What types of meditation do you do that works for you? Does visualization work? How? What is your experience with self-hypnosis?

As you begin to develop your habits and rituals you will find it gets easier. Get out of your comfort zone and try it once…then twice you will find it becomes a habit. Akow yourself flexibility though. Your brain wants to feel good and that will lead to complacency and lack of growth. You have stretched and grown. You will find that your rituals are simply a part of your life.

I visualise walking down to a creak. Taking 100 steps to get there. Every step has me getting more and more relaxed. When thoughts come in to my mind I put them on floating leaves and let them drift away. When I get to zero, the creak, I lie down and focus on the individual parts of my body. Once I am fully relaxed I repeat an assertion paragraph, about my positive life, that I have memorised.

I’ve found this to be very effective in making me the person I want to be.

For me, no matter which type of meditation I’m attempting it has to be guided meditation. Without guidance, all I can do at this time is a few minutes of focused breathing. Visualization does help when I’m attempting to meditate however I still need the guidance to maintain my meditative state. For me there’s just too much going on within and without me to do otherwise.

I use an app called insight timer that has several guided meditations. I like simple guided mindfulness meditations. I sometimes find the guided imagery meditations too syrupy and get irritated, so I don’t do those, but I know they work for some people.

I am still very new to meditation, I struggle a bit with visualisation but I’m sure it will get better as I get used to it and giving it my full focus. I have done the ones that help with self esteem and regret, which I liked. I also liked the one of the wall, but I will be repeating it to improve! Sometimes I also just listen to the sounds before going to bed. Hope this helps a bit, as I’m still new to it all.

For beginners I would recommend candle flame meditation or breath following. They are both easy ways to get started and can be very powerful. I have done a lot of expansion/contraction meditation and find it helpful for practicing martial arts and healing arts, but am not sure how useful it is outside those fields. I am working with metta now, but do not have enough experience with it to comment.

I used to be a hypnotherapist, so I have a lot of experience with self hypnosis. I find it very useful for very secific well defined issues. But less useful for more general things.

I hope this was helpful.

No experience with self hypnosis. I prefer the guided meditations Headspace provides because I love the Mr. Andy’s accent and voice.

Guided meditation works best for me. And rather than trying to empty my mind, I’ve had more success with trying to focus on one thing. I focus on observing a candle flame or on relaxing my body one part at a time, or on repeating what the guide is saying. This is much more effective for me than just trying to think of nothing. Visualization can definitely be helpful for me in meditation as something to focus on. I have no experience with self hypnosis.

Focusing on breath, then stretching as many individual muscle groups from toes to scalp as possible. Each time releasing tension slowly in syncronicity with breath relese

I like meditation that concentrates on the breath I have enjoyed the ones by Fabulous too It helps with my anxiety and to feel grounded

When I meditate, it works best for me with one spot in my home. I sit in front of our fish tank. It is a natural environment, with a sun mimicking light fixture. I can listen to the sounds, or if I open my eyes I think of nothing but the fish. If I have negative thoughts trying to move in, I replace them with a scripture or a gentle visual release. I may need to journal first if it is at the end of the day.

I always do guided meditation. I don’t think I’m ready for meditations alone yet my favorite is by youngey mingyur rinpoche

I’m doing guided meditation right now since I’m just starting out. One visualization that has been helpful recently is thinking of the mind as a clear blue sky, and the fact that it’s always there, it’s not something that needs to be “attained” or something that requires effort. Sometimes clouds (thoughts) appear, but they can float by and don’t need to be focused on. These thoughts can be let go of once you’ve noticed you’re focusing on them. And even when there is a terrible storm and there are countless numbers of dark, stormy clouds, the blue sky is still there behind it all. You just need to not focus on the clouds, as they always pass.