Crafting Your Personal Meditation Practice

Creating your own meditation can be a powerful way to develop a relationship with yourself and bring about positive change. The process begins with identifying what you want to change or improve, which can be done through journaling or meditation. Once you have a clear idea of the desired outcome, you can choose a central theme and write a script that includes relaxing your body, delivering your personalised message, and closing with encouragement. You can then record your script using your phone or computer, adding background music if desired, and listen to it regularly to reinforce the positive changes you want to make.

Identify what you need to change

Identifying what you need to change is the first step in creating your own meditation. This involves understanding the specific beliefs or thoughts that are holding you back and need to be transformed.

Self-awareness is key here. Take time to observe the dialogue inside your head and identify any negative beliefs or thought patterns that are causing frustration or hindering your growth. For example, you may discover a belief that "I am not smart enough to make more money". Write down these negative beliefs as they become clear to you.

Once you have identified the negative belief, it's important to recognise that logically, it is not true. In the given example, it is understood that the person is, in fact, smart enough to make more money. By holding on to this negative belief, you are limiting yourself and your ability to take the necessary steps to achieve your goals.

Recognising and acknowledging these negative beliefs is a powerful step towards change. It empowers you to take control of your life and work towards replacing these limiting beliefs with positive, empowering ones.

Journaling can be a helpful tool in this process. Try spending a few minutes each morning writing about your frustrations and what you want to change. Reading your journal entries later with fresh eyes can provide insight and clarity into the underlying negative beliefs that are holding you back.

By identifying these negative beliefs, you can begin the process of transforming them into positive, empowering ones, which is a crucial step in creating an effective meditation practice.

Write down the answer and decide on a theme

To create your own meditation, you must first identify what you need or want to change. This could be a negative belief that you want to alter, a problem you're facing, or a situation you're dealing with. Journaling or meditation can help you identify these issues.

Once you have identified the problem, you can decide on a theme for your meditation. For example, if you're feeling nervous, your theme could be confidence. Here are some qualities that you can use to formulate your theme:

• Altruism
• Acceptance
• Bravery
• Balance
• Community
• Compassion
• Family
• Friendship
• Focus
• Fortitude
• Generosity
• Gratitude
• Grace
• Happiness
• Hope
• Health
• Individuality
• Joy
• Knowledge
• Love
• Meaning
• Motivation
• Optimism
• Order
• Peace
• Purpose
• Recreation
• Responsibility
• Restraint
• Serenity
• Security
• Self-Reliance
• Simplicity
• Solitude
• Tranquility
• Trust
• Unity
• Vitality

Now that you have a theme, you can start writing your script. Begin by writing a series of suggestions that will relax your body and help you enter a meditative state. For example:

> Take a deep breath in and slowly exhale. Feel your body start to relax. Breathe in, and out, in, and out. With every breath, you feel more and more relaxed. Relax the muscles of your eyes, relax your mouth, relax your neck. Feel your entire body relax, all the way down to your toes.

Next, insert the personalised message that you want or need to hear. For example, if you're feeling nervous, you can say nice things to yourself:

> You are a capable person. You are smart and kind. You can do this! You'll be fine. You'll do great.

Finally, close with an energising thought and directions for action:

> You are excited to [do the thing that makes you nervous]. You feel the enthusiasm for [the thing], your energy is getting stronger, you're excited to [do the thing]. When you're ready, open your eyes and go do [the thing] with enthusiasm and energy.

Write your script

Now that you know the theme or qualities that you want to add to your life, it’s time to start writing your script. To start, you need to relax your body and enter a meditative state where your brain is more receptive.

First, write down a series of suggestions that will relax your body. For example:

> Take a deep breath in and slowly exhale. Feel your body start to relax. Breathe in, and out, in, and out. With every breath, you feel more and more relaxed. Relax the muscles of your eyes, relax your mouth, relax your neck. Feel your entire body relax, all the way down to your toes.

It can be helpful to talk to a younger version of yourself. You are the person who has raised yourself so far. You got yourself through a lot of situations in your life. Think about the fact that you were younger yesterday, and tomorrow you will be older. So, in effect, you’ll always be talking to your younger self.

Remember: You take care of yourself! Who takes better care of you than you? If you don’t take care of yourself, who will?

Next, insert the personalised message that you want or need to hear. If you’re feeling nervous, for example, you can make your theme about confidence. Say nice things to yourself like, “You are a capable person. You are smart and kind. You can do this! You’ll be fine. You’ll do great.”

Make your script short, long, detailed, or general. Try out a few different ways and see what works best for you.

After you’ve relaxed your body and delivered your message, close with an energising thought and directions for action. For example:

> You are excited to write. You feel the enthusiasm for writing, your energy is getting stronger, you’re excited to write. When you’re ready, open your eyes and go do your writing with enthusiasm and energy.

Tips for writing your script

• Less is more. Use as few words as possible to achieve your goal.
• If you use guided imagery, remember that the speed of the imagination is instant. Only describe what you want your audience to experience in that exact moment.
• Model scripts and meditations you enjoy. When you’re new to creating guided meditations, examples are critical to getting started on the right path. Find script examples similar to what you’re trying to create and use them to help you structure your meditation script effectively.

Record and revise your script

Once your script is written, record it and listen to it as if you were a participant. Make a note of where you are talking too much, and edit the script down as much as possible until only the most essential words and phrases remain.

Find sticking points in the imagery where there is friction between what you are imagining and what your script is asking you to imagine, then edit the script to be more congruent with the language of the imagination.

Listen to your timing and make notes on where you should pause to allow more time for your participants to engage in the experiences.

Once you’ve listened to your meditation two or three times and identified aspects that you could improve, make revisions and finalise your meditation script.

Record your script

Once you have your script written out, it's time to record it. You don't need any fancy equipment to do this – just your smartphone. IOS users can use the Voice Memos app, while Android users can use an app like Otter, which also transcribes your recording.

Make sure you save your recording when you're done.

Now, you'll want to listen to your meditation a couple of times and identify areas where you can improve. You'll be listening out for where you're talking too much, as well as sticking points in the imagery or friction between what you're imagining and what your script is asking you to imagine. You should also make note of where you should pause to allow more time for participants to engage in the experience.

Once you've listened to your meditation a couple of times and identified areas for improvement, it's time to make revisions and finalize your meditation. You'll want to edit your script down and place it into a final format that will make recording or using the meditation script easier. You can use Google Docs to do this, as it allows you to access your script and print it from any device.

Now, you're ready to record your final version. Remember to record in a quiet room, free of distractions, and wear headphones or turn the volume on your computer all the way down to make sure you don't record anything coming out of your speakers.

Play it over and over again

Once you have your meditation script written and recorded, it's time to play it back and listen to it. But this is not a one-time thing. To experience real change, you should listen to your meditation at least once a day for 40 days. By doing so, your happy thoughts will become your default thoughts, and tomorrow will look a lot brighter.

Listening to your meditation repeatedly will help you identify areas for improvement. You may find that you are talking too much, or that there is friction between what you are imagining and what the script is asking you to imagine. Listening repeatedly will also help you identify where you should pause to allow more time for participants to engage with the meditation.

After listening to your meditation two or three times, you can make revisions and finalize your script. You can then convert your script into a more final format that will make recording or using the meditation script easier.

If you are recording straight into your computer, close any unnecessary programs, as recording (and editing) can take up a lot of processing power.

Frequently asked questions