( more than likely for free on Youtube.)
People also find that it can be a lot easier to stick to a routine when using guided meditation.Mainly because the narrator is still talking and you won’t feel your mind saying to you “Oh that’s enough for today let’s go and do something else” as the choice is not your minds, the meditation finishes when it finishes.
How To Use Guided Meditation
First, you need to decide what type of guided meditation suits you.
If there are any local groups and meet ups that do guided meditation sessions near you, you may enjoy the structure and commitment of doing it in a group environment. You will also meet some like minded people who can help you expand and make your meditation practise part of your regular routine, as well as give you advice and help with any problems you might have.
Or, if you like me you prefer to meditate in the comfort of your home, just plug a pair of headphones into your laptop and choose one of the hundreds of meditations freely available on YouTube.
Just decide whether you want a general meditation or a specific one and search accordingly. Problems getting to sleep? Search ‘guided meditation for sleep problems and insomnia’. Want to practice mindfulness? Search ‘mindfulness guided meditation’. Want to remember your dreams? Search ‘dream meditation’. You get the idea.
The important thing to remember when beginning a meditation practice is patience. Your mind will chatter incessantly at first, just detach from your thoughts and notice them, rather than engaging with them.
This is the same for everyone.
Many people just say “oh meditation doesn’t work for me, I can’t turn my mind off.” That’s the whole point, the whole practice ( and it is a practice ) is to give you that control. It’s not just something meditators can do the first time they do it, they apply themselves and it gets easier and easier.
This is the practice and skill you want to develop, to be the master of your mind rather than letting it master you.
This is so true! I have used guided meditations plenty to help me meditate. Because like you said, I was one of the people that said they couldn’t turn there mind off. But I have learned that the more you do it, the easier that it gets! It’s more about observing your thoughts as you have them, accepting them as just thoughts and letting them go! I love learning and talking about the Law of Attraction! I found you thru Twitter! Great post! 🙂 Keep inspiring others!!