Meditation is about developing the ability to let go. As we sit in meditation, we watch our thoughts come, and we let them go. Over and over. 

We let go of the past and the future and stay rooted in the present. We let go of our ego and the carefully constructed sense of self that we have. We let everything go, and we just sit in deep peace and bliss, the only thing left after letting go of everything else. 

Guided meditation is when you close your eyes, and someone else speaks to you. They may guide you to imagine you’re in some relaxing setting, like a beach. They may speak to you about gratitude or healing or love or peace or good habits. Moreover, they may also speak about lowering anxiety, temper, stress, fear, or even procrastination. 

The variety is endless, but what they all have in common is that a person speaks for much, if not all, of it while the meditator sits with eyes closed in a relaxed state. 

Guided meditation, much like hypnosis, involves positive suggestions or affirmations while in a suggestible state of mind. This type of meditation is very easy to do and is very enjoyable for many people as compared to other meditations they might find more difficult or “boring.” 

There is certainly a benefit to relaxing and listening to reaffirming positive messages, whether it’s called hypnosis or guided meditation. It can help with alleviating certain bad habits and create new and better habits. 

What guided meditation does not do is increase our focus, raise our awareness, and make us wiser or more mindful. 

Some people feel it really shouldn’t be called meditation at all and that it should really just be called listening to a lecture with your eyes closed. Whatever you call it though, there are undoubtedly benefits to visualizing or listening to positive messages in a relaxed state.

Shall I Start My Meditation Journey With Mantra Meditation?

Mantra meditation, which could also be called object meditation, is the act of focusing intently on one object, word, sound, or sentence in one’s head. Repeating “Om” over and over in your mind for a certain period of time is a very common type of mantra meditation. 

Other types of mantra meditation could be visualizing a God, a guru, or the Buddha in your mind. The mantras could be in English or some other language; you may know what they mean or they may be meaningless to you, or they may not even be actual words at all but just sounds.

Mantra meditation is a great starting point for learning meditation. It’s not as easy as guided, but it isn’t as hard as mindfulness. It’s just right for any beginner to start their daily practice of meditation. 

For many people, starting straight away with mindfulness meditation is too difficult since most of us live with wild minds jumping from thought to thought, and so before they’re able to clear the mind of all thoughts, just focusing on one thought, such as a mantra, is much easier at first.

Because mantra meditation involves the intent to focus on an artificial sensory perception like a word or object, it does not raise our level of awareness or understanding of reality or the mind. It is great for concentration and focus, patience, and peace, which in itself can decrease stress and increase our joy and contentment in life. 

At times, mantra repetition with intense and prolonged focus can even lead to trance-like states, which is why it’s also been called transcendental. Repeating a mantra has been found to reduce stress and depression and improve our mental and physical health.

What’s the Proper Way to Practice Mantra Meditation?

With your eyes closed, sitting down, and you repeat a mantra, it can be Om, or something else. But you repeat a mantra in your head. 

I did this for two and a half hours every day in a few ashrams. It’s very difficult at first, as this was really my first serious experience with meditation.

At first, I was very restless, opening my eyes a lot, looking around, scratching, itching, moving my neck around, and fidgeting a lot. But by the second hour, I kind of settled down. You really give your body a chance to settle in and relax in a way that I had never experienced before.

Focusing on a mantra is a really good way to begin meditation. Clearing your mind and just focusing on your breath is very difficult when you’re first starting out. Your mind may be racing, and you might be thinking about a million things. So, with a mantra, you’re just thinking about one thing before you can think about nothing.

It’s easy to think about one thing; thinking about no things, as in breath meditation, can be very difficult. But a mantra is a very powerful way to focus your mind when it’s got a million things going on. 

So, whenever you’re meditating for the first time, I highly recommend a mantra; try “om.” It works wonders. Just repeat it over and over in your mind, just like this: “om, om.” Don’t worry about the speed; just let it flow naturally, not rushed, very effortlessly and naturally, like you turn on a faucet, and the mantra comes out, and you just let it keep coming. 

You will probably get distracted while repeating the mantra in your head. You’ll start thinking about other things, you’ll lose the mantra. That’s okay; just bring it back, gently bring it back over and over, as you create this skill of focusing and concentrating in your mind that we’ve never really practiced before. This will increase your attention span and your ability to focus.

When you can focus on something besides the constant stream of thoughts in your brain, a deep peace comes over you. It’s very powerful, profound, and relaxing. You’re giving your mind a real rest — restful, rejuvenating, and energizing. The focus on the guru thing while meditating, I think, take that with a grain of salt. If there is a God, messiah, or spiritual being that you want to focus on, go for it. It does create this religious worshipping sense.