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Meditation As a Counseling Technique

Meditation and counseling can work well together. The key to counseling is awareness of your personal problems, and meditation is a way to come to know yourself. The best way to combine the two is by using guided meditation techniques.

  1. Meditation

    • Meditation is defined as a mental process that takes you from an active mental state---the usual conscious state---into another state that is not exactly a sleep state, but of a nature similar to dreaming. The key here is to go from a reactive mind to a state where inspiration comes easily. This is usually accomplished by breathing patterns that have been determined through practice and traditional symbolism used in various traditions.

    Guided Meditation

    • A simple reflective state, regardless of the path used to enter that state, is not enough to guarantee the goals associated with counseling. Meditation alone has no framework to even define these goals. The basic mechanism by which a counselor integrates these practices is called guided meditation. In guided meditation, images and mental directives are overlain upon the relaxation patterns the client is using. Then the subconscious processes are "guided" to the goals that have been defined by both the client and the counselor.

    Spiritual Dimension

    • Even the most secular approach to counseling must address, or at least acknowledge, the spiritual environment of the client. There are those whose meditative practice will embrace a spiritual dimension. This process is not only to be recognized, but utilized when appropriate. Locating a counselor who both recognizes and is ready to use such client centered spirituality, is vital to a positive outcome.

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