We live in a society where we are forced to be constantly on the move. Going to work, studying for our final exams, supporting our family and other concerns create stress and negative feelings.

While we focus our action on others and have to do what the day-to-day demands of us, we forget to take care of the most important people in our lives: ourselves.

Connecting with our interior becomes necessary in these situations and meditation is a good technique to achieve it. However, meditating is not an easy task and therefore it is necessary to resort to experts to guide us. In this article we will see what guided meditation is , what benefits it brings and we will talk about some types.

What is guided meditation?

Guided meditation is a tool that allows us, through words and images, to let go of negative emotions such as pain, stress and everyday worries, helping us to connect with our inner selves.

This technique has become increasingly popular. On the one hand, because of the need to manage stress in today’s society and, on the other hand, because it is an easily applicable tool in everyday life with the right help.

The way guided meditation is performed is quite simple. A person who acts as an expert in meditation, such as a guru or spiritual guide, is responsible for providing a series of instructions to help interested people reach a state of relaxation.

With his expert knowledge, the one who leads the meditation helps to focus on the personal goals of the one who comes to him. These goals can be a better emotional state in general, the acceptance of a situation in which one has no control or psychological preparation towards a concrete goal. It is for this reason that it is widely used in the training of elite athletes.

To carry it out you can attend specialized workshops and gyms, but there is also the possibility of doing it from home, because you don’t need much space or too many resources to meditate. On the Internet you can find hundreds of videos explaining different types of meditations, as well as CDs, videos and very detailed books.

What are the benefits?

By using this technique it is possible to achieve a person’s well-being, because it contributes to a state of calm and gives mental and physical satisfaction. Furthermore, if used properly, has a positive impact on both physical and psychological health .

Some of the benefits of meditations of this type are:

  • Strengthen the immune system.
  • Improvement of cognitive abilities: memory, concentration, attention…
  • Greater resilience.
  • Emotional stability.
  • Improvement in diseases such as hypertension, cancer, fibromyalgia, asthma and cardiovascular problems

Types of guided meditation

The reasons why guided meditation is necessary can be several. That is why there are different types, used according to the type of problem of those who require it.

1. Traditional Meditations

The spiritual guide or guru gives the instructions orally, guiding the listener into a meditative state. There are usually many pauses in silence, and it is not common to accompany them with music.

The purpose of this type of meditation can be very varied, but it is often used to initiate or maintain a state of calm .

2. Meditation with visualization

You are invited to imagine an object or scene with the intention of achieving greater relaxation. Very recurrent resources are the rays of light of different colours, each one representing an emotion to be worked with .

3. Relaxation and body scanning

Its purpose is to achieve the maximum degree of relaxation at the body level. The person becomes aware of all parts of his body and even his body temperature.

They are usually accompanied by music or relaxing sounds of nature, managing to introduce the person being guided into a state of deep calm.

4. Binaural tones

According to the physicist Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, when two sounds with different frequencies are presented to each ear, the mind tries to reconcile the difference by creating a third wave. Helmets are placed and an audio is presented in which a different sound is presented on each side .

According to followers of this type of guided meditation, using binaural tones stimulates alpha waves and achieves a connection with the interior.

5. Affirmations

Instead of thinking in negative terms, such as “I’m going to give up”, “I’m not good at this”, “it’s going to hurt”, he proposes to reformulate these thoughts in a more optimistic format: “I’m in good health”, “I’ve come a long way”, “if I’m here it’s because of my effort and commitment”.

6. Guided breathing attention meditation

We breathe at all times and yet we don’t pay enough attention to this natural process.

The premise behind this type of guided meditation is that if you can control something as simple and fundamental as breathing, you can train your mind in almost any aspect.

7. Mindfulness

In the West, a philosophical current has emerged that is compatible with the foundations behind meditation: Mindfulness.

The Mindfulness has been acquiring fame because it is not linked to a religion , unlike other meditations that talk about chakras and ideas drawn from Buddhism and Hinduism.

Another peculiarity of this type of meditation is the fact that it does not have to be done sitting still. You can enter a state of full attention whether you are walking down the street, washing the dishes, or even in the shower.

The main thing is to be able to concentrate on what you are doing and the sensations it produces.

8. Guided Meditations for Better Sleep

They are one of the most popular , especially because we live in a society where timetables prevent us from having adequate sleep habits.

Many people have trouble sleeping and, when they go to bed, they calculate how much time they have before they have to get up to go to work. The problem is that the more you want to sleep, the harder it is to do so.

The guided meditations for better sleep offer a series of instructions that help to achieve sleep in a natural and unforced way .

While you try to sleep, you can review what has happened throughout the day, detecting those negative emotions and gradually putting them aside.

Bibliographic references:

  • Hodgins, H.S. and Adair, K.C. (2010) Attentional processes and meditation. Consciousness and Cognition, 19(4), 872-878.
  • Kwekkeboom, K. L. and Bratzke, L. C. (2016) A Systematic Review of Relaxation, Meditation, and Guided Imagery Strategies for Symptom Management in Heart Failure. The Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 31(4), 457-468.