Guided Meditation
A Guided Meditation for Inner Strength, Resilience, and Setting an Intention
Some days need more than a little pause. They need a solid reminder of what you are capable of, and a sense of encouragement for the day ahead. This guided meditation from Minnesota Clinic for Health and Wellness focuses on inner strength, resilience, and setting an intention for how you want to show up.
Listen below, then read on to learn what the practice involves, why people find this kind of meditation helpful, and how to fit it into your day.
Describing the Meditation
This is a seated guided meditation that combines slow breathing, a simple visualization, and a moment of intention setting. You picture a warm, golden light at the center of your chest, and let it stand for your inner strength, your resilience, and your ability to be present. Then you remember a time you felt confident and capable, and use that feeling to choose how you would like to show up today.
What to Expect
This encouraging practice is guided throughout. Here is the general flow:
- Settling in. Finding a comfortable seated posture where you can be alert, yet relaxed. Closing your eyes (if that feels right) and taking a few deep breaths in and out through the nose.
- Envisioning a healing light. Bringing your attention to your heart center and picturing a warm, golden light there, radiating outward with each beat of your heart.
- Letting it spread. With each breath, visualizing and “feeling into” the experience of that glowing light – filling your whole body with warmth and energy.
- Remembering a strong moment. Bringing to mind a time you felt empowered and clear about your purpose, and inviting those feelings and images to take root.
- Setting an intention. Asking yourself what qualities you want to bring to your day, and visualizing yourself moving through it that way.
- Coming back. You notice your body and your breath, wiggle your fingers and toes, and open your eyes when you are ready.
How This Kind of Practice May Help
There is a long tradition of guided imagery, visualization, and breath practices in the mental health treatment world. Several of the main elements of this specific practice are well-known in the mental health research literature: mindful attention, resilience, and visualizing goals.
Resilience can be built
Mayo Clinic describes resilience as the ability to adapt to setbacks. It does not make problems go away, but it can help you see past them and handle stress better, and it can help protect against depression and anxiety. The good news is that resilience can be cultivated, and reaching out to others for support is part of it.
Mindful attention supports calm
Paying attention to your breath and body is at the heart of mindfulness. The NCCIH reports that mindfulness-based practices may be helpful for anxiety and depression, and some evidence-based treatments such as DBT and ACT have mindfulness as central components. Individual experiences and data across studies are mixed, so trust your experience and your partnership with your healthcare professionals.
Remembering what you can already do
Calling to mind a time you felt capable is a way of reconnecting with strengths you already have. In therapy, we often start the same way, with what is already working well, and build from there.
An intention gives the day a direction
An intention is different from a goal. A goal is something to finish. An intention is a quality to bring, like patience, steadiness, or kindness. Many people find that choosing one quality at the start of the day makes it easier to pause and respond on purpose, instead of reacting on autopilot.
Tips for Getting Started
- Try it in the morning, before a hard conversation or big meeting, or any time you’re wanting to feel steady.
- If picturing the light is difficult, that is fine. Perhaps you might focus instead on the feeling of warmth, or simply on your breath. Not everyone sees images clearly in their mind’s eye.
- Consider choosing just one word for your intention, such as steady, patient, strong, or kind, and perhaps put it somewhere that you’ll be reminded of it throughout the day.
- Our Reflection Guides on peace, kindness, and gratitude and on clutter, light, and rest include this meditation along with journal prompts.
- Come back to this meditative practice more than once. Many people find it feels different each time.
A Note on Comfort and Care
If any part of this guided practice stirs up difficult feelings or images, you can choose a different memory, return to your breath, open your eyes, or stop. The NCCIH notes that meditation usually carries few risks, though once in a while, folks will have an unexpected and distressing response.
And of course, this meditation is just one possible tool along your journey, not a replacement for therapy. If you are working through something heavy, such as loss, trauma, or intense and ongoing stress, our therapists can help you build strength at a pace that feels right. And within a supportive, therapeutic partnership.
Take the Next Step
If you would like support with stress, confidence, or getting through a hard season, our team is here to help. Schedule an appointment with Minnesota Clinic for Health and Wellness or call our care team at 612-706-9630.
Your health is interconnected. Let's support the whole you.
This article is for general information and is not a substitute for professional care. If you are in crisis, call or text 988. In an emergency, call 911.
