If you have a healthy and peaceful mind, your perception of the world reflects that. You make informed decisions and can appreciate the goodness in your life and the lives of those around you. Meditation leads to a healthy, peaceful mind and is something anyone can do, at any time, in any moment.
It’s All in Your Subconscious Mind!
Your subconscious operates on belief. It is tuned in, 24/7, to your thoughts, words, feelings, attitudes, and moods. It will respond to all of these emotions, even if they are contradictory or negative. You must be mindful and disciplined not to feed your subconscious mind with negative thoughts or speech. Whatever you think, feel, or sense will be communicated to all your cells and manifest in your body. Your job is to consciously implant a consistently clear intention or picture of your desired goal. Meditation is the way to access the power of your subconscious mind and forge those intentions, images, and positives goals into both your imagination and your experience.
What Is Guided Meditation?
Guided meditation is a state of relaxed concentration invoked and led by another party. The mind has a tendency to wander that when starting out, having an expert lead you through the basic steps of your meditation practice is recommended. The guide will instruct you to relax specific muscles in the body until they are comfortable, and will lead you through mental images and visualizations. Guided mediation can be as short as a few minutes or as long as several hours. The purpose is to achieve mental, emotional, and physical healing and stress relief. The three popular forms are mindfulness, stress reduction, and relaxation:
1. Guided Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness may be simple, but it isn’t always easy because we’re training the mind to do something very different than from what it’s used to. Typically, our thoughts are all over the place, trotting after sensory input, daydreams, remembrances of the past and projections of the future. But during mindfulness practice, we train the mind to stay put. The sensory input, daydreams, thoughts, and emotions continue as usual, but instead of following them, we’re encouraging the mind to remain in the present by focusing on a meditation support such as the breathing process, physical sensations, or a sound.
2. Guided Stress Reduction Meditation
Stress is a modern epidemic and this type of guided meditation gently introduces you to the stress relieving practice.
3. Guided Relaxation Meditation
Guided meditation for relaxation and sleep consist of a pleasant, soothing recorded meditation geared towards helping the listeners let go of anxieties and tensions as they relax in bed or a comfortable chair. They may invite the listeners to imagine themselves in pleasant, peaceful environments and incorporate calming sounds. The purpose is to encourage people to unwind or relax and sleep.
The main difference between relaxation meditation compared to stress reduction or mindful meditation is that you’re looking to let go of anxieties and restlessness by replacing the usual thoughts with soothing images and sounds that are conducive to a state of relaxation. With the other two meditations, you’re learning to remain anchored in the present moment, to observe what’s going on right here, right now, and this naturally results in a sense of peace and relaxation.
Benefits
By being in a meditative state, your mind becomes still, clear, and reflective. Fear and anxiety, the two major causes of stress, subside. Your heart rate slows down as your blood pressure regulates itself into the normal range. You feel calm and more confident, in touch with your own strength and power. That awful feeling of being vulnerable or overwhelmed subsides. Psychologically, you feel more self-assured and in control of yourself again. As you deepen your meditative state with regular practice you’ll find that meditation:
- Alleviates anxiety, depression, and negative attitudes
- Reduces fatigue and exhaustion
- Puts you in touch with your confidence, joy, enthusiasm, and self-worth
- Improves brain function and actually lights up your mind
- Brings you back to being heart centered and lovable
Meditation is scientifically proven to reduce stress and anxiety, improve focus, increase happiness, and even improve physical health. There’s just one catch: it takes practice, which means it takes patience. Similar to exercise, it takes more than a few push-ups or running a mile to get results. The longer you stick with it, the easier it becomes and the more benefits you’ll notice. Guided meditation and deep relaxation will help you to train your brain to slow down, enjoy life, and accept yourself.
Every Monday, check out JOHO’s YouTube Channel for a new video where one of our team leaders will guide you through 5-10 minutes of meditation!
-Paulina Le
Health Fitness Specialist