If you’ve been wondering if meditation is a fad without any actual outcomes, think again. In this blog, I will be discussing the incredible benefits of guided meditations and all the reasons why you should be getting started with it today.
There’s a lot of information out there about meditation but how do you know what’s going to work for you? The answer is you can’t. Not without trying it first. Each person has a unique relationship with meditation and what it does for their life.
One of the best ways to get started, though, is guided meditation, a technique where you are led by an external voice such as an app, video, or teacher to keep you calm.
As someone who has tried many forms of meditation, I have come to rely on guided meditations as one of my go-to tools for self-reflection, rest, and fresh perspectives.
A personal fan of guided meditations that helped kick off my meditation journey, this blog is a deep dive into all the benefits of guided meditation that have been proven time and again.
If you’ve been thinking about meditation, take this as a sign. Read, get inspired, and start now!
21 Important Benefits of Guided Meditation You Should Not Miss
Guided meditation is a mindfulness technique that allows you to be directed by another person.
This could be a podcast, a video, an application, or an in-person class that helps you meditate in a step-by-step format.
Here, the expert explains how to become more aware of your thoughts, how you can focus on them, and at an advanced stage, apply the same to everyday life.
In a world running on technology, guided meditation can be an extremely convenient, accessible tool amid your busy schedules and challenging situations.
21 Important Benefits of Guided Meditation For You
I’ve compiled the most important benefits of guided meditation that can be a blessing to your health and life.
Before you get started, read through these to know the abundance of value that guided meditation offers. Once you’re on the other side of this blog, you’re likely to be far more enthusiastic about trying meditation!
1. Guided Meditations is great for beginners
Everyone needs a little help when they’re learning something new. Especially, if that activity involves suppressing the stubborn thoughts and emotions that you’ve been harnessing for years.
With an external guide or director, your mind has one responsibility less on its plate while meditating. As a beginner with meditation, instead of worrying about whether you’re doing it the right way or not, all you have to do is lean on an expert or a pre-curated meditation.
One less worry on your mind is one step closer to a calmer you!
2. You don’t have to plan it!
Unlike other meditation techniques, guided meditation can be practiced from the comfort of your home.
From a range of apps to a host of YouTube videos, there are plenty of options for you to understand what works best for you without breaking the bank.
You could also choose to practice it at any convenient time of the day and in any environment with a good pair of headphones. All you need to do is get started.
Wondering how? Check out this brief meditation for beginners that focuses on breathing and body awareness.
3. Guided Meditation is easier
Every person has different capacities, personalities, and mental frameworks. For many, the thought of practicing meditation on their own can be daunting. Several people give up on the first go because they can’t focus on it at all.
When you meditate, your thoughts will meander, especially if you have conditions such as mental OCD, ruminating thoughts, panic attacks, etc. In such cases, having an external source of direction can be more effective in bringing back your focus and clarity. You are far more likely to continue with techniques that work in the first couple of trials instead of pursuing techniques that would likely take months to master.
Remember, there’s no shame in choosing a path that is better for your physical and mental comfort.
4. It increases your mindfulness
Guided meditation techniques can redirect your mind away from your thoughts and help you focus on body sensations and breathing, increasing your mindfulness.
According to the American Psychological Association, “Mindfulness is an awareness of one’s internal states and surroundings.”
By gently nudging you to focus on the present moment, mindfulness helps turn down the volume on cluttered thoughts, fear-based thinking, and stress. Instead, you are compelled to acknowledge your body in the present moment, fully and completely.
This simple acknowledgment has vast mental and physical benefits, as you will see ahead.
5. It creates a space for rest
You probably associate rest with an image of you snuggled up in bed, having a good nap. How many times in a day, however, do you give your brain a chance to rest?
Guided meditation is a wonderful tool to ensure your brain gets a little break from all the craziness of the day. When you feel anxious, nervous, or just foggy, choosing sleep or another distraction might not be the best solution.
Rather, taking the time to quiet or soothe your brain through a few minutes of guided meditation can help you feel far more refreshed and rejuvenated.
6. It can help manage your high blood pressure
Several studies have shown that meditation can modestly lower your blood pressure.
A great example is the ‘relaxation response’, a special technique developed by Dr. Herbert Benson, director emeritus of the Harvard-affiliated Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine. This technique which involves calming the mind through a repeated word or phrase, helped some participants control their blood pressure to the point whereby medications could be reduced or even eliminated.
By pulling the mind away from thoughts of stress or the usual flight-or-fight response, meditation helps control your brain’s impact on physiological changes.
7. Guided meditation can help you manage pain better
Unable to manage your pain with traditional techniques and medications? Guided meditation could be a better option.
Research shows that meditation can alter the way your brain typically manages pain. It can change your brain structure making you less sensitive to pain or even change your cognition, that is, the way you process pain.
Guided meditation or meditation at large, focuses on the pain, instead of eliminating it or blocking it. By working with the pain directly, you can reconfigure the way your body perceives and manages it.
