Meditation isn’t just for monks and priest anymore, many Christians are also enjoying the benefits of spending time with God in quietness and solitude. Christian Guided Meditations take the guess work out of meditation by providing believers with a method of meditating on God that doesn’t contradict with their Christian faith. Most Christian Guided Meditation Cds or recordings include a progressive relaxation and scriptural narrative that includes biblical stories, relevant scriptures, positive affirmations and relaxing music.
It is important that the Christian Guided Meditation Cd, mp3, or recording you choose begins with brief relaxation exercises that prepares you to receive God’s word. Deep breathing exercises that engage your diaphragm are one of the best ways to relax not only your body but your mind. Many guided meditations will have you inhale deeply, hold the breath for several seconds and then exhale. Next, they guide you through relaxing each area of your body from your head down to your feet. Once you are relaxed, your subconscious mind is much more receptive to receive God’s words.
Christian guided meditation narratives can take many forms. Some meditation Cds contain biblical affirmations, these are positive statements based on God’s word. Others may weave a Bible story through the meditation based upon a specific topic. Some guided meditations are interactive; they have you performing various tasks during the meditation like walking through a valley, interacting with Jesus, or nailing your cares to a cross.
During Center Prayer, a silent form of meditation, you silently repeat a sacred word anytime your mind begins to wander. As someone who has been practicing Christian guided meditation for years now, over the past six months I have incorporated Centering Prayer in my quiet meditation time with God. If you are interest in this type of Christian meditation technique, I highly recommend J. David Muysken’s book, 40 Days to a Closer Walk with God. It will teach you the technique of Centering Prayer as it deepens your walk with God. It’s a great daily devotional as the book is broken into 40 daily times with God. Another great resource for Centering Prayer is Praying the Psalms.
In Christian mantra meditation, you continually repeat a scripture phrase or word that helps to keep your mind anchored and present in God.
All of these meditation techniques help to promote a deeper relationship with God as well as the ability to control compulsive or negative thinking on demand. Christians who meditate regularly say they are more peaceful, calm, and possess more joy than when they did not meditate. Christian meditation is also a great stress reliever and has helped many believers overcome depression.
Christian guided meditation has a long history in the Christian faith. Many proponents of Christian meditation attest to the practice of Jesus, who spent time alone with God daily and the many scriptures that encourage believes to meditate on God.
Visit the Christian Meditator Store, offers a large selection of Christian guided meditation Cds, Mp3s, books, downloads, videos and other resources to enhance your Christian meditation experience.
Mantra’s literal meaning is “word repeated over and over”, I believe. What’s more, Christian monks and priests were practicing this kind of thing for several centuries before they were even aware of the existence of those Far East religions. 🙂
It’s a very Biblical practice to sit and think on God’s word, which is what this is promoting. It also is promoting the relaxation of the body, which doctors suggest to patients dealing with stress. I’ve had even Christian therapist help me deal with stress and anxiety in a similar way. It’s very, very beneficial, and I can’t see anything wrong with it Biblically.
I was looking for a picture regarding this very topic (Meditation and it’s relation to Christianity), when I came across this site.
This is honestly exactly what I was looking for. Right now, I’m doing silent meditation on my own (no chants, etc.) while listening to wordless relaxation music on Youtube.
I will definitely be looking into this. 🙂 Thank you!
A mantra comes from Eastern meditation, which has nothing to do with biblical meditation (nor does guided meditation have anything to do with biblical meditation). We must be careful not to fall into pagan practices that are designed to initiate experiences and suspend thought. The Bible tells us to think and to reason. Biblical meditation has to do with active reflection with the mind, and to think on the meaning in the text. Please see http://christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_MeditationPsalm.html
and
http://christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_ContemplativePrayer1.html