Guided Meditation
by Diane Linsley
One of my favorite coaching tools is guided meditation. During
meditation, you are in a relaxed state of mind, which creates an
alpha brainwave pattern. This is the pattern of "super learning,"
during which you can assimilate new information more easily.
Guided meditation involves visualization, which stimulates the
creative parts of your mind. Bursts of theta brainwaves can occur, which are the brainwaves associated with dreaming sleep. Theta waves are also responsible for "ah-ha" moments - those exciting moments of insight, inspiration and creative problem-solving.
There are many types of guided meditation. Here are some that I use for coaching. The links go to YouTube. You can also follow me on Insight Timer and Rumble.
Grounding Meditation and Energy Work
The purpose of a grounding meditation is to calm our energy so we can relax and focus. We breathe deeply and focus inward, noticing the sensations in our bodies. Visualization techniques help to focus the mind. When the grounding is complete, there is a feeling of being fully present.
Grounding is especially helpful for empaths who tend to absorb the emotions of other people. My guided meditation for codependency uses the metaphor of a lighthouse to help people ground themselves in their own energy.
In another grounding meditation for empaths, you go deep into the earth to a cave of crystals. You choose a crystal in a color that attracts you. The color may have a symbolic meaning, or it may indicate where in the chakra system you need to focus your attention.
Guided meditation can also be used for energy work such as chakra balancing. Energy work often involves visualization, but it can also be sensation-based. I use both of these techniques in my chakra balancing meditation.
Future Self Meditation
When you are working on your goals, future self meditation can be very helpful. During the meditation, you are guided to a beautiful place where you meet your future self. This is the wise, mature and compassionate part of you that sees you from a higher perspective.
Your future self knows that you will succeed because it lives in the future where it is already successful and happy. Your future self may give you words of advice or reassurance, or she may show her love and support in other ways, such as through a hug or a symbolic gift.
Future self meditation is set in a relaxed scenario like a beach or a meadow. This helps you feel safe and happy, which is the feeling you want to have about your future. You can do a visualization exercise for creating a positive self-image in the guided meditation for self-love and confidence.
In the guided meditation for change and new beginnings, you imagine yourself on a children's playground, and you create your future by choosing where on the playground you want to be.
Magic Carpet Ride is a fun guided meditation for setting goals. If you are feeling anxious about your goals, try the guided meditation for fear of failure.
Subpersonality Journey is a guided meditation for achieving goals. I like to use this meditation with clients who are doing Voice Dialogue with me because it involves meeting a subpersonality (a "voice") who progresses from an immature state to a more mature state.
The guided meditation for creativity takes you on an adventure into the future where you can visualize your own future creations.
Higher Self Meditation
Higher self meditation is helpful when we are feeling confused, lost or disconnected from our life purpose. Sometimes we need to talk with our higher self in order to see the big picture of our life and expand our perspective. In a higher self meditation, we go beyond our everyday, limited thinking. We come away feeling peaceful and ready to face our daily challenges.
Higher self meditation may include a story line in which you go on a train journey, expand your awareness into outer space, or hike up a mountain. This represents a shift in perspective, which enables you to see your life differently and choose a new course, if necessary.
Relationship Meditation
Guided meditation can be used to attract a soulmate or improve existing relationships. In the guided meditation for attracting a soulmate, you visit the soul plane where you meet the soul of your future partner, friend or unborn child.
The attracting love meditation is a metaphorical journey through the chakras. Each chakra, represented by a rose, has a messsage for how to attract love. If you tend to feel anxious in relationships, try the relationship anxiety guided meditation (fun story) or the anxious attachment meditation (healing).
Meditation helps you feel the connection that you share with other souls. You may have a profound experience of compassion, acceptance and forgiveness. The best meditation for this purpose is the guided meditation for healing relationships.
In the guided meditations for healthy relationships and improving relationships, you will learn how to heal your relationships by shifting your perspective. You can learn more about creating good relationships in the series of guided meditations for boundaries and codependency.
Loving Kindness meditation is based on the traditional Buddhist practice called Metta Bhavana, which increases compassion for self and others.
Self-Compassion Meditation
My calming self-compassion meditation involves progressive muscle relaxation. We bring our attention to each part of the body, and we feel compassion for it. People have told me that this meditation made them cry. That's a good sign that past trauma is being released from the body.
I recommend inner child healing meditation for people who are learning to love themselves, which would probably include all of us :)
The guided meditation for self-love and forgiveness has a fun storyline and beautiful music to gently guide you into an experience of forgiving yourself for past mistakes.
Tonglen meditation is a traditional Buddhist practice that helps us transform pain into compassion.
Meditation for Spiritual Development
The guided mindfulness meditation leads you through a body scan during which you become aware of all parts of your body, starting with your breath. Then you observe your thoughts and your emotions. You practice accepting every part of yourself just as it is without judgment.
In my guided meditation for expanding consciousness, we experience 4 levels of consciousness, based on Ken Wilber's model of human development. These levels are egocentric, ethnocentric, worldcentric and kosmocentric. We experience what it feels like to be at each of these stages, and we integrate them. This expands our perspective and increases our compassion.
The guided meditation for clarity of life purpose will give you a new perspective on your path.
You can raise your vibration by doing the process in the guided meditation for gratitude and joy.
Other Types of Guided Meditation
Guided meditation can be used to heal past trauma, overcome fears and phobias, recover from addictions, prepare for an upcoming performance, or discover creative solutions to problems. It can reduce the symptoms of pain, illness and anxiety. Sometimes guided meditation is done just for fun :)
Roger Woolger, author of Other Lives, Other Selves, says, "Visionary imagination is the most powerful spiritual faculty we have."
In guided meditation, we are enlisting the power of the unconscious mind. Being led through a meditation is like being given the gift of a beautiful dream.
You know those dreams that you always remember and treasure? They become part of your identity, setting an unconscious goal for how you will create yourself in the future. This is the power of imagination.
Be well,
Diane Linsley
