How effective are guided meditation sessions in achieving the benefits of meditation?
Upvote:0
A guide is useful in the sense you don’t want to argue with the guru. But if you are of that disposition of authority then you will find condition to fight. Thus be wary, and remember you yourself, your own discerning thought as a guide (for better or worse) just use the common idea, what is best is best, the Buddha is a background to the operation of enlightenment
Upvote:2
For the purposes of relaxation, they are very effective. If your goal is simply to de-stress, then by all means use what works. Even the Buddha taught a gradual path and tailored his teaching to the station and goals of his audience. Guided meditation is one shade on a spectrum ranging all the way to enlightenment.
However. While guided meditation is an excellent way of slowing down mental chatter and decompressing, that's about as far as it will take you. If you are really interested in Buddhism and wish to meditate for the purposes of developing insight and penetrating into the four noble truths, you have to go past the relaxed state of mind engendered by guided meditation. You need to develop concentration.
Concentration can only be developed by you. It is a choice that you make every moment - a choice to return to the breath when your mind starts to wander. It's no different than physical exercise. The more often you make the choice to maintain your concentration, the stronger your meditation becomes. It also gets much easier with time. Concentration is also subtle. While you can use props like a candle or another person's voice, objects like the breath, kasinas, the body, etc. require much more focus and delicate handling. Too much effort and they dissolve. If you don't apply enough, they slip away.
I hope this doesn't come across as me saying that there is anything necessarily wrong with meditating simply to calm your mind. Destressing certainly has value. Just be sure to ask yourself what your goals are. Your answer will determine how to make the most of your time on the cushion.
Upvote:2
If it helps you center your mind then it is a good start.
Eventually though after you have become familiar with this state of peace, it can help you to to reach actual states of jhana (not just a general calming of mind) but you must have a meditation object that you can choose to enter and leave at your own decision--not at the will of the guide.
I do binaural beats and I find it very helpful prior to meditation, although some of the beats influence my brainwaves too much. Which is another topic entirely but goes with the principle that I mentioned in the previous paragraph: concentration states are traditionally advised to be achieved with kasinas and breathing.
Also, Right Meditation leading to Right Concentration (the last stage) is cultivated in a quiet isolated environment not one with some guided meditation.
Upvote:2
"Someone asked why sitting along with a guided meditation got much better results than sitting there meditating on your own — even in a group, in the presence of the teacher. My answer was basically that the person giving the guided meditation is doing a lot of your work for you. In other words, the instructions are doing what your mindfulness should be doing. That’s why although it may be useful to have a couple of guided meditations every now and then, there comes a point where you have to do the work yourself. Nobody else can make you mindful. No one can make you awakened."
~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Inner Refuge Through Inner Strength" (Meditations8) https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/Meditations8/Section0033.html
More post
- 📝 How does Buddhist Logic work?
- 📝 Does the Dalai Lama have bodyguards?
- 📝 Did Gautama Buddha know his path?
- 📝 Queen Mallika story and stream entry
- 📝 Reading your way to Nirvana?
- 📝 Sutta references which Discuss Self and Not Self under Different Contexts
- 📝 How would/should a perfect monk appear, act and possible serve you?
- 📝 Balancing the Five Powers
- 📝 Does the Samajivina Sutta imply that a Buddhist should only marry another Buddhist?
- 📝 What will Most Effect in Next Life Done Good or Bad?
- 📝 Can we meet the conditions of good feeling again and again?
- 📝 How can Buddha take rebirth as Metteyya?
- 📝 What is it that is re-incarnated ?
- 📝 If a Buddhist believes lay life is not ideal for the practice, why does he or she continue?
- 📝 Buddhist thought on Amends
- 📝 Do monks have big ups and downs in their life?
- 📝 How can I respond to Christians' unpleasant feedback on Buddhism?
- 📝 Can I count my contribution to the open source as a dharma?
- 📝 Do Buddhists talk about insides?
- 📝 What is tathata?
- 📝 I had a no-self experience, why is it a good state?
- 📝 Can anyone explain non-self or Anatta of Buddhism in simple terms with example?
- 📝 What's the value or harm of a literal belief in rebirth?
- 📝 Contemplation versus meditation
- 📝 What does Buddhism teach about anger?
- 📝 How long would it take to enter 3rd and 4th Satipatthana?
- 📝 Kamma vs. kiriya / kriya
- 📝 Meditation focus points and their ill effects
- 📝 What kind of meat Guan yin believer are allowed to eat?
- 📝 Is All-Is-One a buddhist belief?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How effective are guided meditation sessions in achieving the benefits of meditation?
- 📝 What are the different meditation types & how to do them?
- 📝 How to determine the end of a meditation session without a clock?
- 📝 How are 'conceit' and 'identity-view' not the same?
- 📝 How compatible are the beliefs of atheists and Buddhism?
- 📝 What are the scientifically proven benefits of mindfulness meditation?
- 📝 How much is the minimal time for practicing Vipassana in daily life for achieving better mindfulness?
- 📝 How compatible are (Theravada) Buddhism and the Western life?
- 📝 What are the suttas in which the Buddha provides instruction on how to meditate?
- 📝 How to apply meditation in the following difficult situations
- 📝 From a Buddhist point of view, what are the benefits of supernormal powers?
- 📝 How important are incense and candles to a meditation practice?
- 📝 How are Buddhist Sacred Texts used in practice and historically, given the questioned authenticity of some of them
- 📝 How can the idea of reincarnation be true if all the information of who we are is already destroyed
- 📝 What are the Buddhist teachings on how best to live a married life?
- 📝 What exactly are the last two of the Arupa Jhanas? How can we transcend them and for what?
- 📝 How can one apply the skills developed through Vipassana meditation to overcome FMO/PMO (fantasy, p**n, masturbation, o*g**m) addiction?
- 📝 Where are the Eight Worldly Winds and how to deal with them described?
- 📝 How can I remedy the erratic energy-power that arises from vipassana aka cessation-contemplation meditation so I can feel more in-control?
- 📝 What are the benefits of solitary practice?
- 📝 How can the sensations of the meditation object (attention to the breath) be made more noticeable?
- 📝 What are the guides for lay followers, as to how far they should go to be compassionate?
- 📝 What are the differences between joy (piti), bliss (sukha) and peace (santi) and how do the qualities relate to Nibbana?
- 📝 How can the world's youth discover careers that are aligned with consciousness and Buddhism?
- 📝 How are the Seven Purifications (satta-visuddhi) practiced in daily life?
- 📝 What are the Three Trainings and how are they practical?
- 📝 What are the benefits of practicing Sila?
- 📝 What are the benefits of caring parents?
- 📝 If we consider 'kamma' as intention and habits, how are these transferred from a brain to next life when the brain breaks-up and cease to function?
- 📝 How are the three marks of existence experienced through Samadhi meditation?