Guided meditation refers to an approach in which the process of meditation is led by a voice that soothes the person or people meditating into a deep state of clarity and peacefulness. The use of particular phrases repeated several times, as well as bringing up specific images may help to bring on a feeling of calm and inner peace.
Where Is The Guiding Voice From?
Sometimes, the guiding voice is that of a more skilled person in meditation. This person will be present and he or she will provide guided imagery to help the others present to get into that deep meditative state that triggers inner calm.
More often, the guidance is provided via an audio recording that is played and listened to during a meditation session. These recordings are usually of experts of meditation in various religious groups that regard meditation as a crucial part of religious practice.
What Are The Benefits Of Guided Meditation?
It helps novices to easily get into a meditative state. Meditation is primarily about quieting the mind and body so that a deep connection with one’s inner self can be attained. Novices find it hard to get into this state because their mind is always in a flurry, flitting from this thought to that thought; and never really calming down.
Guided imagery helps such people to focus on what the guide is saying and thus lock out all else from their mind and in the end they gradually get their mind quiet. As the novices get more and more skilled, they can then start meditating on their own without much difficulty in controlling their mind and body.
The other benefit is that guided visualization helps to focus attention upon the resolution of a particular challenge that one may be grappling with. With the help of the recording, the person meditating is helped to look at the problem in a different way so that by the time the session is over, they are calm since they will have started appreciating their issue from a new perspective; a perspective that makes it less overwhelming than it originally was. Clarity or focus is the result that usually comes after a meditation session of this nature since the panicky state has been replaced by a calm consideration of the situation.
Final Thoughts
As we have seen, guided meditation can be a very useful approach to handling various challenges that we face in life. It helps people take a break from the frantic pace of everyday life so that their minds and bodies are calmed enough to relax. It can also be used alongside other treatments for a variety of ailments like post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or high blood pressure. Thus, we all need it whether for the simple purpose of centering our lives or getting through problems that we face day by day.
About the Author: Christine writes for TheHealingWaterfall.com, which has created some of the best-selling guided imagery programs of all time.
