Guided vs Unguided Meditation
> 27 Benefits & Disadvantages You Need to Know

Guided Meditation

Guided Meditation is a great starting point if you are a beginner planning to meditate for the first time.

Here’s Some of the Types Of Guided Meditation.

• Guided Imagery
• Body Scan
• Mindfulness
• Loving-Kindness
• Breathing
• Relaxation
• Focused Attention
• Visualization
• Open Awareness
• Reflection
• Chakra
• Mantra

Guided Group Meditation

Many first-time meditators find the support of a local Guided Meditation class and online course community helps immensely with their meditation practice. During the courses beginners can ask questions from the teacher and also hear other frustrations that fellow meditators are having in their daily practice.

In professional classes and online courses your guided meditation teacher will lead you through your meditation practice from start to finish. Like the first day of your new job, you are not expected to know every detail in the first hour.

What is so great about guided meditation is your teacher will give you the fundamentals of meditation and how to deal with common problems or sticking points that will arise in your meditation practice.

In a professional course the teacher will be able to answer all your basic questions.

• How to Sit
• How to Breathe
• What to Think About
• Where to Put My Hands
• Can I Lie Down During Meditation
• Should I Listen to Music
• How Long Should I Meditate for
• What Happens if I Fall Asleep

During the course the teacher will gently direct you where to place your attention. As your mind wanders you will be encouraged to refocus your mind to keep your meditation flowing.

Guided meditation classes and online courses are an important place for beginners to meet people at their current level and meditation skills. This way you can meet new friends and start discussions around what you are learning and experiencing.

Meditating with others in classes or online can also increase the intensity of your meditation and can inspire you to continue when you feel like giving up.

Developing a Meditation Habit

Meditation can be frustrating for first timers, so having the communities support can be vital to your success in moving forward and gaining the benefit of a consistent meditation practice.

To gain the benefits of your meditation practice, consistency is the key!

There many people who have tried meditation and thought it was ok, but never really feel the benefits. These lack luster results are because they tried it once or twice and never continued. To not lose all the work you’ve put into your meditation practice you need to develop a regular meditation habit.

Guided meditation classes and online course communities are the perfect way to build the routine and habit. The support of others is vital if you want to cultivate consistency and start to see the powerful benefits of meditation manifest in your life.

Step By Step Instructions

It’s incredibly important to have a step-by-step plan when you first start meditating. As this can alleviate any sidetracking, overwhelm and letting your meditation head in destructive directions.

A professional guided meditation teacher will not throw you in the deep end without a lifejacket. They will let you wiggle your toes in the water first. Then slowly move you into the shallows until you feel more confident.

Duration for Beginners

A professional instructor will start by introducing beginners to short sessions. These can be as small as 30 second up to 10 minutes.

This small duration of meditation can help you build small increments of concentration.

Professional meditators can meditate up to 10 hours plus per day.

When you are just beginning a five minute meditation can feel like an eternity. The secret is consistency and the more you practice every day, the longer you’ll be able to meditate.

Practice and Focus

Guided Meditation allows you to follow the instructions of your teacher without losing your meditation flow.

As beginners you need to put all your attention on observing and staying present in your meditation.

If you’re trying unguided meditation you may find your attention is split between trying to focus and attempting to guide yourself.

Many people prefer guided meditation, so they can focus on what’s important.  This allows them to stop worrying about whether they’re getting it right, how long they should meditate or where they should be focusing.

Varieties and Types

One of the bonuses about guided meditation is there is a variety of local teachers and online trainings.

As meditation becomes more popular, there are more and more teachers surfacing all over the Internet. This means you have a smorgasbord of teachers that you can connect with and learn from.

There are also a number of excellent meditation apps for smart phones. This is a great way of learning to meditate at home and getting support from their step-by-step programs.

Confidence

The most important thing about meditation is that you keep your practice consistent, one to 2 times per day. This way you are gaining confidence and growing in your ability to meditate.

As beginners is not wise to start unguided meditation on your own, as this can lead to overwhelm. The more overwhelmed you get with an unstructured meditation plan, the easier it is to just say you’ll do it tomorrow.

In the problem with doing it tomorrow, is that can turn into next week, next month or next year.

The reason guided meditation work so well, is it gives you a teacher to learn from, set duration and a structured step by step plan.

Meditation Frustrates Me

Beginners often find meditating frustrating if they’re trying to go it alone. Guided meditation is the best way to keep your meditation on track and moving in the right direction.

The problem with meditating alone is you can end up running yourself in circles, and not know if you’re doing any good at all or wasting your time. Having a professional instructor can help to ensure that you don’t feel like your efforts are pointless.

Try For Yourself

This Short 5 Minute Guided Meditation

Unguided Meditation

Unguided meditation can be like walking a tightrope. If you don’t know how to balance, you may fall into the thinking that meditation is just to hard.

The dangers of practicing unguided meditation to early, is it can lead you to overwhelm, frustration and disappointment.

Many beginners, who try unguided meditation, are not strong enough to hold they focus object and continually get caught up in the flood of incoming thoughts.

You have tens of thousands of thoughts a day. Your thoughts can be like the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland. One thought can lead to another, to another, until suddenly you are miles away from the very first thought.

In unguided meditation you are your own meditation guide. This means that you need to choose your focus object and during the meditation if your mind starts to wander, you are responsible for bringing your mind back to focus.

It’s important you build up some basic foundation in focus and concentration before you undertake unguided meditation.

The whole point to using guided meditation practice first, is to find a consistent flow each day.

Because the benefits from meditation come from consistency!

Try For Yourself

7 Steps How to Do Unguided Meditation (5 minute)

1. Choose a focus object for your mind rest on, this could be a object, a mantra or your breath.
2. Set your timer 5 minutes.
3. Gently close your eyes or leave them open with a soft gaze.
4. Gently bring your mind to your focus object.
5. As your mind starts to wander gently bring it back to focus object.
6. Be patient and kind with yourself when your mind wanders (your mind wandering is normal).
7. When your timer sounds, allow yourself to gently come out of the meditation.

Moving From Guided To Unguided Meditation

Moving from guided meditations to unguided meditation is a natural flow and it’s the best way for new beginners.

Guided meditation gives you a solid foundation for your meditation practice. Unguided meditation is used to magnify and deepen your meditation journey.

 Related questions

What is silent meditation?

Silent meditation is similar to an unguided meditation. This style of meditation you use a focus object like your breath, an imagine object or a silent mantra.

Silent meditation is a very powerful way to get in touch with your inner stillness.

When you practice silent meditation you open an internal space, where you can find rejuvenation, peace and enlightenment.