Maria Duval - Guided Meditation vs UnGuided Meditation

Guided Meditation vs UnGuided Meditation
The challenge new meditators have when learning meditation is whether to use a guided mediation or to use an unguided meditation. Our objective in this article is to look at both meditation types so that you can choose which meditation style will suit your requirements. Guided Meditation involves somebody guiding you through the meditation process. That is they literally talk you through the whole meditation process. There are some advantage and disadvantages to this technique. One of the reasons you may consider guided meditation is to help expand your understanding of the various meditation techniques. The Guided Meditation technique can be presented in a number of ways. You may do a guided meditation session in a small group with a meditation practitioner or you might do a guided meditation session using a meditation cd or meditation dvd. If you are first starting out, the Guided Meditation sessions is a good way to learn meditation as the meditation practitioner will talk you through the experience and to help you identify what you should be feeling and how to move you into the state that your meditation technique is trying to get you in. For example if your guided meditation session is teaching you how to master the deep-breath meditation technique then the practitioner will talk you through how to relax and release the tension within your body. They will also be able to tell you what you should be thinking and feeling. A good practitioner will also give you some exercises during the session to try at home that will help your experiment with the meditation technique. The obvious downside to guided meditation is that someone is actually talking to you during the meditation session. Sometimes what people will find is that it is difficult to get to that state we are trying to achieve when someone is talking during the session. Often what you will have to do is to follow a guided meditation session for a number of times till you can learn and remember the meditation process and then try it for yourself in an unguided meditation session on your own. Some meditation centres also offer unguided meditation sessions in a group. What this means is that the whole group meditates together but the session is done in silence with no-one speaking. Many group meditation sessions though will still use meditation music as the basis of the session. Some meditation classes in remote locations will undertake unguided sessions out in the natural surrounding and will use the sounds of nature as the tool to help bring the group to a point of relaxation. Once again though one of the key elements of these unguided sessions is that no-one is allowed to speak during the meditation period. The group leader will generally use a special sound to bring the group meditation session to an end. Most professional meditation practitioners will recommend that a person who is new to meditation take a guided meditation session so that they can learn how to achieve the state of mind the type of meditation they are trying. Learning to meditate is one of the most important tools any human can master and can help improve your day-to-day life and help you cope with your surroundings. Once you have undertaken a few guided meditation sessions you will certainly be able to pursue unguided meditation sessions on your own and the more practice you get the better you will be at meditation. It is also worth considering purchasing a few different guided meditation cd’s so that if in the future you are unsure of what to do during the meditation session, you can refer to the meditation cd as a reference.

Chris has Baroque Meditation Music available at - Meditation Music (Baroque Music) and a simple six step meditation program - Relaxation Techniques for Stress Management

