The choice between going it alone or using guided meditation is sometimes a difficult one to make. On surface, it seems that when you are thinking about starting a meditation program, it should be easy enough to do at home without much help. I mean what’s the problem? You find a quiet time and place, you sit down, you meditate. No problem right?

Well the reasons to use guided meditation versus this kind of “lone wolf” attitude are grounded in the real world experiences of most people who have tried meditation before including…

* If you go it alone, it’s easy to let yourself compromise the discipline. A guided program, even if it is recorded gives you something to live up to. If you are just working from a book or a web page with some general guidelines, it’s too easy to “customize” the program to suit your comfort. And there is some real value to the disciplines of meditation, even the uncomfortable ones.

* One word – distractions. The image of sitting in a quiet room meditating for hours is a tranquil one but the truth is, we are easily distracted. You can get pulled away from the focus of meditation by sounds in the house, outside, your own thoughts or even by sleepiness. Having an external guided meditation resource, that is much less of a problem.

* Guided meditation gives you something to focus on. Much of meditation is learning to focus your mind and your consciousness on a mantra, an object or on breathing. But if you have a guided method to give you the focus point along with instructions and encouragement, you are much more likely to be successful with each meditation session and, as a result, more successful in your long range program.

* Guided meditation is much less lonely. The draw back of meditation is you often go through your routines alone. You have to in order to reduce the distractions that can keep you from a successful session. But if you have family in the next room or people out there enjoying each others fellowship, you may be tempted to hurry your program to join the fun. A guided meditation regimen gives you some social contact even while meditating.

These are just a few of the reasons that guided meditation will do more to assure that you will have a program you stick with and you don’t have that frustration of having tried something and gave up on it. So let’s get some basic ideas how to use guided meditation for greater results in your meditation program.

The Variety of Guided Meditation Resources

The term “guided meditation” gives the image of sitting in a classroom with an instructor quietly speaking to you as you focus on his or her voice and learn to reach that level of contemplation that you a want. And to be sure, direct classroom meditation is one of the best forms of guided meditation. Very often you can find a guided meditation class or instructor using a local free school directory. Or there may be a number of fine institutions in town that you can use. Just ask friends and make sure they are reputable before signing up.

But direct participation in classes is not the only form of guided meditation you can use. Others include…

* A book on Tape. We discourage using a book for your guided meditation even though there are some very good books on the market about the subject. But the act of having to reach over and pick up a book for the next step in your meditation session can be a huge distraction from your meditative state. The book on tape approach takes away the page and replaces it with a voice.

* Television. Just as there are ample exercise programs on yoga, you can often find fine guided meditation programs on your cable TV stations. Check with your meditation teacher to see if he or she or the organization they work with either has a program on or knows of one they might recommend.

* A CD or record that is a guided meditation course. A good record store will have dozens of good programs you can use that will guide you from the beginner stage to an advanced level using guided meditation techniques. And if you need more time at one step, you can repeat that lesson as often as you need to for no additional cost. If you don’t have a large book or record store to shop for a meditation course in, you can always use Amazon or one of the other online services to find what you need.

* The Internet. A simple “Google” of guided meditation will return a wealth of sites that offer services to help you out. Shop wisely and make sure that if you must subscribe to the service, they are reputable and will deliver as promised. But it’s a viable option because you can use your computer room for your meditation retreat and work through the guided meditation with the aid of the online instructor.

The Value of a Plan.

These are all fine resources for you to use to get a guided meditation program moving. The important thing to use as a guideline is that you will do best when you have a plan. Look at the index or curriculum of a guided meditation course however you access it to see that there is a path to greater and greater success that you can look forward to by enrolling yourself in a guided meditation program.

Then once you commit to the program, commit to it with all you have. Don’t miss a session and be fully committed to what you are trying to do while you are in your guided meditation session. That level of engagement is probably the number one reason why you can look forward to being successful in your guided meditation approach and that you can look for all the great rewards from meditation that you want and that you deserve for your dedication and hard work.

Want to calm your mind, super-charge your energy level and manifest what you truly desire in life?  We’ve created a FREE audio e-course to get you started.  You’ll get guided meditations, free tips and techniques to help you transform your life from the inside-out.  If your happiness is important, click here to sign up

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There is an ancient instruction from a Hebrew holy text that says “Get Thee a Teacher”. And whether you are religious or not, this is great advice. Meditation itself is an ancient art so it makes sense that we need to seek out the perfect meditation instruction to be sure we are guided to greater and greater success with our meditation exercises.

