The challenge new meditators have when learning meditation is whether to use a guided mediation or to use an unguided meditation. Our objective in this article is to look at both meditation types so that you can choose which meditation style will suit your requirements.

Guided Meditation involves somebody guiding you through the meditation process. That is they literally talk you through the whole meditation process. There are some advantage and disadvantages to this technique. One of the reasons you may consider guided meditation is to help expand your understanding of the various meditation techniques.

The Guided Meditation technique can be presented in a number of ways. You may do a guided meditation session in a small group with a meditation practitioner or you might do a guided meditation session using a meditation cd or meditation dvd.

If you are first starting out, the Guided Meditation sessions is a good way to learn meditation as the meditation practitioner will talk you through the experience and to help you identify what you should be feeling and how to move you into the state that your meditation technique is trying to get you in.

For example if your guided meditation session is teaching you how to master the deep-breath meditation technique then the practitioner will talk you through how to relax and release the tension within your body. They will also be able to tell you what you should be thinking and feeling. A good practitioner will also give you some exercises during the session to try at home that will help your experiment with the meditation technique.

The obvious downside to guided meditation is that someone is actually talking to you during the meditation session. Sometimes what people will find is that it is difficult to get to that state we are trying to achieve when someone is talking during the session. Often what you will have to do is to follow a guided meditation session for a number of times till you can learn and remember the meditation process and then try it for yourself in an unguided meditation session on your own.

Some meditation centres also offer unguided meditation sessions in a group. What this means is that the whole group meditates together but the session is done in silence with no-one speaking. Many group meditation sessions though will still use meditation music as the basis of the session.

Some meditation classes in remote locations will undertake unguided sessions out in the natural surrounding and will use the sounds of nature as the tool to help bring the group to a point of relaxation. Once again though one of the key elements of these unguided sessions is that no-one is allowed to speak during the meditation period. The group leader will generally use a special sound to bring the group meditation session to an end.

Most professional meditation practitioners will recommend that a person who is new to meditation take a guided meditation session so that they can learn how to achieve the state of mind the type of meditation they are trying. Learning to meditate is one of the most important tools any human can master and can help improve your day-to-day life and help you cope with your surroundings.

Once you have undertaken a few guided meditation sessions you will certainly be able to pursue unguided meditation sessions on your own and the more practice you get the better you will be at meditation. It is also worth considering purchasing a few different guided meditation cd’s so that if in the future you are unsure of what to do during the meditation session, you can refer to the meditation cd as a reference.

Chris Le Roy
http://www.1-on-1.biz/MeditationMusic/RelaxationTechniquesForStressManagement.asp