Photo by Robert Donaghey

This self-healing visualization meditation is designed to help you replenish your energy field, clear your energy centers and revitalize your chakra system. Similar to taking a hot shower, after being out in the cold wind, this self-healing visualization can warm and calm you from the inside out.

If you are new to meditation be sure to visit Meditation Made Easy: 10 Tips for Beginners to help you get started.

Step-by-Step Self-Healing Visualization

Step 1: Breathe at an even pace. For example, if you breathe out for a count of 5 seconds then inhale for 5 seconds or vice versa. If your inhale or exhale is longer then keep the longer count and match the shorter count by lengthening it.

Step 2: Recite this affirmation silently to yourself. “I believe in the power to heal. I am a born healer. My body, my mind and my spirit know exactly what to do and how to function for my optimum self-healing. I surrender, let go and trust my higher guidance to show me the way.”

Step 3: Ask your higher guidance, to show you, in your minds eye, a symbol of self-healing, specific and unique for your body. Similar to the BMW logo or the Geico gecko, which represent greater meanings, your higher guidance can signal symbols to you for your own unique healing. Images will vary in size, color and symbology for each person. Perhaps, you see a violet crown, a yellow dandelion or a red rose. Wait to receive your image.

Step 4: Once you receive your self-healing image, visualize it at the top of your crown. Imagine this image becomes a showerhead of golden light streaming into your body. As this golden light streams over your body imagine showering away tension and stress from your body. See tiny beads of grey or black floating off the body being absorbed into the ground below you. For example, if your image was a red rose imagine drops of gold falling from the body of the red rose.

Step 5: Now take your symbol, mentally, and move it to your root chakra, the hip or lower pelvic region, see your image turning deep red. Fill in your hips, legs, and thighs as though your image was an imaginary red crayon, continue with your feet, toes etc. Keeping the breath at an even pace, hold the focus on the root chakra filling it in with ruby red. For example, if your symbol were a yellow dandelion it would now be a red dandelion. Do this for seven rounds of breath. A round of breath includes an inhale and an exhale.

Step 6: Next, take your self-healing symbol and visualize it moving to the second chakra area, the space just below the navel and above the hips. Focus on the color orange and see your image turning into a brilliant orange. As though your chakra system had a straw let your energy field drink in the orange light. Do this for seven rounds of breath.

Step 7: Move the symbol into the third chakra, area just below the low ribs and above the navel (also known as the solar plexus) then visualize your symbol as the color yellow filling in the third chakra. Do this for seven rounds of breath. Be sure your breath remains at an even pace.

Step 8: Next, bring your awareness to the fourth chakra also know as the heart chakra. Imagine your symbol, now, as an emerald light emanating from and filling the heart with rich greens of vibrant light. Repeat for seven rounds of breath.

Step 9: Move your symbol into the fifth chakra, the area around the throat, transforming the color to a deep ocean blue. Feel the throat filling with light and power freeing you to speak your truth. Repeat for seven rounds of breath.

Step 10: Next, imagine your third eye, the sixth chakra, a violet purple. Feeling how the light of your awareness clears blocks from your inner vision. Repeat for seven rounds of breath.

Step 11: Now, move your symbol to the top of the head, the crown or seventh chakra, and shower golden light over the body once again. Imagine a golden cocoon surrounding the entire body. Repeat for seven rounds of breath.

Step 12: Sit or lay and feel the power of your self-healing meditation. Rest for 5 to 10 minutes in silence.

Be sure to drink lots of water. Make note of any ideas, guidance or insights that came to you during or after your process.

Have questions? Feel free to comment and I will answer your personal questions.

Our health physical, mental and emotional, are all a direct reflection of adequate oxygen distribution. Premature aging, mental sluggishness, decreased immune strength, and reduced vitality are all issues contributed to by a lack of oxygen. There is also strong evidence which suggests stress is causal factor in disease.