Meditation instruction to be sure is a discipline where, to say it kindly, some are better than others. So when you are looking for the kind of meditation instruction that will benefit you most, it is important that you have a way of measuring whether the teacher offering his or her services to you is competent.

But on top of that, meditation instruction can be very different depending on what discipline the teacher is coming from and what the focus of the instruction is on. Some meditation instruction will be focused on the benefit you are seeking. Another might place a high priority on the rituals and historical practices themselves whereas another may emphasize the spiritual side of things. All of these meditation instruction approaches have their own value. But which one is right for you?

Finding a Good One.

Just like in any field of expertise, you will find practitioners of meditation instruction who know what they are doing and others who clearly do not. Moreover, there will be a percentage, hopefully a small one, who are “quacks” and all show with no results. So you need some criteria for evaluation the meditation instruction service you are thinking about using. Some great ways to check out whether this meditation instruction service is on track are…

§ How long have they been in business? If the meditation instruction service has a history of success, they will proud of that and brag on it. They have to be good at what they do to stay in business so you have a right to check them out.

§ What is their training? Meditation grew out of a number of ancient religious rites and disciplines. For each meditation instruction technique, they should know their history and be familiar with the body of work, from the ancient texts to modern teachings on meditation instruction. Have them “show off” their library and their certificates of accomplishment. Again, they should be proud of these and be happy you asked to know that they are well trained in meditation instruction.

§ Check out their facility. If the meditation instruction company is professional and well trained on how to help you learn, they will have rooms prepared with the right tools, furniture and atmosphere that is most conducive to meditation. They will also have a library of good meditation instruction books that they can use for reference when they providing you with meditation instruction.

§ References. This is bar far the most powerful key for knowing that the people you are going to rely on to teach you meditation techniques are experts. By asking people who have used them for their own meditation instruction, you can get first had knowledge on how well they do.

The Variety of Meditation Instruction.

It seems the variety of types of meditation are as diverse as the people who take advantage of the discipline. Therefore, part of finding how what the perfect meditation instruction you might seek out is to come to an understanding of the different types of meditation that are commonly used.

Two things will drive the focus on a meditation instruction technique. The first is the history of the discipline. If the meditation they wish to teach you grew up out of an ancient culture or the discipline of a profession that has long benefited from meditation, then that will make a big difference as to the content and the goals of the meditation instruction you get. The second factor is the goals of the program. For example, a program focused on meditation instruction for women may have an orientation that is significantly different than one that is focused on habit management or on the physical discipline of meditation. Some of the many varieties of meditation include…

§ brainwave meditation
§ guided meditation
§ circadian meditation
§ Auto Circadian Meditation
§ Transcendental meditation
§ Meditation instruction for women
§ Yoga

What is Your Priority?

Finally, the most important factor in the perfect meditation instruction for you is your goals in using meditation to improve your life. Perhaps you wish to explore the spiritual blessings that a regimen of daily meditation might bring you. In that case, calling upon a meditation instruction program that is grounded in the religious or spiritual community where you are at ease will be the right choice for you.

However, if you are not primarily interested in the benefits of meditation for spiritual uses but you know and desire the positive health benefits that a strong program of meditation instruction can bring to you, you will use that guideline to construct your minimum requirements for the system of learning meditation that you will select and take advantage of.

The time you put into selecting just the right meditation instruction for you is crucial to seeing the kinds of results and realizing success in the practice of meditation that will lead to a life long commitment to the discipline of meditation. So give yourself permission to take your time, do your reading, and get a good understanding of the different kinds of meditation instruction there are and who the quality teachers of meditation are in your community. You will be glad you did.

Want to calm your mind, super-charge your energy level and manifest what you truly desire in life?  We’ve created a FREE audio e-course to get you started.  You’ll get guided meditations, free tips and techniques to help you transform your life from the inside-out.  If your happiness is important, click here to sign up

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There is really no question that breathing exercises are the cornerstone of any good meditation program. Sometimes those who want to get on to the more advanced elements of meditation such as the use of the mantra or visualization underestimate the value of their breathing exercises. The danger here is that if you do not give this part of your meditation regimen it’s proper time to prepare your system for meditation, none of those other elements will do you a bit of good.

