The Essential Guide to Guided Meditation

By Sandy Comstock

Anyone can meditate! Yes, even you.

This manual breaks down the basics of guided meditation. It's packed with information but designed to be easily digestible and adaptable to ANY level. So, whether you are someone just starting out or a seasoned "meditator" looking to deepen your practice or someone who is interested in leading others in guided meditation (check out the Tips for the Teacher sections), this book is for you.

It offers 4 relaxations and 13 sample meditations that (with a little wordsmithing) can be mixed and matched, altered, and expanded upon to suite your intention and needs.

Guided Meditation is 100% experiential, so dive in, explore, let your imagination run wild, and have fun!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9781543980554

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Copyright © 2019 by Sandy Comstock

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.

ISBN: 978-1-54-398055-4

www.spiritandalchemy.com

A NOTE FROM SANDY

The contents of this manual are based solely on my own experiences. It reflects the knowledge and techniques that I have garnered from 10+ years of a dedicated meditation practice. In that time, I have refined and solidified what works for me.  As you explore the following concepts, I highly encourage you to cherry pick – take what resonates and leave behind what doesn’t.

MEDITATION IS PERSONAL.

Meditation has the power to catapult you into the depths of your nature, your psyche, and your subconscious. It is a tool to connect to the limitless knowledge of Spirit, while simultaneously cultivating a deep understanding of the Self. It is not my place to tell you how that sacred relationship between you and Spirit should be built or how it should look, so…

Dive in

Explore

Have fun

Let your imagination run wild

Treat this information as a foundation

A launchpad

Into the beautiful complexity

That is YOU!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part I - Introduction To Meditation

The What’s And Why’s Of Meditation

Intro To Guided Meditation

Breaking Down A Guided Meditation

Tips For The Teacher

Part II - Relaxations

Relaxation #1 – In The Cosmos

Relaxation #2 – Floating Down A River

Relaxation #3 – Magic Cloak

Relaxation #4 – Through A Tunnel

Part III - Meditations For Healing, Clearing, And Balancing

Healing Meditations And Manifestation

Balancing The Divine Feminine And Masculine

Chakra Exploration & Balancing

Part IV - Meditations To Meet Your Guides

Animal Guides

Spirit Guides

Angel Guides

Part V - Deep Dive Meditations

Past Life Regressions

Essential Nature / Soul Light

Part VI - Build Your Own Meditations

Craft Your Own Meditations

Meditation Prompts

PART I

INTRODUCTION TO MEDITATION

THE WHAT’S AND WHY’S OF MEDITATION

ANYONE CAN MEDITATE!

What is meditation?

Meditation, by definition, is simply focusing the mind on one thing and sustaining that focus for a period of time. That’s it. Focus and Sustain. Contrary to popular belief, it is not (necessarily) clearing the mind of all thought. Although with a dedicated practice, one might reach the meditative experience known as samadhi (or bliss state), where the mind is pure, clear and unbound; where there are no thoughts or meditative objectives.

In this fast-paced world, which is already full of expectation and unrelenting standards of achievement, it’s less important (in my opinion) to reach this state of samadhi and more important to actively bring the mind to heel. If samadhi is the gold standard when you think of meditation, I sweetly suggest reevaluating. Allow yourself the time and space necessary to explore your practice. Let it come to life and unfurl like a sea of endless rose petals as you discover what meditation means to you.

Quieting the Mind

Even though you may not initially find bliss in a space devoid of thought, over time meditation will aid in quieting the mind and turning down the volume on that pesky voice inside your head – that often bullying commentary, which is prevalent in every waking moment, can at the very least be reduced to a simmer.

The challenge is that this intrusive, obnoxious inner-voice is content monopolizing the loud speaker, broadcasting an endless stream of comments and criticisms over your entire life. The Mind is accustomed to being in charge, like an undefeated warrior sitting confidently on its throne, whose harsh and unkind words have gone unchallenged and unquestioned for years, if not decades, and accepted as absolute truth.

As you dive into a meditation practice, you are inviting a new champion to emerge and fight for the throne – the royal seat from where you seek wisdom, council and truth. This shy and unassuming challenger is your Intuition. It is the quiet, sweet voice of your spirit and the inner compass of your soul. It has direct access to the secrets of your heart, understands the core essence of your being, and truly knows exactly what you should do in any given situation – take that job, move to a new city, date that person. THIS is the voice that is fighting hard to be heard.

Meditation is a practice that begins to rectify this imbalance. By removing the Mind from a place of authority and reappointing it to the role of the Observer – where it will diligently watch, record, and remember – you create a space where the Intuition can rise to its rightful place as your Internal Navigation System, directing you on your journey.

During this restructure, the mind will (most likely) not go quietly into the night. There will be times where it wins the fight and the whisper of your intuition will be faint or inaudible. Don’t fret, it happens. Some days are better than others. That’s why they call it a practice.

Meditation and the Yoga Sutras

Okay, a quick history…

The Vedas are ancient Hindu scriptures containing rituals, hymns, philosophies, and poems. This vast collection of channeled wisdom, which was verbally carried through history, had one purpose: to reduce suffering and promote sustained joy. In spite of this immense wisdom, people were still suffering. So, 6 sages undertook the task of synthesizing this robust knowledge into 6 darsanas or lenses through which people could view life.

The Philosophy of Yoga (with a big Y) is one of these darsanas. It was created by the sage Patanjali, who piecemealed the Vedic information into 196 bite sized sutras. Think of these sutras as little lecture notes, or Hindi haikus, that are composed of few words but hold rich meaning. Due to the vague and abstract nature of these sutras, they were traditionally taught one-on-one, teacher to student.

According to the Yoga Sutras, the mind is capable of doing 5 things:

Comprehension, perception

Misapprehension, misinterpretation

Imagination, dreaming, visualization

Sleep, resting

Memory

The practice of meditation teaches you to act as a witness to these 5 activities, observe them without attachment, and cultivate the ability to discern between them. Through this awareness, you begin to remove the blocks keeping you from connecting fully to your true Self. 

The 8 Limb Path (Sutras 3.1-3.3)

Nestled in the third chapter of the Yoga Sutras is the 8 Limb Path, which is basically a guidebook on how to live a full and healthy life. It covers Relationships, Lifestyle, Movement, Breath, and the Senses. The last three limbs pertain to meditation:

Dharana – Focus; concentrated attention on one object

Dhyana – Connection; build an understanding, a relationship with the object of your focus

Samadhi – Absorption; complete integration, total flow; nothing between you and the object

Clarify Your Thoughts

Meditation aids in the cessation of the mind’s fluctuations. It peels back the layers of "noise’ and reveals what is hidden within – the truth of what you desire/need/require. This practice is a beautiful journey of observation and discovery. What do