The simple answer, to stress overload and oxygen depletion, is to slow down, get present and remember to breathe, deeply and powerfully. Today’s post teaches you, 5 specific breathing practices, to help you relieve stress daily. For best results practice by following the sequence, in order, as listed below. By practicing each step you can positively effect your mental clarity, personal wellness and overall happiness.

1. Inhale
2. Space between inhale/exhale
3. Exhale
4. Space after exhale before inhale

• Silently, to yourself, notice the length of your inhale & exhale
• Give a count to the length of the inhale
• Give a count to the length of the exhale
• Now match the in/out breath to the same pace.
• Use the part of breath that has the longer count to set the pace.
• For example if you are inhaling for a count of 3 make your exhalation equal 3 counts.  Direct ratio 3:3
• Follow this practice for 3-5minutes

• Now extend the rhythm of your in and out breath by two to three counts.  If your matching rhythm was 3 counts now extend it to 5 or 6 counts. Direct ratio 5:5 or 6:6.
• You will know the appropriate amount to increase the rhythm of your breath by the feeling you have in your body.  If you are grasping for breath you have extended too long. If you feel no shift  in your mental state to a sense of calm add more length to your breathe.
• Follow extended rhythm for 3-5minutes

• With extended or base count rhythm keep in/out breath matching
• While inhaling raise the right hand towards the face and to nose
• Take thumb and 4^th finger on the right hand at top of inhale close off both nostrils for the same pace as in/out ratio
• For example if you are breathing in for a count of 3 hold for 3 and exhale for 3 counts.  3:3:3
• Follow this practice for 3-5 minutes

• With extended or base count rhythm keep in/out breath matching
• While inhaling raise the right hand towards the face and to nose
• After completion of exhale take thumb and 4^th finger on the right hand close off both nostrils for the same pace as in/out ratio
• For example if you are breathing in for a count of 3 hold for 3 and exhale for 3 counts.  3:3:3
• Follow this practice for 3-5 minutes

• With extended or base count rhythm keep in/out breath matching
• At the top of inhale close off nostrils with 4^th finger and thumb hold breath then exhale
• After exhale close off both nostrils with 4^th finger and thumb hold breath then follow back to inhale
• For example if you are breathing in for a count of 3 hold for 3 and exhale for 3 counts and hold at bottom of exhale for 3.  3:3:3:3
• Follow this practice for 3-5 minutes

However, if a busy life is not coupled with the compliments of detachment, discernment and discipline burnout, then fatigue and addictions are likely to ensue. How often have national celebrities been exploited on the evening news for suffering from these issues? They appear, to their fans, to be at the top of their careers but are truthfully masking a world of pain on the inside. It is a common story.

Any of us, myself included, can lose sight of what’s most important when trying to achieve our goals. Without careful attention, it is easy to lose our mental and emotional footing while trying to climb the ladder of success. Workaholism, insomnia, physical ailments and strained relationships are just a few of the outer symptoms of this inner imbalance.

What then is the answer to living in the world successfully and navigating the terrain of the mundane while maintaining balance? The answer? Meditation.

Meditation is no longer just for monks or bearded men living in the streets of India. Meditation is for you and me. After all, we are each celebrities in our own right. Whether you are a stay-at-home super mom or an out-in-the-world business extraordinaire, the inner needs of clarity and vision are crucial to both. Meditation, with consistent practice, is invaluable, guiding us to live practically and purposefully.

Meditation takes us out of the mind, a complex terrain, and into the heart, which offers a simple knowing.

5 Powerful & Practical Ways Meditation Empowers Your Success

1. Meditation cultivates detachment and discipline.

Detachment, also known as non-attachment, generates a state of being that is essential for success. This quality allows us to take risks without being attached to the outcome.

It signals us to do our best, with what we can control, and let go of the rest. It helps us to let go of issues such as micromanaging and over-control. If one opportunity doesn’t work out, rather than fixating on past failure, detachment frees our vision to see our future next best steps.