The Art and Science of Meditation
Meditation has been practiced in various forms for thousands of years all over the world. From the jungles of Borneo to the Ganges River, Tibetan tundra to Siberian back woods, shamans, sadhus and seekers alike have gone within to find God, find themselves, find purpose and meaning in life. Archaeological relics from the ruins of Mohenjo-Daro in western Punjab, India depict the ancient yogic deity Shiva (as An) sitting cross-legged meditating on his “Third Eye” in a state of transcendental bliss. Buddha sat under a tree; Jesus sat in the Desert and Mohammad in a cave. All the great prophets, gurus and saints used some form of meditation to commune with God and realize their true Self. In the Yoga Sutras Patanjali defines yoga as the cessation of thought or the absence of mental modification. When the mind becomes still, inner clarity develops and the true nature of the Self is revealed. This is the essence of yoga; yoga is the both the art and science of Self Realization. Initially an aspiring yogi or yogini would be taught various yoga asanas or postures to prepare the body for meditation. The goal has always been to quiet the body in order to quiet the mind. In India the Rishis developed various meditation practices based on the level and temperament of the student. Some forms of meditation are contemplative, where the student reflects on a verse from an illuminated text such as the Bible, Koran, Yoga Sutras or Bhagavad-Gita; yet others are quite active and involve some conscious movement as in tantric lovemaking, tai chi or practicing yoga postures with such inner quiet that the student goes into meditation while holding a pose. A common form of meditation to begin with involves primordial sounds called mantras. Most spiritual disciplines recognize the mind altering power of sound vibrations: the Sanskrit language of the Yogi’s, ancient Hebrew and Arabic are each believed to conduct energy when spoken or contemplated. The most familiar mantra “Om” often pronounced as “Aum” moves life force energy up the spine to the top of the head. The “Ahhh” sound can be felt in the region of the navel, the “Ohhh” and “Uuuu” sound are carried at the heart and throat centers, and the “Mmmm” vibration is felt as the buzzing of bees in the head. Repeating this sound relaxes the mind and turns ones awareness inward. The popular Transcendental Meditation or “TM” of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi repeat a single sacred sound mantra from the Vedas is repeated to help aspirants go within and find inner peace; whereas members of the Hari Krishna movement, or ISCON, repeat a series of sacred trance inducing sounds praising God that creates a euphoric state, this is called Japa. One of the more common forms of meditation involves concentration on various energy centers of the body called Chakras; where a meditator would concentrate their attention on such areas as their Navel Center (Manipura), Heart Center (Anahata) or Third Eye (Ajna). The energy being directed to these centers through focused attention activates the energy at these points and shifts the state of consciousness of the meditator. For instance, when one focuses at the Third Eye point between the eyebrows this activates the pituitary and pineal gland which help regulate your brain wave frequencies, like a natural biofeedback response. As the student connects with their life force energy, or kundalini shakti, at this point their brain wave frequencies drop from Beta (14-40 cycles per second) to Alpha (7-13 cycles per second), and eventually lower still to Theta (4-6 cps) and Delta (0-3 cps). While in these ultra quiet states inner clarity develops and the consciousness is liberated from the confines of the mind and sense perception and merges into the whole…samadhi. These exercises are even more powerful when initiated by a Guru whose spirit or “Shakti” can conduct the life force to make it easier for the student to tune into or connect with. One of the most powerful forms of meditation is direct inquiry or self-reflection. When the yogi reflects on the very impetus that causes them to meditate they make a direct connection with their Self: “That which you are seeking is causing you to seek.” To ask yourself “who am I?” and go into the part of you that wants to know is to practice a form of yoga called Jnana. Simply observing that which is observing the mind liberates it from the mind. Just as one would look into their reflection in a mirror to know what they looked like, one has only to reflect upon their own nature to realize it. At the heart of meditation lies the heart. It is through grace that our own true nature is revealed and it is through love that God is revealed. When the meditating yogi opens their heart to receive, when they surrender the “doer” then their own true nature becomes clear. The devotion to your Creator expressed through the devotion in your practice makes the practice of meditation easy and enjoyable to practice. Most people struggle with trying to stop their mind, which is like a cat chasing its tail. When the yogi allows their spirit, or life force, to meditate them then the practice of meditation becomes profound. The use of a Guru or teacher has proven effective to help students find the truth that lies within them for thousands of years; it works. Most Westerners are leery of those who purport to be Gurus, and for good reason as this sacred trust has been abused by a few in the past, but nonetheless it is time tested and proven effective. When the student is ready the teacher will appear, but a reliable Guru is one who empowers you to find the True Guru, or Sat Guru, within your Self. Ultimately, that which created you, and which sustains your existence, is guiding you to awaken your consciousness to full realization; it is what is causing you to read this right now. From the Heart, Steven S. Sadleir

Steven S. Sadleir is the Director of the Self Awareness Institute and is recognized as a Shaktipat Master in two lineages. He has developed powerful distance learning programs for people of all cultures and faiths, trained thousands of people from all over the world, and welcomes all of you who are ready for full Self-Realization. Visit http://www.SelfAwareness.com for FREE guided meditation mp3s and ebook!