It isn’t too much of a stretch to say that most people who fail at putting a meditation program to work in their lives, do so because they don’t have the patience for the breathing exercises that are so important to the discipline of meditation. Proper incorporation of breathing disciplines are so central to a strong meditation program that it is really out of the question that you could have success without giving this part of your program its proper dedication.

So it is appropriate that we spend a little time on how to make your meditation breathing exercises pay off.

A Proper Understanding

The first step toward empowering your breathing exercises to impact your meditation program properly is to understand why the focus on breathing is so crucial to any meditation program. Because you breath all the time, it is easy to underestimate the impact how you breath has on your general well being.

You can get a good feel for the relationship between breathing and your state of mind by thinking of what happened to your breathing the last time you were upset. Whether it was from fear, anger, anxiety or depression, invariably if you are in a state of mental and spiritual anxiety, your breathing will become shallow and irregular. In fact, for most people who do not make controlled breathing a staple of their lives, the breathing of a normal adult can be highly erratic during the course of any given day.

By the same token, that negative or disturbing emotions causes erratic breathing, taking control of your breathing can directly control your mood. In that way good breathing exercises are the most effective meditation process of them all because you can go through a virtual transformation in a matter of moments of controlled breathing. When you capture control of your breathing, slow it down and teach it to give you a steady, soothing flow of oxygen, your heart rate will stabilize, the oxygen level in your blood gets richer and your mind works better. So your state of mind will both elevate and become more focused and tranquil. And that is the perfect way to enter into a meditative state. Breathing exercises enable that process.

When is it Enough?

A big mistake people make when designing their meditation program is setting a time for how long you will be in each phase of your program. When you say, “I will do my breathing exercises for five minutes”, you are imposing a scheduling limit on something that could take more or less time to work.

Instead, a good breathing exercise should be measured by its effect rather than a time frame. Remember, you are not baking a pie here. You are seeking some measure of spiritual and mental peace and that may take ten minutes or an hour. Whatever it takes, you should plan to allocate sufficient time to your breathing exercises so they will work.

Breathing and Focus

Your breathing exercises are the first step of bringing the focus of your concentration to bear and taking control of that focus. As you settle into your meditation discipline, you will take a number of long slow cleansing breaths. It is during these that you envision your body being cleansed of all negative energy with the exhale and filling with good energy with the inhale.

After the cleansing breaths, you will settle into a pattern of steady deep breaths that are consistent, satisfying and measured. You will focus on the drawing in of air and the exhale working to think of nothing else. This has a powerful effect of calming the mind and causing less important issues to depart for this period of time allowing you to give your breathing exercises perfectly focused attention.

If by chance you doubt the value of thinking of your breathing, think of how you council someone in emotional turmoil. You always help them focus on their breathing so they will settle down and become rational. Remember, the breathing exercise is not the end of the meditation session. Soon you will use that improved focus for more sophisticated and complex concentration exercises. But those would not be possible had you not used your breathing exercises to quiet your mind and enable it to hone in on one focus point. You can attribute all of the success you have later in your program to those early breathing exercises.

The Breakthrough Point

It is very common later in your mediation program to experience an “epiphany” or a breath through. This is a natural event that comes from the outcome of your vastly improved ability to focus your thoughts. There are also physical benefits from your breathing exercise that will sometimes result in a rush of energy. Breathing exercises combined with posture and mental focus can cause profound improvements in how the spine interacts with the rest of your skeletal system. So you may feel a sudden rush of energy that drives up your spine and bursts into your mind.

This phenomenon is well known even to the ancient philosophers and religious gurus who taught meditation. It can be an amazing experience and when you get that breakthrough point, it is a big turning point in the progress of your meditation program. And you facilitated that wonderful break through moment through your studious adherence to a well-designed and stubborn devotion to your meditative breathing exercises.

Want to calm your mind, super-charge your energy level and manifest what you truly desire in life?  We’ve created a FREE audio e-course to get you started.  You’ll get guided meditations, free tips and techniques to help you transform your life from the inside-out.  If your happiness is important, click here to sign up

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