Guided Meditation

I wish I had a link that would make the "Journey On" guided meditation I recently listened to in class accessible to everyone who reads my blog. It was amazing.

I love guided meditations so much, because they make me notice things that I wouldn't otherwise. I've had some that have asked the listener to recognize the breathe as it hits the back of the throat and determine whether it is warm or cool. They request that you do not make judgment - simply notice.

When we start to look for the tiny nuances going on directly around us, we realize that there are so many and they each deserve recognition. When we examine them - it takes a good amount of time to break down each breath, each twitch, each part of the body. When we give this deserved "appreciation" for the things around us, we realize that we have become relaxed by slowing our minds and centering our focus nearer to ourselves.

In the guided meditation that I recently listened to, we were told to focus on our blood and the weight it gives to different parts of our body. The directions described that we focus our minds in order to force the blood to flow into our hands. I did this meditation twice. Of course when you really try, you feel that you are achieving the desired outcome and sense that your hands indeed do feel heavier. On the second go round, I did not focus, in fact I was only half paying attention. I tried to become relaxed, but not by focusing on the meditation, and when I tried to lift my hands they felt heavy even without imagining that that I rerouting my blood.

So while I did love this meditation based on the voice of the speaker, his pacing, and the background lulls; I do not feel that I was able to have the means justify the ends. Alternately I do feel that the ends can justify the means, in that I was still able to feel heavy handed in the end whether because of the guided meditation or otherwise. Next time I would like to try a new guided meditation that paints a visual picture to where you feel as if you are almost traveling to a new secret place. Those are always fun.