Guided Meditation, Hypnosis and Prayer

“We only wanted to be loved” – Johnny Rotten

“Love’s the higher law” -U2

“All you need is love” -Beatles

 

We’ve heard the songs, sang the hymns and recited the prayers we were taught, but we how do we get there? Where does our journey towards exquisite peace begin?  How do we find our sacred space, the true home of the heart?

Detox

Disconnect from self-defeating habits of body and mind–drugs, alcohol, poor eating, negative self-talk, toxic people.We may need to unlearn everything we were taught in the organized religions we grew up in, and rethink our concept of “god.” This is a life-long process of spiritual seeking, resocialization, and movement towards a God of our understanding through conscious contact. the tools of 12 Step spirituality can open the channels to the Divine within and without.

Cultivating a Tool Kit:

Hypnosis is a naturally occurring altered state of consciousness similar to a meditative trance. Through a process of guided induction and deepening, hypnosis bypasses the rational, evaluating, judging part of the human mind–what we call the conscious mind. It can be effective in curtailing the bad habits that block our channel to the Divine.

The practice of hypnosis can be traced back to ancient times, to the bible and the early Egyptians. Prophets and Priests guided spiritual seekers into trance states spiritual healing and for problem solving. In the hypnotic state, practical insights into daily living were discovered. Then, as now, some people experience prophetic dreams, intuitive answers to basic life questions.

Contrary to popular social myth, a person cannot be hypnotized against their will. In effect, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis; the individual must be willing to enter into the trance state. It is that persons willingness to engage in the process that makes hypnosis possible. It is the motivation to change that makes it successful. The level of awareness during a trance state is hyper-alert; the person is always in control—not the hypnotist. The worst thing that can happen to someone in a trance state is the experience of deep relaxation, or falling asleep.

Actually most of us experience trance states every day, when we are really focused, in deep concentration, daydreaming, spacing out or being in the flow. Surfing, writing, dancing, driving, and music too, can put us into a trance, as can the practice of Reiki, yoga or healing prayer.

Hypnosis has helped many, but for wise-ass people like me, hypnosis does not work so I needed to cultivate a practice that was self-generated, intuitive and individualized.  Through a program of  exploration, mediation and prayer, over time I was able to enter trance states, accessing deeper wisdom and insights. I was able to explore subconscious states my hyper monkey mind could not. So I began.

There is no right way to do this, it starts from within. This moved me far beyond my formal, credentialed, critical and analytic training. Meditation was also contrary to my type A alpha temperament. It required letting go, trusting, having faith, it was terrifying. At first the greatest obstacle was fear of failure, even shame–am I “doing it right?” My early childhood religious training taught that if I made a mistake, practiced incorrect form, omission, I would incur the wrath of an angry patriarchal sky God I could not know or feel. It took a while for me to understand that creating a sacred space isn’t religion, or school, it’s not a career or a contest, it’s healing and growing by trial and error.  All we need is courage, willingness, trust and faith.

Creating Sacred Space:

As I  began to cultivate this higher way of seeing, I needed to find a safe, quiet, friendly space, to figure out for myself what meditation was, how it worked for me. A solo flyer,  I found walking alone on the beach, painting,  body-surfing, music, gardening, dancing, practicing Reiki and praying for other people got me there one step at a time.  My wellness journey and connection to higher power has been the most radical, solitary love story of my life–it can be spiritual or religious–or simply a way to heal self-alienation. Seek and thee shall find– teachers, truth, companions and joy in every step. This is an inner-directed process, therapeutic, empowering and fun. For me, it has been the most self-affirming experience I’ve had.

The God Thing:

Because some of us may have been damaged, even brutalized by organized religious rituals of social control and punishment, we may feel alienated, even hostile to the idea of  God, the Divine, a Higher Power as a loving, protective entity. Whether through spirituality or religion, mystical experiences can introduce you to a universal presence, a pure love that already exists in you, an experience of joy that you will know to be real and true. As To paraphrase the Ramones, “It’s not hard, not far to reach.” Welcome to your sacred space.

At first I had no idea how to pray. Even though mandatory prayers were a daily part of my early childhood religious training, it pushed me further away from the love I needed and wanted. It was more about obedience, duty, obligation, fear—but not love. I had no faith to lose and by 13, I was godless and proud.I embraced critique and interpretive sociology and became a sociologist and journalist. I thought I understood everything, I was certified smart. But I had no clue how to connect to anything greater than myself, nothing beyond binge writing and drinking.

My first sincere attempt at prayer came decades later. I was shy and insecure like a little kid on the first day of school, I felt like a poser but without the crutches of status, ego and alcohol, I had nothing except the gift of desperation so I was willing. The first time I tried I just said “Hi, God.”  This awkward was my first attempt at engaging. Reach out and I’ll be there.

Eventually, after a series of  intuitive explorations and experiments, I joined a church that offered a “radical welco0me.” A place where I felt safe and loving. I served for many years as a commissioned lay healing minister offering intercessory prayer during services. Praying for other people left me with the first real feeling of peace I’d ever had.  No matter where we came from, or what we were taught, where we land, whether we  pray all day or just say “thank you,” we’re already on the tarmac to our sacred space. Seek and thee shall find.