Meditation can be a place to go to when all else fails. I know that sounds like a big statement to make but to meditate is to go within. What does that mean to a person who knows very little about this beautiful space we visit? The hows and whys of entering and what we expect to receive once we have found our way there vary for each individual. There is always someone that asks, “How do you get there and how does it work?” This is usually followed by, “I can’t do that. My mind never stops!”

With the hectic pace in this world people feel stressed and over worked. We are unhappy, tired of hurrying all the time and of never having enough time to get everything accomplished. Life can be overbearing and the stress of it can sometimes be very harmful to our health. Simply five or ten minutes of meditation a day can make all the difference in your life. If you don’t have that to spare, even a couple times a week can be enormously beneficial.

Meditation will help you to feel calmer, clearer, and to have a more positive attitude; it will also help you to find inner peace and balance, which many of us lack. It can help you to achieve a new sense of mental, emotional, and physical well-being. It can help you to focus, concentrate, and improve mental abilities while heightening creativity. It is a place that brings more happiness into your life and may also help you to remove emotional blocks. It is a place of gentleness that caters to our well being yet gives us the strength and the knowingness of renewal.

Meditation is a place that we visit with our minds, while our bodies and souls fill with new energy. It is a place that you need to find the time to visit regularly in order to find the harmony you seek in your life. We need to stop running in circles and saying we never have time. Everyone has the time they just prefer not to take the time because they do not understand the power of meditation and how and what it can help a person to accomplish in their life.

There are many different ways to meditate, many different kinds of meditations and techniques but for new beginners I always suggest a guided meditation to simply help them to relax as they follow the instructor’s words in their meditation quest. When they feel they have graduated from guided meditation and they are ready to try it on their own I suggest they listen to calm beautiful music with no words. I always suggest they use the same music every time they meditate until meditation becomes easy for them. I suggest they always use the same room, same chair and the same time would be perfect but not always possible. Turn off the phones and the TV, close the doors and the windows. You don’t want to be disturbed, this is your quiet time, your time to recharge.

When you meditate you are going within yourself to a very special peaceful place. A place over which we are not in charge. Yes, we are in charge of the setup but not the outcome. This is not controlled by us, we are giving ourselves up to the mindfulness of spirit, universal awareness, higher states of consciousness, to your innermost self. This is where you find peace and yes, you may even find answers to many things of which you were never even aware. It is a place, a state of mind, a joy to be free from the outside world while recharging ourselves within.

When you meditate sit with your feet flat on the floor, spine straight, hands relaxed in upward position on your lap. You did hear me say RELAXED. We suggest not to lie down as it’s too easy to fall asleep. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth with nice slow breaths. Surround yourself in God’s light of protection (see a beautiful white light surrounding you starting at the top of your head all the way past your shoulders down your legs connecting at the bottom of your feet.) Say a prayer of protection and call on guidance while emerging into meditation. This is not about religion, it is a spiritual endeavor.

Now you are ready to go into meditation. Call on your guides and angels to be with you, now you are totally relaxed and protected. There should never be fear when you go within, just plain relaxation. If negativity enters ask it to leave. There is no place for it, always replace it with positive. Only goodness can enter. When you are relaxed enough you will feel the bliss of stillness, oneness, and knowingness.

To address the most common complaint or issue for those who are just beginning a meditation practice… it will take time and practice to get your mind to be quiet. As you begin to meditate your mind will fill the silence with chatter. This is normal. Like any muscle, your mind just needs training to learn to be silent. Don’t become frustrated. Simply recognize the thoughts and then refocus. As you evolve in your journey with your meditation practice your mind will learn how to become still. When you come out of your meditation you may have answers to questions you may have had, problems may be solved, and you will feel recharged.

When we sit in meditation we always say we feel like we have just plugged in and recharged our batteries. There are many reasons for meditation as you have seen from above but what I have found that it does for me is that it allows me to connect to the real essence of who I am. It allows me to see differently, it gives me food for thought. When I think there is no way, I find the way. There is a peace and yet an excitement about the process. Where else can you go and take a journey without a fee? I have always said you can get a high without any alcohol or drugs. It’s a beautiful feeling, all you need to do is go within and you can find what you have always been looking for. It takes just a little patience and practice and before you know it you’ll be there experiencing the freedom and the power of connecting with the true essence of whom you are. For all those who say they don’t have time in their lives for meditation, I say to you, you don’t have time not to meditate. Give it a try and find a way. It can make a difference in your day, and in your life.