Guided Meditation?

[Pocketbattleship]

Just a quick question really. Do others find they benefit from guided meditation sessions or are they able to meditate on their own? I find I need a bit of help to meditate and rely greatly on the guided session provided through an online course I completed a while ago. However, I think I would benefit from having a few choices when it comes to guided sessions but I don't know where to find any others. I tried Youtube but what I found wasn't that helpful to me. Can anyone help?

[JonW]

Hi there.
For the first nine months of mindfulness practice, I used guided meditations. Then I gradually found that I didn't need them.
Just today I mailed off a USB stick to a fellow member of this site. The stick contains a wide assortment of guided meditations (in MP3 form) along with a large collection of cool ambient music (also MP3s) which is ideal for meditation.
Let me know if you'd like the USB stick passed along to you, and I'll arrange that.
All best,
Jon

[FeeHutch]

I started by using guided meditations and gradually stopped using them as I felt able to sit 'on my own' quite happily. Recently though I have been neglecting my practice in the face of major family and work decisions so I will start using GM again to help me reestablish my practice and use them for as long as they seem helpful. Like most things I try and take a very flexible approach

[piedwagtail91]

i use guided when i need that other voice or connection, mainly self compassion, but mostly use silent with a bell and cymbal timing.. i do lead some practices with friends but i guess thats self- guiding!
there area few guided meditations here http://www.freemindfulness.org/download along with lots of other stuff. there are a lot of links on that site to other sites which also offer downloads.
there are full course downloads here https://sites.google.com/site/eastlancsmindfulness/session-mp3-download-1 with both male and female guiding.
i've just been listening to and editing my own set of meditations for a one off course with some friends but am not sure whether or not to inflict them on others just yet
mick

[JonW]

"i've just been listening to and editing my own set of meditations for a one off course with some friends but am not sure whether or not to inflict them on others just yet."
Oh go on...

[piedwagtail91]

I doubt many will understand my Lancashire accent. I was told in no uncertain terms by those I'm doing the course for to "talk proper" https://sites.google.com/site/mindfulra ... 3-download I'm not sure how long the site will be there. But it'll be at least 11 weeks.
I'm off to hide for a while now.
mick

[JonW]

Cheers Mick.
Greatly looking forward to hearing these.
I'm a big George Formby fan so the Lancs accent shouldn't be too much of an obstacle for me.

[piedwagtail91]

That's a good job. I can't offer any script for translation

[Pocketbattleship]

Thank you very much everyone, that's really helpful. I think I'll just keep going with guided sessions until I feel comfortable to go it alone. I think I'm going to try out bell and cymbal though.

Jon, thanks for the offer of the USB stick- that's very kind. I'll come back to you if I'm still struggling. Also Mick, a Lancashire accent is perfect for me being a northern lass myself!

[piedwagtail91]

thanks pocketbattleship

one way to ease yourself into silent meditation if thats the way you want to go is to use a choiceless awareness which will tune in and open your awareness and then if you can use an free audio editor like 'audacity' keep extending the silent parts.
that way you'd have a guided start and then a silence for as long as you wanted..

it can feel a bit strange at first, but another way is to try maybe five minutes of silence using bells ,cymbals or a timer until you get used to that.
i prefer bells and cymbals because they're more meditative .
timers can make me feel like i'm boiling an egg, though no offence intended to those who do like a timer!!
you will 'know' when you want to move to silent, though a lot of people never do and stick with guided.