Guided meditation is art of relaxing body and mind by creating mental images, sensation, emotions, perceptions and feelings in subconscious mind. It allows us to mentally train our brains to become aware of ourselves in order to promote relaxation. Guided images have been used from ancient timed in different religions to meditate.
Guided meditation is practiced with help of experienced teacher. The instruction can be listen in audio form or direct verbal form. While going through practice, the listener can go with visual images and feel emotions to relax and witness the present moment.
How To Practice Guided Meditation
Here is a brief step-by-step guide to help you get situated before beginning your guided meditation routine.
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Step 1: Choose your best time to sit silently with yourself. Early morning or evening time is best when you are not busy with work, family and social media. It is private time to relax and balance in inner harmony.
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Step 2: Find a good place at garden or inside room where there is less sound to disturb you. Your family members, friends, or pet animals etc. should not be near to you.
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Step 3: You may have your own teacher to guide in meditation. Otherwise, you can use audio or video records which is suitable for you.
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Step 4: Sit in meditative posture or chair to find your steadiness and begin the practice easily.
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Step 5: Now play the record of guided meditation or go through the instructions of teacher. In beginning thoughts may cause hinderence, mind may not be fouced. With confidence and long practice, it will be clear to get positive impact of meditation.
Short Guided Meditation Practice
Allow yourself to settle into a comfortable position, and as you are ready, become aware of your body, mind and breath. Inhale long deep and soothing breaths. Feel expansion of your abdomen, bringing your breath all the way down into your belly, and allow each inhale to go a little deeper and each exhale to last a little longer. Imagine that with each breath, you can begin to release any tension, discomfort that you don’t to hold on to. Bring full awareness into breath to shift your attention to a place that’s peaceful and beautiful to you.
Breathe in… and breathe out.
Imagine that when you breathe in, you’re breathing in fresh energy and oxygen that’s flowing through your whole body. And imagine that with every outbreath you just let go of a little bit of tension, a little bit of discomfort, negativities. Breathe in relaxation… breathe out tension. Allow any outside sounds around you to fade into the background. They’re not important right now.
Breathe in… and breathe out.
Begin now to imagine yourself going to a place that’s peaceful to you… beautiful… and safe. And this might be a place that you’ve been to in your life, or it may be a place in your imagination. A nice place to be for a few moments. If there’s more than one place that comes to mind, simply pick the one that interests you the most right now. You can visit others at another time. Allow yourself to look around. Notice colors and shapes and the things that you see there.
Breathe in… and breathe out.
Imagine hearing any sounds in this special, peaceful place. Or maybe it’s just very quiet. Breathe in… and breathe out. You may imagine an aroma or a fragrance in this place. And you may not. Simply enjoy whatever feels right for you. Breathe in… and breathe out.
Notice the temperature and weather around you. It may feel warm or cool. Is the sun out or are there a lot of clouds? It can be anything that feels right for you, in this moment. Breathe in… and breathe out.
Allow yourself to sink into feelings of peacefulness, relaxation, and comfort. Allow yourself to relax into them and to feel that comfort; that peacefulness. There’s nothing else to do right now. You can allow yourself to just be here. As you deeply relax in this place of beauty, peacefulness, and safety, you can allow your body and mind to recharge. Just drawing from this sense of deep restfulness and comfort that’s here.
Breathe in… and breathe out.
Know that you can come back here and enjoy this anytime you wish, simply by deciding to shift your attention. Allowing your breath to deepen and slow, and imagining yourself coming to this peaceful place. And then when you are ready, allow the images to fade but bring back with you any sense of relaxation, peacefulness, refreshment. And know that you can come back and visit this place anytime you choose. This place is always within you, and even by remembering it or thinking about it, you can touch into that feeling of relaxation, peacefulness, and refreshment, and bring those qualities more and more into your daily life.
Benefits of Guided Meditation
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Lowers stress
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Experiencing freedom and expanded awareness
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Emotional and physical healing
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Enhancing creativity and memory
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Provides deep relaxation
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Increasing confidence and personal empowerment
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Opening the heart and healing relationships
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Removes negativity or self defeating behaviours
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Improving clarity in life
Guided imagery is a relaxation technique that people may use to reduce stress and can increase their well-being. It usually involves imagining peaceful scenes, events, or objects. Guided imagery should help stimulate the body’s natural relaxation response. There are many benefits to incorporating guided imagery to stressful situations or in general life. Guided imagery can be easy to do. It starts with taking a few deep breaths to relax and then follows with the technique of choice.
Visualization Meditation
Visualization meditation is one form of meditation in which you create a mental picture or scenario in your mind. Visualization is so powerful tool that when you focus your thoughts and picture your desire in your mind, you are also generating powerful feelings of having your desire now.
This type of meditation has been practiced in various ancient traditions and cultures in world. Some historical examples include: Ancient yogic and tantric traditions uesd visualization technique such as focusing on specific chakra (energy center), visualizing deities and yantra during meditation.
Science Behind Visualization
Visualization works by activating the same neural pathways in the brain as actual experiences. For instance, when you visualize an experience, your brain processes it in the same way as it would if you were actually living through that experience. This process triggers the release of neurotransmitters, including dopamine, which can help improve your mood and motivation.
Studies have shown that visualization can help enhance cognitive processes such as attention, concentration, and memory. Visualization has also been found to be effective in reducing stress and anxiety levels.
Visualize Color Breathing
This visualization technique can help with stress relief and general mood improvement. To start, think of something you want to bring into yourself. This could be a specific emotion or just positive vibes. Now, assign this feeling a color. There’s no right or wrong answer here, but consider choosing a color you like or find soothing.
Procedure:
Once you have your desired emotion and corresponding color in mind, follow these steps:
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Get comfortable, just as you would for ordinary meditation.
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Close your eyes and relax by breathing slowly and deeply.
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Visualize the color you’ve chosen.
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Continue breathing while holding that color in your thoughts, thinking about what it represents for you.
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With each inhale, imagine the desired color slowly washing over your body from head to toe. Continue breathing as you visualize the color filling your entire body, including your fingertips and toes.
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Imagine any unwanted emotions draining out of your body with each exhale, and replace them with your chosen color with each inhale.
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Continue the visualization as long as you like. You might feel lightened and more peaceful after just a minute or two.
Benefits of Visualization
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Improve performance and skill
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Increase focus and alertness
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Decrease levels of stress and anxiety
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Insomnia relief
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Boost immunity
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Alleviate migraines and chronic pain
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Decrease depression
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Boost confidence
Visualization meditation of your own choice can be practice in daily life. It is great tool to enhance mindfulness and well-being. It reduces stress and increases self-awareness. The above-mentioned tip is simple technique to bring positive impact in mind, harmonize inner well-being and happiness level will increase.