 How can one define meditation? The definition will be entirely subjective. This is because the experience in mediation will be different for each, since each person follows a unique philosophy of life. One cannot tell others that meditation is bound to give you one particular feeling and exact solutions to problems. Having said this, is self meditation better than guided meditation?
To get more specific, what exactly is self-meditation? It is what each person does in solitude for one’s own calm and discovery of oneself. Every person may have his own way of meditation. It may not exactly be a fixed set of rules which requires one to be in a specific position, focus on one object and direct all thoughts towards the object or just go blank. Meditation in essence involves completely letting go of the mind and enjoy the ultimate pleasure of freedom. It is here where we find actual relaxation or enlightenment. This way, we become our own teachers and guide ourselves to what we expect our minds to be. It is then that meditation becomes fruitful enough to understand what we are and what we want. So, what is guided meditation then?
Does it mean that having an external guide distracts us from finding ourselves? The answer might vary from one person to the other. Yet, what could be said firmly at this point is that guided remains guided. It is not discovered by the self. This means that we might find ourselves blindly following some breathing techniques, concentrate on some object, mindfully bring in certain thoughts and shoo away certain others. Does this give the result we desired? Some might be satisfied with it, some might just not be so.
There is nothing like knowing what clicks us and which thoughts make our day better. This route takes us to the real meditation-be it closing one’s eyes and thinking pleasant, listening to whichever music is close to our heart enough to touch us, talking to ourselves or writing a diary to pour out our soul.