Mirror, Mirror
A mirror does not lie. A mirror reflects light, although that light can be distorted, it is an accurate duplication of what is in front of it. A mirror is also a transformer-it transforms three dimensional images into two dimensional images. A mirrored reflection is as lifeless as the image it is reflecting. A mirror cannot reflect life, only the expression of life-so what it is reflecting when you look into the mirror is a lifeless form. You cannot see life only its expression. You are in fact a "light being," you are light itself. All physical matter is the densest form of light. All matter is light. And the life force that animates the light form is not of the body and it is why it can not be seen. Your emotions, feelings, and personality are not your body. They are what animate your body-your body is that which expresses life. It is life experiencing the illusion of physical life. When you look into the mirror, it is not you whom you are looking at-it is an expression of who you believe yourself to be. It is an idea of a unique life-form expressed as your ego. The image in the mirror is just as much alive as you are or are not. When you speak to yourself you see the image speaking and you hear the sound of your voice, but it is neither one of you who is speaking. You cannot see life only its expression. The mirrored image is an illusion caught in the frame of the mirror. It does not reflect emotion or feelings because you do not have them, you simply express them. The expression comes from somewhere else, somewhere outside of your body. The body is a light vehicle used by your ego/soul to experience being alive-the physical body is life animated. When you move in front of the mirror, is there only one moving or are there two-a two dimensional object and a three dimensional object? Is it not the same life force animating one as it does the other. Everything is life-there is nothing else. So the image in the mirror is just as real as its reflection. But it is an image existing in a different realm of two dimensions. Mirrors are portals to a different world of experience just as lifeless as the one you are experiencing now. Is it your thoughts giving life to your reflection-is it the reflection giving life to you, or are both of you experiencing each other through a fourth dimension-the one you came from before you began experiencing physical life? From the position of the silent observer-a place that is outside our bodies we can follow our movements-where we have come from and where we are going. We can experience ourselves experiencing ourselves in this illusion we call life. Many of us do this subconsciously and it is how we can make decisions which lead us to a desired experience. Yet with practice we can do this on a conscious level as well. We can experience being all three aspects of mind, soul, and body simultaneously. It is your imagination allowing you to experience who you believe yourself to be now. You are imaging your whole life and all its experiences and everything around you. You imagination is limitless. It is you who imagines limits and sets its boundaries in your physical life. You can imagine anything, yet you can only experience that imagination within the boundaries you have set for yourself. You expand your world when you recognize what you are looking at as a reflection of yourself. The keyboard and monitor in front of me is an extension of myself, they are just as much alive as I am. They are me-they are reflections of my thoughts as these words are. We are one-expressing life which gives us all, form-but uniquely mine. You are the reader-I am the writer, and it is the creator or mind experiencing all of it simultaneously. We are all one coming together to experience a different aspect of ourselves. All three aspects are in complete agreement for this circumstance to be experienced. A mirror would show the illusion, the images, but not the experience. We cannot experience-we can simply express it. A mirror does not lie, it reflects light-that is its only purpose. You are a "light being" animating life. You are a mirror in your own right reflecting life in all its aspects. All of physical life is a reflection of a thought that has come before it-and experience cannot be found anywhere in the body or any mirror.

Roy E. Klienwachter is a resident of British Columbia, Canada. A published author, a student of NLP, ordained minister, New Age Light Worker, Teacher and Phenomenologist. Roy's books and articles are thought provoking, and designed to empower your imagination, and take you to places you would never have thought about. Claim your copy of Roy's new book at: http://www.klienwachter.com/BookInfo/Struggle/Salespage.htm Visit Roy at: http://www.klienwachter.com

