Meditation is one of the best ways, if not the best way, to reduce stress and burnout. It hardly needs to be said, but our lives today, no matter who you are or what sector you are involved in, are excessively complicated. Both the work day pressure and the strain of human relationships can take their toll on you, leaving you bitter and frustrated, unable to enjoy yourself in the best days of your life.

Guided meditation owes its popularity in recent times precisely because it caters to the needs of individuals. Everyone has a different way of thinking, and that is what guided meditation tries to speak to. Mind you, whereas other meditation techniques seek to involve participants in a group activity, in a fixed time and place, guided meditation is not the same. It allows you full freedom to decide – you devise your own methods, since you are in it all alone, and secondly, you decide when and where you want to do it.

Some salient features of guided meditation include the following:

There is a great focusing of your energies. Both the body and the mind get to have complete relaxation. The ‘voice’ guides you, and you literally feel like a wanderer in the midst of a vast ocean of calmness. Guided meditation works on your nervous system, giving you a kind of peace you have not known before. It has other kinds of beneficial effects on your nerves as well as well. Guided meditation helps you to get completely rid of migraines and headaches because of its soothing of the nerves.

Guided meditation is better at relaxing you than the traditional ‘weekend off’. Yes, many people do advocate trips, as they allow you to detach yourself from your surroundings and helps you to be with yourself for some time. However, do realize that such can only be a temporary solution. You stay calm only as long as you are away, at the best. Worst part is, if you have really enjoyed yourself, then would only feel more miserable when you are back to daily life, facing the same grind all over again.

With guided meditation, you yourself undergo a change in your personality. That is the most crucial part. Adverse conditions do not bother you, because you have become stronger mentally. Further, at the end of each day, you can look forward to guided meditation to help you introspect and think about, and learn from, the events of the day. As said before, you have full freedom to adapt to guided meditation, something which nothing else allows as much.

For beginners, guided meditation offers a unique starting point. It is easy and absolutely comfortable, as there is no strictness at all. If you are into guided meditation for some time, you will realize the rise in levels of your concentration. More concentration also means greater mental and physical abilities, and therefore, rise in self esteem. You get to learn better meditation practices as you go along, allowing you to explore aspects about your surroundings, your life and your self that you did not even know existed.