Fast becoming one of the most beneficial tools for managing stress, meditation is gaining in popularity as people seek to deal with modern life. Its various benefits are touted in newspaper articles, cited by celebrities as the key to their success and it is sometimes even recommended by your GP.
But more than just stress relief, regular meditation puts you in touch with the field of "pure potentiality" as Deepak Chopra calls it – the eternal, unchanging source of all creation. And you find a connection to that source within yourself, when your mind is quiet, clear and calm.
It's true that meditation can seem difficult for beginners. It sounds easy – just sit still, watch the breath and stop your thoughts right? The trouble is, the thoughts rarely completely stop. The job of the mind is to think – that's its raison d'être – and telling it to stop thinking is just another thought, and that thought can lead to another, and another, and then to frustration that your thoughts are not, in fact, stopping.
Guided Meditation Helps You Get Started – Or Refreshes Your Practice
Guided meditation is fantastic as a tool to get you started on your meditation practice. Put simply, guided meditation is meditation with the help of a guide – who could be on a CD, podcast or even in a yoga class. It can also be useful for experienced meditators as a means to refresh or deepen their practice or focus on different areas of their life. For example, you can visualise your goals using guided meditation, help your body heal, improve your relationships, and get in touch with your spirituality, your creativity or the abundance available to all of us.
While you are in a deeply relaxed state of mind, your subconscious is open to the suggestions made in the guided meditation. You don't have to worry about your thoughts because you are listening to the guide and following their instructions as to where to put your thoughts and focus. It's easy to be distracted by your thoughts and to be carried away with them, but with the gentle encouragement of a guide, your thoughts get back on track.
Powerful Tool for Personal Development
Guided meditations often invite you to visualise yourself achieving goals, whether they are personal, professional, creative or spiritual. These techniques are now widely used by professional sporting coaches to help athletes achieve their personal best, by business coaches, and indeed successful business people themselves. Using your imagination and visualisation can be a powerful tool for personal development to effect positive change in your life.
By meditating, you access the field of pure potentiality, where you are already everything you dream you can be. Finding that quiet space within and experiencing the "power of now" can literally change your life.
Originally published on Jun 07, 2011
