4 Step Meditation Guide 3 PDF

T a p I nto t h e Un l i mi te d R e sou rce s of You r M ind
4 Step Meditation Guide

Everyone has intuition, and everyone has experienced intuition at one time
or another.
The trick is to learn how to tap into your intuition

at will to achieve greater levels of success.
Let me tell you a quick story to illustrate what Im talking about here
When I was 35, I attended a meditation retreat that permanently changed my life.
For an entire week, we sat in meditation from 6:30am until 10pm, with breaks only
for meals and silent walks. Over the first few days, I thought I would go crazy.
Then on the fourth day, an unexpected and wonderful thing happened. My mind
became quiet and I moved into a place from which I could just witness everything
around me without judgment or attachment. I felt relaxed, calm, aware, and clearer
than I had ever felt before. Gone were all the daily pressures of life.
Long story short, what I learned from this

experience was that all the ideas I needed to
complete any task, solve any problem, or achieve
any goal were all available inside me.
This is one of the reasons meditation is so important. The regular practice of meditation
will help you clear out distractions, and deepen your intuition by helping you recognize
subtle impulses from within.

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As you meditate and become more spiritually
attuned, you can better discern and recognize the
sound of your higher self speaking to you through
words, images, and sensations.
Your intuition can communicate with you in many ways. You may get a message from
within as a vision or a visual image while you are meditating or dreaming. It can come in a
flash out of the blue, or it can be a long, unfolding image. I often get images while I am lying
in bed after I first wake up, while Im meditating or getting a massage, or while sitting in a
hot tub or taking a shower.
Your intuition may speak to you as a hunch, a thought, or a voice actually telling you yes,
no, go for it, or not yet. You may also receive a message from your intuition through your
physical senses, through your emotions, or sometimes it is just a sense of knowing. An
indicator that the message is truly from your intuition is that it will often be accompanied
by a sense of greater clarity a feeling of rightness about the answer or the impulse.
Another indicator that the message youre receiving is a correct one is an accompanying
feeling of passion and excitement.
Your most valuable intuitive wisdom may also come through the many forms of informal
meditation we engage in every day; like sitting by a waterfall, watching the ocean, staring
at the clouds, looking at the stars, sitting under the tree, staring into a fire, listening to
inspiring music, jogging, doing yoga, while praying, listening to a bird sing, taking a shower,
driving on the freeway, watching a child play, or writing in a personal journal.
Now that weve discussed the importance of incorporating meditation into

your life, let me illustrate some quick guidelines for meditating properly for
the best results.

Guidelines for Meditation
Preparation
Avoid meditating on a full stomach, when overly tired, or while wearing restrictive clothing.
Also, it is helpful to prepare yourself mentally. For example, you might read, discuss, or
listen to or think about something of an inspirational nature.
Environment
Find a quiet time when you will not be disturbed by the phone, doorbell or other
interruptions. When you have moved into the inner stillness, all your senses are
heightened and a sudden noise can be a shock to your system.
Meditation can be done sitting cross-legged on the floor, or as most people find more
comfortable, sitting in a chair, body erect, feet flat on the floor, hands together in your lap.
Let your hands touch together, fingertip to fingertip.

The 4 Step Meditation Process
Theres a form of meditation called Betty Bethards 4 Step Meditation. I learned it from her
and have been teaching it in my groups ever since.
I find this technique to be the essence of simplicity, yet it is also profoundly effective.
May it support your inner peace and wisdom.
Step One Preparation

Relax. It is helpful if your spine is straight. It is surprisingly easy to relax in an upright
position if you will imagine a string tied to the top of your head pulling straight up toward
the ceiling.
Take several deep breaths through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Then let
your breathing become steady, rhythmic and relaxed.
Imagine a pure white light coming up through your left foot, up the left side of your body,
all the way to the top of your head, across to the right side of your body, and down the
other side. Do this three times.
You can also ask to be shown the way to truth, wisdom and understanding.

Step Two Repetition
Repetition is simply the focusing of your mind on a single point. Its an essential part of
meditation. It clears away the mental cobwebs and stills your active conscious mind. You
can do repetition with your eyes open or closed, whichever works better for you. If you use
the eyes open method, fix your gaze on a single object. A tiny light or candle in a darkened
room, a picture, a religious symbol, a mandala, the word Love. These and many other
things have been used successfully as the focal point of repetition.
Many people, including myself, have better success in concentration with their eyes closed,
visualizing a word, face, object or symbol in their minds eye. It can be a religious symbol,
a mandala, a flower, or a peaceful scene in nature such as a still lake. You may wish to
focus on a word, a seed thought, or a mantra that has special meaning to you. Ones that
I have used, with great success, are I Am Love, or Sat Nam, or simply Re-lax. You can
just inhale as you say to yourself Re and exhale as you say to yourself lax. Repeat the
mantra over and over without letting any other thoughts come into your mind. Whatever
focal point you choose on which to concentrate, let it represent your highest spiritual idea,
never something materialistic.
At first your mind will quite likely want to stray. Bring it gently back to the focal point of
your concentration. As it strays again, bring it back again. Almost everyone finds his/her
mind much too active to settle down to a single point at first. But surprisingly soon you
will find your ability to discipline your mind to one point growing stronger and stronger.