Discipline, the act of doing something with regularity and devotion, helps to remind us that steadfast action over a long period of time can bring great reward.

The fast-food mentality of wanting something instantly without making any effort is seductive, but ultimately unproductive. Through regular meditation, we experience – first hand – the power of practice. We can then apply this principle to our lives by taking our meditation skills of steadfastness, concentration and focus into action with our most important goals.

2. Meditation inspires simplicity.

Simplicity may sound unimportant but trust me, if you are lost in a jungle and looking for a clear path home, you’ll note its importance. A simple, clearly designated path could save your life.

The mind can be like a jungle. It is full of complex neural pathways, rutted in past conditioning, swayed by popular opinion and tormented with too many choices. Thoughts and questions such as, “Which way do I go? How do I know? Ought I? Could I?” can be paralyzing and hinder us from living a fruitful and fun life.

Meditation helps us to reconnect with our simple states of being. States of joy and happiness are our most basic states of existence. Our role is to bring our awareness back home to who we truly are as simplicity.

3. Meditation heightens our discernment abilities.

While growing up, we are exposed to thousands upon thousands of unconscious and consciously constructed messages that teach us to be judgmental.

For instance, most major motion pictures polarize their characters into good or bad, such as cowboys vs. Indians or Hogwarts vs. Muggles. While watching these movies we internally judge, take sides and mentally determine who is right and who is wrong.

Then, guess what? We do the same to the people in our lives. We unconsciously make “others” wrong because we’ve been trained to do so; their opinions are different, their customs are foreign, or they simply behave in ways that are unsatisfying for our egos.

The truth is, and I’ve tried it, living in the world as a “judge” is painful, ineffective and alienating.

Meditation helps us to reinvent our perspectives. It guides the mind to see beyond separation, beyond judging the other as good or bad, and, instead, towards discernment.

It teaches us to make healthy distinctions of where, how, what and with whom to spend your energy without making the other wrong or bad.

4. Meditation helps us to reclaim our true self.

If our souls carried business cards, what do you think they would say? School teacher, Internet guru, famous playwright? I doubt it.

While the ego is very concerned with receiving validation through achievement and stature, the soul is not concerned with titles. Where the ego uses identity to gain validation of it’s its own worth, the soul does not define itself through the activities it performs as a vocation.

The soul is concerned with the expression of itself beyond identity and can work through any “identity.” A plumber’s compassion is of no less value than a professor’s compassion.

The true self is inherently valuable. It knows itself as perfect, whole and complete, simply for its sheer existence. There is nothing that needs to be done, nowhere to go, and no one to impress in order for its worthiness to exist.

Meditation illuminates our unconscious attempts to effort our way to worthiness in the name of being a “success.” Meditation helps us determine which activities to release and what actions to take. We are shown which of our goals are ego-motivated rather than soul-directed.

If we are already “it,” the cat’s meow – that is, all the energy that was once directed to “prove” ourselves is now re-claimed. We will experience replenishment and revitalization by receiving all our returned energy. Now, that’s inspiring.

5. Meditation helps us to connect to our own definition of success.

Success doesn’t exist in and of itself. I couldn’t put it in a bowl and serve it to you for breakfast. It can’t be put in a wagon or carted to the doorstep for delivery with the morning milk.

I can guarantee that my definition of success will not match yours. Living on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is, to me, enlivening, enriching and profound. Others may experience it as isolating, limiting and uninteresting. Where I love listening to people’s stories and challenges and offering life-changing guidance, you may be bored to tears listening to another’s personal plight. Our different definitions of success, actually, cause the world to work splendidly.

Society attempts to define what success is for us. Mainstream culture shows beauty as perfection, success as a dollar amount, and happiness as something to be bought.

Meditation shows us happiness is freely available. Meditation activates our soul for direction. It is through listening and being present that we can hear our specific callings. Meditation provides space and clarity so that we can redefine success from a deep place of individuality.

