For many individuals, possibly most individuals, the stress of life is increasing with every year that goes by. There are worries about the economy, jobs, money, the environment, politics, terrorism and war (among other issues.) People have various ways of dealing with the daily stress of living. Many of these coping mechanisms are self defeating, for instance, the abuse of alcohol or other drugs, but a growing portion of population is opting instead, for guided meditation.
Meditation is not necessarily a religious act, but it is a part of most religions. The practice goes back thousands of years. We usually feed our minds with outside stimuli or internal dialogue that seems to constantly occur. Meditation is a way to take a break from that. It is a quieting of mind and it helps the left half and the right half of the brain to work together.
With traditional meditation, the concept is to let get of all your thoughts except for one thing, which gets your total focus. It may be your breathing, or a mantra (a special phrase or sound), or even a koan (an riddle with no answer, like, ‘What is the sound of one hand clapping.”)
Whenever a stray thought comes into your mind, you simply accept that the thought came up, and you gently let it go, by refocusing on the one thing you are supposed to be focusing on. This is much easier said than done, and most people, left to their own devices, without a teacher, will give up and quit trying to learn to meditate, due to their undisciplined mind.
Instead of giving up, they would be better served if they got a recorded audio track of guided meditation. These usually begin with instructions, step by step, explaining what to do to achieve a meditative mental state. These states are usually indicated by the brain producing primarily alpha waves. (That is the type of brainwaves produced when you first start to fall asleep.)
The guided meditation will usually then transition into a visualization and story where you see yourself, in your mind’s eye, accomplishing specific goals that you have committed to. The most powerful of these meditations will ask you to imagine your goals are already accomplished and feel the emotions that come with that.
Guided meditation shares a lot with hypnosis and hypnotic induction, because an altered state of consciousness is achieved, and instructions or outside help is given. Many successful people give much of the credit for their success to this type of activity. It is not classic meditation, because it relies on outside stimuli, but it is a form of meditation and can help a person to go on to achieve classic meditation if they choose to.
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