What Is Guided Meditation?
Meditation in essence is about helping you to develop inner peace, calmness, a sense of tranquillity but also it is about helping you to grow as a person. Too often people perceive meditation as a hippy thing, or something for those marijuana smoking duds but really what meditation is about is helping you with your mind and the way your mind influences your life. Guided meditation really involves someone guiding you through the process of meditation and helping you to achieve an outcome of some description. Most people associate meditation with simply sitting on the floor with your eyes closed going Ummm. Ummm. Which I can certainly say is not the outcome we are looking for and would in essence be totally useless. Meditation just like anything you do must have a purpose. For example, what is the purpose of getting a job? Well essentially the purpose of getting a job is to help you gain money so that you can buy a house or car, get food to eat or go on a holiday. If you did not have a purpose for a job, why would you work? You would not! Meditation is exactly the same. You need to have a purpose when you meditate. The purpose for meditation can be varied for example you could meditate to �" #1. Find Inner Peace #2. To Bring About Focus #3. To Relax #4. To Help You Change Your State of Mind #5. Improve Creativity and Learning #6. Help Build Your Confidence and Self-Esteem #7. To Focus on Self-Healing #8. To Help Control Internal and External Pain #9. Meditate to Overcome Your Fears There really are unlimited reasons for why you would want to meditate. The objective of guided meditation is to help you take the right meditation path to achieve those objectives. Choosing a Meditation Guide is really an important step you need to make. For example different meditation experts and practitioners will have different techniques and will guide you through different paths depending on what you are trying to achieve. The majority of meditation practitioners will teach you deep breathing meditations when you first start because if you do not know how to relax and maintain focus, then the other meditation paths will certainly not work. Remember one thing, every meditation guide will be different and I recommend that before paying a meditation guide to help you, try to see if they will give you a free lesson. What I have found in the past is that every meditation practitioner is different and I have even found the meditation practitioners from the one meditation centre can vary dramatically in the guiding process, so you need to find the guide who best works for you. Let me give an example of what I mean. I am always on the lookout for new ideas and thoughts when it comes to meditation and I recently purchased a Chakra meditation cd which included a guided meditation program. I put the cdrom into my computer and within the first five minutes of listening to it, I burst out laughing simply because the voice was digitally altered and was totally unreal. For me this guided meditation tool was never going to work as I could not take it seriously. Now for some people this particular meditation cd may have worked and they may think totally differently about the meditation cd. For me it did not work. There are many different style of guided meditation. If you goto your local bookstore or check out the internet you will find an abundance of guided meditation cd’s, dvd’s and videos. Before you rush out and buy them, I strongly encourage you to see if there is sample of what they offer just to see if their guided meditation is what you are after. Any good quality meditation programs, will offer you some sort of limited look at their products so that you can see if they will work for you. If you are going to a health retreat or meditation centre for a guided meditation experience, find out if they offer a Free Introductory CDROM of their program. Always try these out first because there is nothing worse to go to a meditation retreat only to find out it does not suit you. One thing I recommend to everyone is to try out meditation before you goto to any of these retreats even if you just try out the Deep Breathing Meditation exercises. Meditation does take practice and the more practice you do the better you will get at it. Some people when they first go to guided meditation programs do not get the outcomes they expect, not because the programs do not work, but simply because they do not realise it does take practice to master meditation.

Chris has Baroque Meditation Music available at - Meditation Meditation 2 (Baroque Music) and a simple six step meditation program - Relaxation Techniques for Stress Management

Meditation: Choosing the Right Meditation Pillow
Whether you realize it or not choosing the right meditation pillow can make a huge difference to the success of your meditation session. Most people when starting out on learning the technique of meditation will simply sit on the floor and try to meditate with no support at all. However, trying to maintain the right posture for any period of time is quite a challenge and will simply lead to an unsuccessful meditation session. Before choosing a meditation pillow you must first understand where you are going to be undertaking the meditation session. For example, you will need a different style of meditation pillow for soft grass to meditating on wooden floors or on concrete. If your meditation session is to be undertaken on grass then you simply need a light weight pillow which has a soft inner fill. Generally a nylon based fill for this type of session will suffice. It is also worthwhile getting a meditation pillow that is machine washable as well because if you are sitting on this pillow on the grass it will get dirty and if you do not wash it, you may find that the grass stains will not wash out after a while. If you are meditating on harder surfaces like wood or concrete, I recommend using a two stage pillow. Essentially, the base of the pillow is a solid style foam, with the top part of the pillow being made of either duck down or a soft synthetic inner fill. You will find that if you use a normal pillow on harder surfaces for any period of time that you will find it difficult to get up or more so, a sore rear. If you are not comfortable during your meditation session then the bottom line is that you will focus on the discomfort rather than the meditation. If you find sitting up straight on the floor difficult to do, you can purchase from quality meditation suppliers, meditation pillows that also include a back support as well. The meditation pillows that contain this are almost like chairs for the floor. The key advantage of this style of meditation pillow is that by keeping your back straight, during the meditation session you will be helping ensure that you control your breathing more effectively. I certainly encourage you to try out your meditation pillow before you buy. Ensure that when you sit on the pillow that it supports your weight and that you are not sitting directly on the floor. Make sure also while you are sitting on your pillow that it does support your back and that you do not naturally slump over on the pillow. For an effective meditation session, you need to ensure that you have a well structured posture, that you are comfortable and that you can relax without any niggling pain or pressure. Be aware that if you feel an unusual pressure as you sit that this is the first warning sign that you are about to experience pain in that area.