Developing a regular meditation practice is powerful step to support your personal success. By understanding the ways meditation empowers you it becomes easier to prioritize your practice. Are you a meditator? What’s been your experience? I look forward to hearing your comments.

If you are new to meditation or looking for ways to start your practice you read: Meditation Made Easy: 10 Tips for Beginners.

So what is happening in our bodies daily when we are breathing quickly and shallowly?  While the result is not as extreme as a heart attack or a stroke there are still a significant series of “little deaths” occurring in the body.  We may experience these as feelings of mental sluggishness, lack of energy, decreased creativity and heightened states of negativity.  It is no wonder that the practice of yoga, steeped in ancient tradition, dedicates a whole limb to teach individuals how to breathe.

The yoga practice broadly accepts and directs it’s practitioners to focus on breath control.  The entire 4th limb of yoga, called Pranayama, is dedicated to managing, directing and controlling breath.

Pranayama is the combination of observing and controlling the breath to create a desired response in the body.  Prana – refers to a life force energy and exists in all living matter. Yama – is the active process of observation. Have you ever noticed when you are standing next to the ocean how the air feels alive.  Or the elated feeling you receive from being near a friend or family member you love. Breathing in and out we draw in energy particles as well as oxygen. Vinyasa yoga is based upon the premise that moving the body in conjunction with the breath causes a deeper merging of the energy bodies and the physical body. Literally, a marriage of physiology and pranic exchange occurs with intentful body and breath alignment.

Pranayama includes four parts:  1. Inhale 2. Exhale 3. Space at the top of the inhale 4. Space at the bottom of the exhale. In regular daily breathing patterns we, typically, do not focus on the space between the inhale and exhale, which are the key parts which distinguish a Pranayama practice from regular daily breathing.

One of the best ways to breathe, to cause long term health, is to breathe “baby normal”,  originating the breath from the bottom of the belly. Many times, due to habit, we breathe from our chest and miss the opportunity to provide adequate oxygen supply to the rest of the body because of our shallow breathing.  Try this now. Place your hands on your belly. As you inhale let your belly expand like a balloon. At the top of your inhale and the beginning of your exhale let the belly begin to deflate. As the belly deflates actively pull the navel towards the back side of the spine. Do this ten times with the hands on the belly. After you have completed your tenth time remove your hands and now focus on steadying the breath so the length of the inhale matches the exhale.

It has been said that the mind follows on the coat tails of the breath. Steady breath equals a steady mind. Practice is the true teacher. Let your own experience guide you. I recommend starting a breathing practice with the initial aim to breathe from the belly and then focus on aligning the breathe to an even pace. Start this exercise, practicing 5 minutes a day- working up to 15 minutes a day.  Listed below are more detailed exercises.

Breathing Practice:
The 3:3:3-(or Relaxing Breath) Exercise
This exercise is utterly simple, takes almost no time, requires no equipment and can be done anywhere. Although you can do the exercise in any position, sit with your back straight while learning the exercise. You will be inhaling and exhaling through your nose.

• Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of three.
• Hold your breath for a count of three.
• Exhale completely through nose for count of three.
• Repeat cycle

This exercise is a natural sedative for the nervous system. Though the exercise is subtle and will not hit you like a sedative, it gains in power with repetition and practice. Practice two times a day for five minutes.  Create a daily habit with this practice.

A homeowner mows his lawn to keep his yard tidy, attractive and manageable. An individual files taxes to live in accordance with state and federal laws. A runner jogs a marathon by discipline and devotion. Each activity requires consistent, timely and organized action for their success.

If you speak to a man, who skipped mowing the lawn for a year, he will tell you about the jungle that grew in his backyard. A taxpayer, who neglected to pay taxes, for years in row, can tell you about the chaos and costs ensued. The amateur runner, who didn’t train daily, will talk of the immensity of a race he couldn’t finish.