8. It creates an environment for better sleep
The benefits of guided meditation are so vast because it combines the relaxation of two critical areas of your being – mind and body.
When it comes to sleep, your time spent meditating ensures a calmer response to both stressful thoughts as well as physical stress responses such as tense muscles, rapid breathing, increased blood pressure, etc. which conflict with sleep.
Meditating can:
- Move your body out of flight-or-fight mode
- Ease your racing thoughts
- Improve your brain health
- Increase serotonin, a neurotransmitter associated with rest, and melatonin, a hormone associated with sleep
- Decrease norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter associated with anxiety
Some studies have found that meditation may go as far as reducing insomnia.
By prepping your body and mind for sleep, meditation can not only help you sleep better but also promote a higher quality of sleep.
9. Guided Meditation Increases Your Self-Awareness
No podcasts, book, or self-help video in the world can tell you as much about yourself as you can.
Of course, you can often get caught up with what you should or should not be thinking. Guided meditation, especially mindfulness meditation can help you train your mind to sit with a thought or emotion, without the judgment, overthinking, and bias that usually accompanies it.
In addition, by giving your body and mind the space to feel, meditation can help you process difficult emotions.
When you experience strong emotions such as anger or frustration, it can lead to physical and mental outcomes such as increased blood pressure, mood swings, outbursts, etc. However, by regulating these emotions through channels like meditation, you can experience changes such as:
- Noticing when your emotions are rising
- Considering if your response to those emotions has any consequences
- Control over choosing a response that is more aligned with a rational outcome instead of a mere reaction to such emotions
Studies show that people who practiced mindfulness in this manner regularly experienced fewer negative emotions than those who did not.
10. Guided Meditation Improves Your Focus and Concentration
I bet you’ve had a good daydream or felt blissfully lost in a scene from your favorite movie or book, at one point in time. Yet, at what point does imagination cross over into meaningless distraction?
In 2010, Harvard psychologists Mathew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert found that people are likely to have wandering minds for a substantial 47 percent of the time. Even further, the study showed that there was a strong link between wandering minds and unhappiness. The inability, therefore, to be fully present in the moment is robbing you of much more than just your time and productivity.
Through tools such as guided meditation, you can help free your mind from distractions, especially those that cause stress and worry.
By focusing on singular things such as an object, image, mantra, or breathing, guided meditation helps to:
- Identify distraction without letting go of what you’re focusing on
- Disengage from distraction
- Bring your attention back to your focal point
By practicing daily, you might soon be able to detect distractions and return quickly to your object of focus naturally. Studies show that practicing just a few minutes every day can help you focus on information relevant to your tasks.
11. It enhances your creativity
Imagine being told to draw a picture on a canvas that is already crowded with splotches of paint, doodles, and worn in certain spots. Chances are, you won’t be able to.
Meditation helps clear the canvas that is your mind. Anxiety, fear of failure, self-consciousness, and memories can clutter this canvas, leaving no room for new imagery. Several studies have shown that meditation enables mindfulness, which in turn increases creativity by decluttering your mind.
Also, by allowing you to sit with your thoughts or ideas, regardless of outcome or approval, meditation also creates an atmosphere for creative instincts that are otherwise stifled by professional and social expectations.
12. Guided Meditation Reduces Your Anxiety
According to the World Health Organization, in 2019, nearly 301 million people in the world experienced an anxiety disorder, making anxiety disorders among the most common mental health disorders. However, among these, only about 1 in 4 people in need (27.6%) received treatment.
Social stigma, lack of mental health services, and trained professionals were all found as barriers to care.
In such scenarios, for those who cannot or won’t access mental health resources, meditation can be an alternative source of relief.
A sub-genre of meditation developed by the University of Massachusetts’ called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) that employs a mix of guided meditation and yoga has shown significant results. Studies have shown its effectiveness in reducing anxiety, even years after the first eight-week course.
Anxiety can pop up anywhere and at any point in time. In such moments, having easily accessible tools like guided meditations can help you manage your anxiety till the time you can seek professional care.
13. It can foster better mental health among vulnerable minds
Children today are dealing with a whole host of powerful stressors, enhanced by the easily available graphic imagery and disturbing news on social media. This makes preparing their minds for learning just as important as teaching.
Several schools are now showing interest in bringing meditation into daily schedules to manage this digital stress.
A low-income district in San Francisco that extended the school day by 30 minutes for meditation, saw a 75 percent decrease in suspensions, improved performance, and better attendance.
Small additions like these can do wonders for children who are battling mental health conditions, violence, and anger.
14. It can help manage addiction
Meditation can be a great tool for those battling addictions, particularly recovering addicts.
In a study that introduced meditation training among smokers, it was found that meditation can aid activity in the anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortex, brain areas related to self-control. Participants saw an increase in self-control capacity and reduced smoking.
Meditation helps dissociate the craving from the harmful act by introducing another behavior between the two. Instead of immediate satisfaction, you fully feel and ride out the craving, until it subsides altogether, confirming your ability to hold on the next time you have a craving.
