Hello all! I apologize for not posting in awhile. I manifested a couple of tickets to the Presidential Inauguration and headed east for a couple of weeks to enjoy the festivities. It was an absolutely amazing experience and I am very grateful for it. :-)
I've been wanting to write a blog on meditation because meditating is so crucial and just about everyone I come across tells me that they really want to start or that they wish they were better at it. People tend to complain about having difficulties stilling their minds- the "busy mind" complaint. But the thing is that one of the purposes of meditation IS to help you still your mind. So it's fine if you aren't perfect at it when you start. It's definitely a practice. But a very enjoyable one that brings TONS of benefits into your life AND your manifesting abilities!
So, in this blog, first I'm going to discuss the benefits of meditation and why it's so important, and then I'm going to write out some simple meditations and tips to make meditation easier for those who want to start meditating or get better at it.
(PLEASE NOTE: I tend to use the word "God" because I think it gets the point across the best for me, but please feel free to substitute It with the Universe/Higher Self/God-Mind or the name of your choice).
Aside from the obvious benefits of reducing stress and increasing the peace in your life, meditation serves to quiet your mind/ego, so that you can hear your inner-guidance or hear God. When it comes to manifestation, this is SUPER important. Even though sometimes what you are trying to manifest really DOES just fall out of the sky and into your lap, often what happens is that you suddenly have a brilliant idea, and when you act on it, "Wallah! Your manifestation is here!" And sometimes the brilliant idea or action required, really is as simple as just making one phone call. So it would suck if you just so happened to miss the guidance to take such simple action. That's why meditation is so crucial if you want to master manifesting. Meditating opens up your channels so that you can hear Divine guidance (often a sudden thought, idea, or inner voice) from your Higher Self, God, the Universe, etc.
Also, one of the goals of most meditations is to feel or be aware of your Oneness with God. This obviously enhances your ability to manifest and the quality of your life. Suddenly positive thinking becomes easier because you are aware that you actually have God inside you and can tap into his help whenever. You also realize that God really is always with you and is working for your good at all times. This gives people major confidence in the Universe AND in themselves (I mean you have God, the Creator of this magnificent Universe, inside you. What CAN'T you handle??). The practice of meditation helps you get in contact with this Source faster and faster each day and serves to boost your faith because since you are able to feel God, you KNOW he exists. And when you start receiving your guidance from God, suddenly fear of action falls away.
Personally, since I've definitely felt the presence of God inside me multiple times through meditation, right before I have to do anything of importance or have an important conversation, I like to contact God and ask him to work through me and handle things for me. I ALWAYS ask God to speak for me, or write for me, when I'm about to have a serious conversation with someone I love. I don't want to risk choosing the wrong words. And it really works! Problems just tend to resolve themselves without hostility when you do that before you speak.
When I meditate, I always invite God to come inside me and lead me. I know he's already supposed to be inside me and I'm just supposed to be finding him inside me, but for some reason, it makes me feel better to invite him in and imagine him coming inside my heart and leading me beforehand. That's just me though.
Also, these are the affirmations that I like to use in the morning. Lately, I've been using these type of affirmations instead of trying to manifest a particular thing because I don't want to limit myself in anyway (and its been going REALLY well. Opportunities that I definitely hadn't imagined have sprung up):
"I live confidently each day, knowing that the Source of my prosperity is God working through me and directing me."
"I am self-confident this day, as I allow the positive power of God to govern my affairs."
"Because Mystical Power/God is working for me, I expect unexpected and expected good things to happen to me this day and every day."
MEDITATION HELP:
So you've decided you want to start meditating, where do you begin? Find a QUIET place and put on some comfty clothes. Then surround yourself with the protective white light of the Universe (just imagine a white light surrounding you completely and intend that it protects you. I like to do this because it makes me feel more comfortable since I actually feel energy). And try one of the options below.
A) Mystical Meditation (simple, effective, 20 minutes and can be increased to 60 minutes):
This is a simple, effective meditation to get in touch with your inner-self and experience the Presence of God. This is the meditation we're taught in my Metaphysics PhD program. It works for beginners and it helps you go into your own mind.
Steps:
1) Sit in an upright position with your back straight, in front of a table or desk. I like to sit at my desk chair in front of my desk.
2) Place a single white candle on top of the desk/table. It should be about 12 inches from your head.
3) Light the candle and then stare intently into the burning flame for about 10 minutes (you don't have to keep time). This process helps to steady your mind and quiet it (for the busy-minds out there). Just keep focusing on the flame and nothing else.
4) After about 10 minutes, close your eyes.
5) If you did step 3 correctly (which you did), you should now be seeing the after-image of the flame in your 3rd eye (the interior part of your forehead).
6) Now you get to concentrate on that after-image. The point is to use the after-image as a focal point of concentration. This causes you to shift from an outer point of concentration (the candle) to an inner point of concentration (the after image). The inner concentration continues to still your mind and makes you aware of the internal consciousness of your mind.
7) The after-image tends to fade after 2-3 minutes for most people. For some other people (myself included) the image fades in and out for awhile. Just concentrate on it until its completely faded from the vision of your 3rd eye.
8) After the image is gone, sit quietly, observing into the internal consciousness of your own mind for about 10 minutes. Usually at this point your 3rd eye starts seeing cloud-like formations of color, images of different things, or an inner-light. The images you see can be from your subconscious memory, energy moving around (that's why I like to surround myself with white light beforehand), or religious symbols.
