How To Do Guided Meditation

By Rebecca Turner

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Learn how to do guided meditation with this easy practical guide! In this article I will show you the best guided meditation CDs and tips for deeper relaxation. The aim is to improve your self awareness and visualization skills for lucid dreaming. With time you may find yourself slipping directly into the lucid dream state!

Why Use Guided Meditation?

When you first start to meditate you may find it difficult to let go of your inner voice, being plagued by busy thoughts...

"Is it garbage night?"

"Did I set my alarm?"

"I must remember to book the car in for it's service."

Arrghhh SHHH brain! Why won't you leave me alone so I can get some peace!?

Yup, it can be very frustrating when your mind is in a busy alpha state and all you want to do is relax. It's times like these that meditation alone isn't enough and you need some help... some way to focus... and that's where guided meditation CDs come in extremely useful.

Learning how to do guided meditation is a way of focusing the mind rather than demanding perfect silence when the time isn't right for it. The result is still deeply relaxing and it's ideal for lucid dreaming because you are increasing your self awareness of an inner world - complete with imagined sensory perceptions.

How To Do Guided Meditation

The purpose of guided relaxation is to diffuse your busy thoughts and step into the world of your imagination. So begin by using your visualization skills to create a peaceful place where you can relax undisturbed - a beach, a forest, a tropical garden - anything you like. It usually helps to have a water source (like a lake, waterfall or the sea) and a big, broad landscape so you can focus on mountains or hills in the distance as well as objects up close.

Engage all your senses. See the ocean glittering in the sunlight. Hear the waves lapping at the shore. Feel the warm sand underfoot. Smell the sea salt in the air. This will truly immerse your senses in this daydream land and build your self awareness - perfect for more vivid and lucid dreaming.

Guided Meditation CDs

Often, a self guided meditation can have the same limits as a standard quiet meditation - it's too easy to get distracted. Guided meditation CDs offer a solution. My personal favorite, The Guided Relaxation CD by Kelly Howell, uses binaural beats to relax your brain into a deeper state, along with a calm guiding voice which takes you on your inner journey.

With Kelly Howell, you are slowly guided into a tranquil garden, focusing your self awareness and exploring a place that exists only in your mind. You may be surprised how real it becomes. This is an excellent visualization technique and I often use it while practicing Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming. To read my full review of this CD, visit: http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/brain-sync.html

What To Do in a Guided Meditation

You will probably find that it feels very comfortable focusing all your awareness on the natural beauty that surrounds you. However, some people take it a little further and use guided meditation as an excellent psychological tool.

Once established in your new surroundings, call into being an imaginary character - it may be yourself from the future, a spirit guide, or some other entity you would like to meet. Sit down with them and ask anything you like. Assuming you haven't begun lucid dreaming by this point (it happens!) you may have to consciously speak for them. The point is, in this deeply relaxed state of mind, you are drawing insight and inspiration from your subconscious mind. And in time you may find the other characters start speaking from another place altogether...