If you are looking for effective Meditation Music for your meditation sessions please feel free to visit our website. Downloadable and MP3 versions of our meditation music are also available.

Practicing Staying Present to the Now
Transformational Counseling is about assisting others to transform their life. Transformational Counseling is a process of assisting others to learn how to let go of the past and live fully in the present. To live fully in the present is to become awaken to what is truly real and to our own natural power. Much of our life is spent living in the past, and in the process, attempting to fix it, to make it something that it is or was not. It is from living in the past that we also attempt to create our future, the result always being a living of life as it was in the past. Transformation takes place when we learn to exist in and be present to the Now. The practice of staying present to our natural power and to that which is real is becoming conscious to what is so, to the Now, to the present. What is so, the Now, has no meaning and exists outside of thought and language. As human beings we tend to give meaning to everything, including other people, ourselves and even life itself. It is in our meaning making that we leave the present and create our life from the past, a life that can be filled with a great deal of anxiety, fear and stress. What is so merely exists and it is in the experience of the Now that we begin to live a life of power and freedom, a life and way of being free from our past. A specific technique that is very powerful for practicing staying present to the Now is meditation. It is in meditation that one creates the space to experience a very deep state of relaxation, a state that is very healing to both the mind and body. As we know, in meditation ones metabolism slows down, including heart rate and blood pressure. The consistent practice of meditation will reduce anxiety and stress. For some the practice of meditation allows them to access true Being. For others it is way of reconnecting to the Spirit within us. It is in the consistent practice of meditation that the subject and object distinction inherent in language, thought and meaning making collapses thereby resulting in our access to the present, to the Now. The meditative process can be enhanced by the use of therapeutic relaxation music. Music has always been a very powerful modality for promoting a very deep state of relaxation and even healings. I have found that musical compositions that are harmonically slow, repetitious, with sustained voices, which are rhythmically, random in tempo assists an individual in experiencing a very deep state of relaxation. A second important component of the use of therapeutic relaxation music is the use of binaural audio tones that have been interwoven into the music. The binaural tones, through a process referred to as entrainment or frequency following, gently guides or directs the mind/body to generate more of the targeted frequency of brain wave activity for an even more profound state of relaxation. The meditative process of practicing staying present to the Now is as follows: 1. Take a comfortable position in an upright sitting position. 2. Allow your legs and arms to be open. 3. Allow your eyes to focus upon a chosen object. The chosen object could be a candle light in a darkened room or any point that you choose. 4. As you focus on the chosen object, allow your muscles to slowly relax from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. 5. Take three slow deep breathes in through your nose as you inhale. Hold each breath to the mental count of four. Slowly exhale each breath out through your mouth. Continue to breath at a slow pace after the three breaths. 6. Continue to focus on the chosen object. When your mind wanders to some thought or thoughts slowly and gently bring it back to your focused concentration upon the chosen object. Simply let go of the thoughts that arise. The thoughts are from the past. Stay focused to what is so. 7. Continue the practice for a prescribed period of time and then go about your daily activities. Each day that you practice you may even choose to lengthen the time you spend with this technique. The ability to stay in the present, to access the Now, can be enhanced with the consistent practice of meditation. What this will necessitate is one making the practice of meditation apart of his or her daily schedule. With the consistent practice of meditation one will also create the ability to stay even more present to what is so even when not actively engaged in the meditative process. It is through a commitment to the practice of meditation on a daily basis that one will begin to live more fully in the Now. Harry Henshaw, Ed.D., LMHC http://www.enhancedhealing.com

Dr Harry Henshaw is in private practice in North Miami Beach, Florida. http://www.enhancedhealing.com