Guided meditation is a form of meditation wherein someone guides you throughout the meditation process and helps you to obtain the result of some descriptions. Many people associate meditation with just sitting cross legged on the floor, eyes closed and repeatedly go humming. This is not the result that most people want because the essence is totally absent.

Compared to other things, meditation must be done with a purpose. Take for instance; you are applying for a job out of a purpose. Once hired, you will have a monthly salary that you can use for example; purchasing a car, house, food, or spend on vacations. Probably, you will not work if you don’t have any purpose.  

Meditation is precisely the same. A purpose is needed when meditating and it can vary in many ways. Meditation is done to achieve inner peace, bring about concentration, relax, change the state of the mind, improve learning and creativity, build self-esteem and confidence, focus on healing oneself, control external and internal pain, and overcome fears. The reasons for doing meditation are really unlimited.

You don’t have to be afraid during the guided meditation process since someone ensures that you are taking the right path for achieving your objectives. Thus, it is very important that you choose your meditation guide properly. Different practitioners and experts on guided meditation have different strategies. They facilitate people to experience the different meditation paths according to their objectives.

Most meditation experts are teaching deep breathing methods for beginners to orient them in practicing relaxation as well as in maintaining focus. Meditations paths will not certainly work if you failed in the first step. Keep in mind that meditation guides are unique from one another. So, ask the meditation guide for a free meditation lesson before paying for the services.

In a single meditation center, meditation practitioners dramatically differ in their guiding process. Make sure that you choose the one who works best for you. For example, you are challenge to find new thoughts and ideas about meditation. Then you are encouraged to purchase a guided meditation CD. You try to listen to it at home, but after a few minutes, you burst out in a loud laugh. The voice sounds totally unreal because it was altered digitally. This tool for guided meditation will not work for you since you are not serious about it. However, this meditation CD can work for other people.

So, choose from other guided meditation styles. You can get it from the internet or local bookstore. Guided meditation DVDs, CDs, and videos are very much widely available. Again, never rush in buying one for yourself or as a gift. Check out if free samples are available. Meditation programs with good quality are usually open for viewing and testing. This is the same if you wanted to go to meditation centers or health retreats. Finally, guided mediations will be successful if you are patient enough to do regular meditation practice.

In guided meditation, guided imagery or guided relaxation techniques, the instructor offers suggestions to guide the listener into a meditative state. Visualization practices can be similarly guided, or practiced on one’s own. The goal of these techniques can be relaxation, healing, uplifting emotions, inner peace or other desired outcomes.

The Transcendental Meditation technique is not “guided meditation” and does not depend on a CD or any outside guide. It is not a process of bringing awareness to the body or imagining a peaceful, relaxed state or particular goal in life. Although guided meditation practices may create pleasant moods or degrees of relaxation, much greater benefit comes from the process of transcending the realm of thinking and imagination.

During the TM technique the mind settles inward to experience quieter stages of the thinking process, until one transcends, or goes beyond thinking and arrives at the silent source of thought-the mind’s inner reservoir of energy, creativity and intelligence-the state of pure consciousness. Scientific research has shown this to be a unique state of restful alertness, characterized by decreased breath rate and other indicators of deep relaxation, along with heightened brainwave coherence throughout all areas of the brain.

Practices that keep the mind engaged on the more surface, active levels-using imagination and suggestion-have not been found to produce this range of effects.

The goals of guided meditation or visualization, such as inner calm, release of tension and increased awareness, are easily achieved by diving deep within through the TM technique-transcending thought and imagination to experience the most expansive state of consciousness that is naturally all-positive, blissful, harmonious, and fully awake.

Guided meditation and visualization

In guided meditation practices-also called “guided imagery” or “guided relaxation”-a speaker offers instruction or suggestion to guide the listener into a meditative state. Visualization practices can be similarly guided, or practiced on one’s own. The aim can be relaxation, positive thinking, healing, inner peace or other desired outcomes.

Guided meditation and visualization tend to keep attention in the active realm of thinking, imagining and feeling. The TM technique is not “guided meditation” and does not require a CD or any outside influence. It is not an act of merely imagining a peaceful, settled state, and its positive affect on daily life is more far reaching.

The TM technique is not “guided meditation” and does not require a CD or any outside influence. It is not an act of merely imagining a peaceful, settled state, and its positive affect on daily life is more far reaching.

The TM technique is a quiet process of settling inward to experience finer and finer stages of the thinking process, until one transcends thinking and arrives at the silent source of thought-the mind’s inner reservoir of energy, creativity and intelligence-the state of pure consciousness. Research studies have shown this to be a unique state of restful alertness, characterized by decreased breath rate and other indicators of deep relaxation, along with heightened brainwave coherence throughout all areas of the brain.

The deeply settled, coherent meditative state gained during TM practice has proven to be highly restorative and beneficial to all aspects of life.

Practices that keep the mind’s thought processes engaged on the more surface, active levels-using imagination and suggestion-have not been found to produce this range of effects.

The goals of guided meditation or visualization, such as relaxation, positive thinking and inner growth, are easily achieved by diving deep within through the TM technique-transcending thought and imagination to experience the state of one’s self that is naturally all-positive, blissful, harmonious, and fully awake.