7 Helpful Guided Meditations

​Start Your Day Focused and Balanced

​What does meditation have to do with horse training?  Well, for me, meditation has to do with everything.  It’s the first thing I do after breakfast.  If I skip it for some reason, the rest of the day feels slightly “off.”  Two or three days in a row without meditation, and I am sliding down into irritability mixed with lethargy – not a very good state to be in.
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And we don’t want to be working with an animal that weighs half a ton if our emotions and energy are not at their peak performance levels.
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In meditation we discover our inherent restlessness. Sometimes we get up and leave. Sometimes we sit there but our bodies wiggle and squirm and our minds go far away. This can be so uncomfortable that we feel it’s impossible to stay. Yet this feeling can teach us not just about ourselves but what it is to be human
~ Pema Chödrön ~​

But - you say - I’ve tried it, it didn’t work, I can’t sit still, I can’t shut my mind off, I don’t have time.  Please read the Pema Chödrön quote above again, it's perfectly normal to have that experience.

And I’m going to call bullshit on the “time” objection by including several ten minute guided meditations in my list – and if even ten minutes is too long, you can find five and even three minute meditations on YouTube.

​As for shutting your mind off, don’t worry about that.  These are guided meditations, just listen to the voice, if you mind wanders off ~ it wanders off ~ just let it come back again.  If you don't like the voices, YouTube has anything you want instead: classical music, bells, singing bowls, water, rain, ocean waves - whatever helps you to just take a little vacation in your mind, so you can continue on with your day mentally and emotionally refreshed.

There are no meditation police coming to get you for doing it wrong.  There is no right and wrong, there is just the DOING that matters.
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Click on Read More below to go to the list.

Note: don't ponder on this Voltaire quote for too long, I just chose it because I thought it might make me sound smarter than I am.

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A few of my favorite YouTube Guided Meditations with short descriptions.
(yes there are ads: it's YouTube, it's free, hit the Skip Ad button)

10 Minutes:  Guided Meditation on the Law of Attraction:
Ocean Waves with a soothing female voice, taking us to a warm tropical island

10 Minutes: Comfort, Calm & Peace - Hypnotic Guided Meditation
Be Here Now with Daris, who reminds us not to do this while driving

12 Minutes: Guided Meditation – Anxiety Relief
Guided by Rick Clarke – veddy British and soothing

15 Minutes: A Guided Meditation for Relaxation, Clarity and Focus
Another British male guide, with a stringed instruments in the background

15 Minutes: Guided Meditation for Clearing Negativity
A male guide with a deep, slightly creepy voice and orchestral background
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16 Minutes: Guided Meditation for Inner Strength, Ease, and Clarity
A cheerful female voice leads us through this one

And finally, my favorite yoga video with Courtney, she's pretty cool:
Yoga for Weight Loss and Flexibility, 20 Minutes Beginners Class

For more on meditation, see my post on
How Meditation Can Improve Your Relationships with Horses