Guided Meditation

We all know that meditating is great for the body, mind and soul. We plan to do it, try it out, and sometimes end up with disappointing results. 

Meditating when you want to can be extremely difficult. You get distracted, thoughts keep passing through your head, and you can't stop mentally talking to yourself. This is very common among beginners who are just starting out. It might also be an occasional problem even for those who have more experience.

Something that might help you through that difficulty is guided meditation. This is meditating while listening to a voice (usually an audio recording) which helps to guide the process. It can give you wonderful results and leave you with a better sense of accomplishment than unaided meditation. 

You can either make a recording yourself to use in your meditation sessions, or buy a ready made CD or tape. The latter option will probably have better sound quality, but is more expensive.  Making a recording yourself is a great way to test the waters and see if this is something you like. If you want to continue with guided meditation, you can buy a few CDs to use later.

If you plan to make a guided meditation audio yourself, you'll need a microphone, a sound recorder, and maybe a CD burner if you plan to play this recording on your CD player. Or you can use the record feature on your tape player and a blank tape if you choose.

You probably feel like you need some guidance to help you through this recording, since it's new to most people. That's not a problem – we all need a little help sometimes, which doesn't mean we're spiritually inadequate.

Here are some guided meditation practices that make a great meditation recording:

• Speak slowly and clearly.
• You may want to use some soft, relaxing music or binaural beats in the background.
• State your purpose or goals for the meditation right at the beginning of a recording. Maybe you want to reach a higher consciousness, or forgive an old friend. This will help you to focus your meditations around them.
• Don't expect too much of yourself. It's okay if you stutter a few times or find yourself at a loss for words. This shouldn't have too much of an effect on your meditation. 
• Allow yourself lots of silence. You don't need to talk throughout the entire recording. You should give yourself suggestions and positive reinforcements in the recording, then allow time for the actual meditating.
• Focus on positivity and gratitude. Meditating about those things will improve just about every aspect of your life, so don't be shy about reminding yourself to focus on it. 

I encourage you to give guided meditation sessions a try.  You don't have much to lose, and you may just find that it's your favorite way to meditate.