Tips that will make you a guru in guided meditation:
- Be prepared and have a plan for what you will be talking about, write a script if it’s necessary and rehearse.
- Plan the seating arrangements beforehand, decide whether your audience will be sitting or lying down.
- Prepare the environment.
- Make sure you have control over the room including the lights or the speakers so that the session can go smoothly.
- Make sure there will be no intrusions.
- You can bring eye covers for the audience.
- Make sure to adjust the lighting of the room, dimmed lighting or darkness is better.
- Facilitate comfort in the audience.
- Make sure everybody has their phones in airplane mode or turned off.
- Sit in a confident posture with a tall back and try to avoid nervously moving your hands. Your confidence and calmness will set the tone for the session.
- You can ask the audience if they are comfortable in the beginning and in the middle of the session. Make sure each participant is set up and the group is in sync.
- You can start with a discussion or an introductory talk: This can help you capture the attention and turn their focus into the inner journey of insightful experiences.
- Playing meditation music is an important part of the session: This helps to create an atmosphere for the audience to block outside noises, focus on the inside, give the session a flow.
- After making sure that the room, the audience, and you are prepared it’s time to start the session. You can guide the audience through slow mindful breathing cycles to set the meditative stage to start. (For example: 4 secs. inhale, 2 secs. hold, 4 secs. exhale)
- After the breathing cycles you can guide them to release the tension in their bodies. From head to toes you can guide them through progressing muscle relaxation. Make sure to take your time.
- Now that the relaxation and the beginning part is over, you can guide your audience through an imaginative, self-reflective experience; you can use guided imagery or ask thought provoking questions for that.
- Don’t rush! Leave time for silence, breath through your nose and adjust to the slow rhythm of the session. You should make sure you leave silence gaps for the audience to self-reflect.
- At the end when you are bringing people back to a waking conscious state by asking them to open their eyes, you can try to help them acknowledge the process and their insightful experiences.
- You can encourage participants to journal after the session to reflect their experience and process the insights they experienced.
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