All this has led us to have unfocused minds, unable to concentrate on any one thing for more than a few minutes. Meditation can bring us back to a way of peace and harmony again, to a life where stress is no longer in charge and you can live fully in the now, without fretting about the future, and without regretting the past.

For some people, meditation is simply a way of relaxing, for others it offers the path to enlightenment. It crosses all religious boundaries – it is a mental discipline, not a religious ritual.

Once you have started meditating, you will find your life enhanced in many ways. Meditating first thing in the morning is best, but any time is beneficial, and twice a day is ideal if you can spare the time.

Meditation is not a “spectator sport”, you need to practice it regularly in order to increase the benefits you can obtain from it, so use these notes as a guide and start meditating.

What Is Meditation?
Meditation has been used in the East for thousands of years as part of the ritual in religions and as part of every day life for millions of people. In the West, we have only recently discovered its benefits, but it is now accepted as a practical aid to inner growth and positive personal development.

Meditation is not a passive activity, it is not simply a question of closing your eyes and going into a trance or a daydream.

Meditation is a means to focus the mind on a single point of concentration. By doing this, you help to open the mind and bring its two parts (the conscious and the subconscious minds) closer together. The subconscious mind is that part which is primarily in charge of keeping you safe. It does this by developing habitual responses to triggers such that you are kept from danger. As an example, as a child you will happily put your hand into a fire, but after either being burnt (I hope not), or by a parent or carer giving you constant warnings, you develop an association between “hot” and “hurt”, and so you avoid the danger. Road safety is another good example of how your subconscious “automatically” makes you check for traffic when you approach a road.

The problem with the subconscious though, is that you have little or no control over it. This is how phobias can develop where an inappropriate association is developed that makes you afraid of something or some event which is not really dangerous. Hypnotherapy is a useful way to overcome such phobias, but meditation, bringing the two parts of the mind together as it does, will also help.

Meditation is something you can do yourself, without the help of a hypnotherapist, to bring self-discovery, and with this new understanding of your self comes inner calm and peace.

Some of the Benefits of Meditation
Meditation can help us

• Calm down
• Understand our emotions better and so control them
• Overcome conflicting emotions
• Discover what is truly important in our lives
• Find out where we are in life
• Find out where we are going
• Become more tolerant
• Become more tranquil
• Remove anxieties
• Overcome stress

How does this happen? Think of a view of the world as seen reflected in a calm pool. It will look clear and undistorted, as a calm and clear mind sees it. Now consider the same view of the world but with the pool agitated so it is covered with ripples. The world will now be a chaotic place, with little or no order to it. This is just as a cluttered and chaotic mind sees it. Meditation calms the mind, so calming our view of the world and allowing us to see more clearly how we fit in and interact with it.

All these benefits will come to you as you practice and develop your meditation more fully. Every day, as you meditate, you will find yourself growing in peace and also energy. Things that once stressed you, or caused you anxious moments will start to be put into their proper perspective. You will begin to regain control over your own life, but it will not be the same life you had before you started meditation.