**This is the state where ideas, answers, and guidance often start rushing in.
9) You are aiming for seeing an Inner Light eventually. And ultimately to get to the point where you experience a sense of Oneness with that Light/Universe/God. This is one of the ultimate goals of meditation and yoga. To lose your sense of separeteness and feel your Oneness with the Universe and God (i.e. "We are all one").
-You can start off doing this meditation for 20 minutes and continually increase it to an hour if you'd like. Don't feel bad if your first experience isn't super eventful, insightful, or life-changing. If you continue to do it, you will get there.
B) Guided Meditation (about 20 minutes)
There are lots of these on the market and they are great because they take a lot of the work out of meditating. You just press play and relax. Here is a link to a FREE version my personal favorite (which I included in my post on "Forgiving"):
http://www.ppmaudiostream.org/
Just click on the "Click Here" in the 2nd paragraph. On this site they call it the "Planetary Meditation for Peace," but really it's a pretty brilliant meditation. It subconsciously helps you forgive the people you need to forgive in your life, it fills you with peace and love, AND it brings you great karma. The meditation opens your heart and having an open heart allows real love, and all the wonderful things you want to manifest, to come into your life.
I usually do this one sitting on top of my bed. Then when the meditation is over, I like to lay down on my bed and allow myself to sink deeper into a meditative state. This is usually when the guidance/answers/brilliant ideas start flowing in. I often lose track of time while doing this.....
C) My Personal Meditation....
I thought I would also include a section on what I did when I started meditating (about 2 years ago) and what's worked for me. I just kind of did this stuff. It wasn't taught to me. But it worked for me when I was starting out and it still does.
1) Turn on candles. I like to use Reiki-charged candles, but it doesn't really matter.
2) Light relaxing incense. I personally like the Escential Essences brand in "Purification" or "Angel's Influence", but just experiment around until you find one that helps you relax.
3) Sometimes I use a CD and sometimes I don't. But if I use a CD, I always keep meditating for at least 20 minutes after it ends. Again, this is my personal preference. My brilliant moments and major breakthroughs during meditation take place in silence. BUT the CD helps me go deeper faster.... So I often pop in a Hemi-Sync CD ("Octaves of Light w/Hemi-Sync" is my fave) and start it in the middle so that it goes silent after 3 tracks or so. There are tons of instrumental CDs out there though. Again, experiment.
4) I love using crystals. When I started using crystals my meditations went to a whole new level. So I lay down on my bed and I usually put an amesthyst on my forehead (over my 3rd eye) and a rose quartz over my heart. Sometimes I'll add a quartz to my solar plexus, or navel, or basic chakra. I have lots of crystals so I like to play around and experiment. But I always have an amesthyst over my 3rd eye and a rose quartz over my heart.
5) When I FIRST started meditating, I had a busy mind too. So I used to allow myself to play with "The Secret" type stuff at the beginning and just visualize what I wanted in my life (so I just allowed myself to daydream) until I started going deeper. It's okay to allow your mind to wander before you still it.
6) When I'm ready to start going deeper. I start focusing on my breathing. I inhale through my nose into my stomach (sometimes all the way down to my legs. Just focus on different body parts), allow my stomach to inflate and then allow the breath to come back up through my lungs, throat, and out my mouth (lots of people breathe back out through the nose, but I like using my mouth for exhales).
If I'm trying to quiet my mind OR get rid of blocks/negativity, I consciously imagine breathing in POSITIVITY and exhaling NEGATIVITY. And I often get specific. I.E. I think "Faith" as I imagine inhaling in the energy of faith and think "Doubt" as I imagine exhaling out the energy of doubt. I use it for whatever energies, like inhaling unconditional love/exhaling anger, etc. While you are taking these breaths, definitely focus on enjoying feeling the negativity leaving your body and the energy of great feelings, like love or peace, being breathed into every corner of your being. I usually allow my intuition or heart guide me at this point. I just ask, "Okay, what needs to go?" And usually something pops up if I lay still and keep taking meditative breaths. If not then I just exhale, "Any negative energy, thoughts, or beliefs that need to go." Also, exhaling your worries, one by one, while inhaling its opposite, does wonders for quieting your mind.
7) After that, I'm often deep into my meditation and can just lay still and experience inner-guidance or breakthroughs. Sometimes I'm guided to do specific things/exercises (your subconscious is really good at pointing out that you need to forgive yourself for that thing you did 7 years ago and didn't really realize you were holding against yourself.....) And sometimes I get to just enjoy absolute peace, joy, or new insight.
8) If I'm not there yet (at the point of #7), I sometimes use mantras. i.e. "I can hear my heart and I follow my heart" while concentrating on my heart. After like 5 minutes of this, suddenly images/ideas start flashing. OR "I am one with God. I am one with God" over and over again. These mantras always get me there.
ADDED BONUS:
This is my own personal thing that I LOVE to do. If I'm feeling sad or out of it, or WHATEVER (sometimes even when I'm happy), during meditation I like to ask God to hug me and hold me. I just ask him to please hug me and hold me in his arms. To let me FEEL his love (which he often likes to demonstrate with miracles, btw). And then I lay there and just enjoy being completely enveloped by God's LOVE. This has led to some of my most amazing experiences EVER. I feel so comforted, loved, and protected. :-) And coming into contact with God just REALLY makes your day. Sometimes I like to have full conversations with Him while he's hugging me and sometimes I just like to silently enjoy being held in his unconditional love. When I'm ready to go (because my day awaits me, otherwise I could stay in this state forever) I always ask him to please come inside my heart and lead/guide me throughout my day.
GOOD LUCK!!!! And hope you all find these helpful!
With lots and lots of love and light,
J
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