Step Three Receptivity
After what seems to be about ten minutes or so of repetition, you shift gently to receptivity
for the next ten minutes. Separate your hands and turn the palms upward in your
lap. Keep your body erect and relaxed. Now let the mind you have been disciplining so
vigorously relax. Do not exert any conscious effort to think about anything. Just set your
mind free. If you did repetition with your eyes open, you must close them as you go into
meditation. You have opened the various consciousness centers of your being. Remain
relaxed and passive, yet alert.
Thoughts and mental images may cross your consciousness. Examine them placidly as
they come and go. You may see images and scenes or hear mental messages. You
may feel unexpected sensations such as chills or vibrations along your spine, or pressure
sensations with calm, relaxed interest. Since, as normal human beings, the only way you
have of receiving communication is through your five senses, it is perfectly natural for any
communication to manifest itself to you through one or more of these channels.
In your first few daily concentration-meditation sessions, limit yourself to

about twenty or thirty minutes. Normally, it is not wise to go beyond that
length of time.

Step Four Closing Down
At the end of your meditation, close both hands into fists and imagine a luminous white
light surrounding you, filling you, and protecting you. The main idea is that you are learning
to place yourself in an environment of protection, guidance, and control. This can be done
in a variety of ways. For example, imagine yourself in a ball of white light, or in a white
balloon, just so long as the white environment totally surrounds you. This procedure will
close down the centers of your consciousness that you have opened during concentration
and meditation, leaving your inner being protected from outside influences.
This is very important for those who are sensitive. Develop the habit of surrounding
yourself with the white light of protection whenever you feel negativity around you, not just
at the time of meditation.
When closing down, however, you do not close off from people. What you are doing is
protecting yourself from being affected by any negativity while at the same time radiating
love and harmony to those around you. As a result, you will dissolve the negative
vibrations. The white light is your protection; be sure to use it.
You may also use this phase to visualize yourself achieving any goal you might choose.
You could simply visualize yourself whole and healthy, or you might visualize yourself
having achieved a particular goal. If you use an affirmation during the repetition phase
and do a related visualization during this phase, this is very powerful.
Your Inner Wisdom: After a while of meditating you will begin to discover that you have
a great deal of wisdom inside. It is simply a matter of taking the time to listen to what is
within, and your intuition, sensitivity, and alignment with the universe all begin to grow.
It is as though all the powers of your mind and the secrets of the universe start to become
available to you. You will grow in strength in these gifts so long as you seek them for
service to your fellow man rather than for selfish, material ends.

Summary of Betty Bethards 4-Step
Meditation as Taught by Jack
Preparation: Sit palms together, visualize light up left side and down right side of
body 3 times.
Repetition: Repeat a word, phrase, or mantra for close to 10 minutes..
Receptivity: Palms facing up on lap. Be an observer: watch your thoughts, feelings,

and sensations.
Closing Down: Close your palms and visualize white light surrounding your body.
At the end, visualize yourself accomplishing a goal or being totally healthy or healed.

Conclusion
When you first start, 12 to 20 minutes is plenty. Over time youll notice that you will want
to meditate longer. Its a natural progression.
If you dont have 20 minutes, just 5 minutes of concentrating on the sensation of your
breath either by focusing on the sensation of the air coming in and out of your nose, or the
sensation of the rise and fall of your chest is better than nothing.
Whatever form of meditation you do, remember that you cant do it wrong. Whatever
you are experiencing is fine. Dont expect your mind to be totally clear or to achieve
enlightenment overnight.
Meditation is a daily discipline that you should practice for yours and the benefits are
very profound.

About Jack Canfield
Jack Canfield is an award-winning speaker and an internationally recognized leader in personal
development and peak performance strategies. For over 50 years, he has been teaching
entrepreneurs, educators, corporate leaders, and people from all walks of life how to create the
life they desire. As the beloved co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, hes taught
millions of individuals his modernized formulas for success, and now certifies trainers to teach his
content and methodology all over the world. Jack is the author and co-author of more than 150
books (66 are best sellers) with more than 100 million copies in print in 47 languages around the
world. His best-selling book, The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where
You Want to Be has been hailed as the new self-improvement classic, now containing 67 of the
most powerful secrets to success known to mankind. In 2014, SUCCESS magazine named him
One of the Most Influential Leaders in Personal Growth and Achievement.
For more information on Jack, please visit: jackcanfield.com/affirmationsguide


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T a p I nto t h e Un l i mi te d R e sou rce s of You r M ind

4 Step Meditation Guide

The trick is to learn how to tap into your intuition

Long story short, what I learned from this

4 Step Meditation Guide

Now that weve discussed the importance of incorporating meditation into

4 Step Meditation Guide

4 Step Meditation Guide

Step One Preparation

4 Step Meditation Guide

4 Step Meditation Guide

In your first few daily concentration-meditation sessions, limit yourself to

4 Step Meditation Guide

4 Step Meditation Guide

Repetition: Repeat a word, phrase, or mantra for close to 10 minutes..

Receptivity: Palms facing up on lap. Be an observer: watch your thoughts, feelings,

4 Step Meditation Guide

4 Step Meditation Guide

For more information on Jack, please visit: jackcanfield.com/affirmationsguide

4 Step Meditation Guide

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