The same is true in developing a meditation practice. Beginners beware. Meditation is easy but it’s not simple. What do I mean by this? I mean that the same way a man mows, files taxes and runs a marathon he will arrive at a successful meditation practice. All of the above are made simple tasks by using the right tools, consistency and training.

The purpose of this article is to provide ten practical steps, which offer you the essential structure you need to make meditation easy.

While meditating is not under federal law it is under divine law and abidance is healthily rewarded. The benefits are enormous. Your returns include a focused mind, replenished nervous system, vibrant health, positive attitude, decreased stress, improved relationships, better choice making, and heightened intuition.

1. Make a meditation schedule. Designate your meditation time as an important. Show up for your appointment as planned. Set the date and time on the calendar. Preferably the same time each day.

2. Location, location, location. Choose a quiet place.  Let distracting noises, which invariably, will arise become a part of your practice.  I taught a meditation class for a year that was scheduled to commence at the exact time the ally dumpsters were emptied. Ooops. Schedule snafu. What to do? I simply included the garbage truck honks as meditation chimes prompting the class to go deeper inside. Life can be loud.  It’s okay. Make the best of your situation.

3. Educate your household. Pro-actively inform your roommates and family members you will be meditating and ask for their support to leave you undisturbed.

4. Unplug. Take a break from the world of electronics. This means no cell phones, pagers, texting, emailing, twitting, or facebook messaging while meditating.  If you forget to unplug before meditation and one of the above sounds, during practice, simply stick to the practice. Make a habit of responding after your meditation appointment has ended.

5. Dress for the occasion. Choose your meditation garb. Assigning and wearing the same clothing for practice helps to inform your subconscious it’s time to relax. I suggest wearing comfortable and loose fitting clothing.  Wearing the same clothing creates a Pavlovian type response. Ring the bell the dog salivates. Put on the comfy white shirt and relaxed white pants the body relaxes instantaneously.

6. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Repetition is key. Show up regularly and often. Start with 3 to 4 days a week building to 5 to 6 days a week. Consistency builds spiritual muscles. Length of meditation is based on style of meditation you choose. Starting with something manageable, such as a 20 minute practice, which you can fit in your schedule is recommended. Build into longer meditations. If you are attending a meditation group you will follow the length they suggest.

7. Comfort is king. Be sure to choose a comfortable seat. Sit in a chair, on the ground, up against a wall and if necessary you can even lay on your back. But, first try the seated versions for meditation. Most important is keeping your spine straight from top to bottom.

8. Thinking during meditation is normal. All your life you have been taught to use your mind. It is unrealistic to think your mind will suddenly stop thinking when you sit to meditate.In all likelihood, when beginning, the thoughts in your head will amplify or it will feel like they do. This is normal. Often, we are multi-tasking or so busy we don’t realize the volume of our thoughts until we sit still. The aim in meditation is to allow thoughts to pass, like clouds in the sky, and focus your awareness into the structured meditation practice.  Ultimately thoughts will become like soft background music you barely notice.

9. Practice doesn’t make you perfect. Some days are easier than others. Meditation will not make your rich, strong and beautiful. In fact, it may make you more aware of all the ways you are not rich, strong and beautiful. It may bring out more of your insecurities, neuroses and emotional challenges.  This is healthy. Meditation offers the vehicle to fall in love with yourself as you are. You are perfectly imperfect. It’s by design.

10. Discover the best meditation style for you. If you haven’t done so already, take the time to explore different meditation styles until you find the one that best matches you. Every individual has a style of meditation that works best for him or her.  Some students, at the end of my meditation class, were revitalized and refreshed while others were frustrated and confused. The feeling of a “lack of success” with meditation wasn’t about the students “ability” to meditate. Rather the meditation technique was not the right match, resulting in frustration.

Stay tuned for more meditation articles where I will discuss a variety of meditation styles you can choose from.

As well, feel free to comment and share your responses or questions. I look forward to hearing from you.