Guided Meditation
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Sometimes we need to relax, no matter if it’s a regular month of the year or December, the month that boasts the shortest days, the brightest Christmas lights, and often the most stress of any holiday season because we can get all revved up with holiday jitters and Martha Stewart induced anxiety (can it all be perfect enough?), with no satisfactory way to unwind and take it slow.

What to do? Sometimes the easiest way to learn how to release our tension is to have someone else talk us through it with a guided meditation. With this method, all you need to do is stop and listen, as someone with a calm, steady voice takes you through a relaxation exercise. It’s as simple as that. And if the words do their trick, in no time, you’ll find a load of stress has dropped off your shoulders and you’re breathing deep and slow. Even one five- to fifteen-minute meditation a day can make a tremendous difference in your stress levels and in how you feel.

Guided meditations are easy to come by, nowadays. Here are a few methods to help you build an audio-meditation library with no fuss:

• Buy meditation CDs or DVDs. Available from most bookstores, there are numerous meditation CDs to choose from. Everyone has their own personal criteria when picking a trustworthy voice, so listen to some sample audio clips online before purchasing. Two of my faves include Mary and Richard Maddux’s Pure Relaxation: Guided Meditations for Body, Mind & Spirit and Bodhipaksa’s Guided Meditations: For Calmness, Awareness, and Love.

• Look for podcasts or MP3 files. Fast. All you do is download. Apple’s iStore offers numerous choices, ranging in price from free to about the cost of a CD. Many sellers now also offer MP3 files as an alternative to CDs.

• Browse websites that offer free audio-meditations online. An excellent site is Wildmind Buddhist Meditation. Here you can listen to a number of Bodhipaksa’s meditations. They are found in Meditation Practices on the left-hand side of the webpage. Click on a few of the practices and you’ll come across audio links within the web articles. Wildmind also has numerous meditative mantras available online, a great way to learn mantra pronunciations and pacing.

Another good site is the Meditation Room. Here you’ll find a number of short audio meditations, ranging from two-and-a-half to ten minutes in length. Some notables, include ‘Quick Getaway,’ ‘Soothing Session,’ ‘Work Break,’ and ‘Reducing Stress.’

• Head to YouTube. There are lots of great free visual guided meditations at YouTube. Check on the bottom third of this page for some good samples.

• Pick out your favourite meditations and record them. If you don’t have a favourite or don’t quite know where to start, here’s a meditation I use at the end of every yoga class. It’s best relaxed to lying down.

Yoga Relaxation

Tensing the body tight, tight, tight! And relax.

My feet are relaxed, my feet are relaxed, my feet are relaxed.
Continue on up the body, repeating each area slowly three times before moving on to the next part of the body: My…calves, thighs, hips, abdomen, lower back, middle back, stomach, chest, upper back, hands, forearms, upper arms, shoulders, neck, jaw, cheeks, mouth, nose, eyes, scalp, ears…is/are relaxed. My entire body is completely relaxed (three times). My mind is relaxed (three times.)

Finish by listening to and contemplating the following:

My mind is like the clear calm lake with no ripples or wrinkles.
And just as the lake reflects the sky up above,
my mind reflects my thoughts, with no ripples or wrinkles.
The only thing that I am experiencing is inner peace and silence.
This inner peace and silence is always within me.
It is my true nature.

It can be hard to unwind at the best of times, never mind during the holidays, so it’s wonderful to be able to take mini-guided-meditation breaks when we need them, to just sit back, listen, and relax.

Mountain Rose Herbs. A Herbs, Health & Harmony Com

Photo Credit: Rodolfo Belloli

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