15. It reduces activity in the brain’s me-center
Now, this isn’t as bad as it sounds.
When you don’t have a particular thought to focus on, your brain has the natural tendency to wander and jump from thought to thought, especially thoughts about yourself.
Some scientists refer to this as the default-mode network or DMN, a brain network responsible for mind-wandering and self-focused thoughts, also called, ‘monkey mind.’
This mind-wandering however has been associated with people who are less happy and excessively worried.
Several studies have shown that meditation can have a calming effect on the DMN. The mind may still continue to wander, however, because meditators have formed new pathways in addition to the DMN, they are quicker at regaining focus.
16. It can help manage cognitive decline and improve memory
As you grow older, your body changes. In many areas, you can experience a decline in function such as agility, rapid digestion, and immune capacity.
However, one of the most significant issues that older adults face is cognitive decline and decreasing brain health, which often goes ignored until the development of serious conditions such as dementia.
Several studies show that meditation can be effective in slowing down this decline. A study on meditation and healthy aging showed that meditation preserves brain structure, increases glucose metabolism, and brain connectivity in older adults.
Another famous study by the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was an 18-year analysis of a Buddhist monk. The study found that daily meditation slowed down the monk’s brain aging by eight years when compared to a control group.
Therefore, practicing meditation daily, especially early in life can help you achieve better brain health in your older years. Check out this guided meditation to improve your memory to get started.
17. Better brain health at large!
Apart from areas related to self-control, memory, and focus, meditation can change the structure of the brain to improve outcomes in several areas.
A 2011 study at Harvard found that just eight weeks of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) increased cortical thickness in the hippocampus, which impacts your learning and memory as well as areas of the brain involved in emotional regulation. The study also observed decreases in fear, anxiety, and stress.
This indicates if you practiced meditation consistently, you would not only experience change in the moment or the hours after meditation but rather a better quality of life and emotional wellbeing, at large.
18. It helps you manage stress behaviors
There’s a chance you’re guilty of a not-so-great stress mechanism, just like the rest of us. Binge-eating, binge-watching, and endless scrolling are some of the behaviors you’re likely to fall back on when you don’t want to deal with uncomfortable emotions.
Techniques like guided meditation can be a great way to resist these stress responses that have less to do with what you want and more with what you want to avoid. A study on the management of binge-eating behaviors found that participants who practiced mindfulness meditation experienced a decrease in binge eating and emotional eating.
The next time you feel prompted to open Instagram or pop a chocolate when you’re frustrated, try opening a meditation app instead.
19. Reduces Loneliness
Designer Diane Von Furstenberg once said, “The most important relationship in your life is the relationship you have with yourself. Because no matter what happens, you will always be with yourself.”
If you’ve experienced loneliness, you’re just like any other person on the planet. Yet, healthy ways to manage this feeling are not so common. That’s where guided meditation can be your BFF.
A study that employed a two-week smartphone-based mindfulness training found that meditation helped reduce feelings as well as encouraged social interactions. Even further, the study showed that through meditation, participants developed an orientation of acceptance toward present-moment experiences.
Being comfortable with what you feel is truly one of the greatest benefits of meditation.
20. Improves Relationships
I can already hear you going, ‘Say what? How does meditating have any bearing on a relationship?’
Well, guess what, science indicates that it does. A study on mindfulness and romantic relationships showed that individuals who tried a mindfulness or meditation technique had a greater acceptance of their partner’s unique limitations or differences.
In other words, meditation can change the way you perceive a loved one. Instead of focusing on perceived ‘flaws’ or ‘weaknesses’, you can learn to focus more on all the great attributes your partner has.
Now you have a great idea for your next date night. Don’t you?
21. An effective aid for therapy
One of the greatest benefits of guided meditation is its effectiveness in psychotherapy techniques.
Several therapists employ guided imagery meditation, a practice that involves concentrating on a specific object, sound, or experience to calm your mind. This technique has shown results such as:
- Reduced anxiety and stress
- Improved sleep
- Reduced pain
- Reduced depression
In a study that focused on reframing the negative images experienced by people with cancer, it was found that just one week of daily guided imagery helped reduce depressive symptoms, pain, and anxiety.
This meditation aid by City of Hope, a leading research and treatment center for cancer is a great example of guided imagery meditation focused on relaxation.
Conclusion
The benefits of guided meditation are many, especially for people who are new to the practice of meditation or even those who have unsuccessfully attempted meditation before.
However, as with any form of meditation, you need to remain consistent, to see any meaningful outcomes. A few minutes daily can change the way you perceive your schedule, your interactions, and your goals.
I recommend trying out a few different meditations to see what works for your unique needs and personality. For me, meditation combined with yoga works the best.
Remember, me-ditation begins with a ‘me’! So, don’t be afraid to have a few pit stops on your journey to discovering your ultimate meditation technique.
Now pause,
Close your eyes,
Take a delicious deep breath,
Hold for five seconds,
And breathe out.
Doesn’t that feel better already?
Happy Meditating folks!
