The subconscious is the inexhaustible reservoir in which you accumulate anxieties and fears, desires and hopes, during the course of your life. These internal conditioning factors maintain their influence over your external behavior, positively and negatively, throughout your lifetime, unless and until you change them.

When your conscious and subconscious beliefs about a particular aspect of life are the same, it results in a state of balance and harmony, and your experience of that particular aspect of your life becomes satisfying and trouble-free. When your conscious and subconscious beliefs about a particular facet of life are at odds, it can result in imbalance, conflict, confusion, and frustration.

For example, a woman may have a desire to have a lasting relationship with a man. Yet she finds that her relationships consistently come to an end. If she were able to delve into her subconscious and examine her beliefs about men and relationships, she may discover a belief that states, "Men leave." This may be due to the fact that her father left the marriage when she was a child and she saw very little of him since. Subsequently, she expects this from men in her life.

Take another example. A man may have a desire to win the lottery. In order to achieve this desire, he buys lottery tickets on a regular basis. Yet he never seems to win. Tapping into his subconscious belief system, he may find a statement like this, "I never win anything. I've never won in the past and I know I'll never win in the future." Further, his parents may have reinforced within him in childhood that he was a loser or would never amount to much in life. Consequently, he never wins and always wonders why. These examples demonstrate how deeply-held subconscious beliefs have the power to override conscious desires.

In order to change your beliefs regarding any area of your life, you must first know what they are. In order to discover this, you must be unable to unlock the vault of your subconscious mind. And, to do that, you need the key — Guided Healing Meditation.

How do you know when there is a need to plumb the depths of the subconscious in your own life? When there are conflicts in your life that you can't seem to resolve, when you are overwhelmed by destructive desires or urges that seem to have a mind of their own and are out of your control, these are some tangible symptoms of the subconscious mind calling out for recognition.

In our society, too much emphasis is put on intellectual and analytical understanding while downplaying the value of insight and intuition. There are two sides to the brain — left and right. The left side or masculine side is responsible for drawing conclusions and assumptions based on logic, rationale, intellectual discrimination, analysis, and criticism. The right side or feminine side of the brain balances our understanding through imagination, creativity, insight, inspiration, and intuition.

The seat of reason is the conscious mind, one tenth of the brain. The seat of intuition is the subconscious mind, nine tenths of the brain. Ideally, our thought processes should blend these two counterparts in a harmonious balance. However, most of us in this society neglect utilizing the intuitive or yin side of our brain, proclaiming it to be too abstract, insubstantial, and unreliable. We are often afraid to trust the little voice within or we are unsure of what it is telling us. If we are unsure, it is because we rarely use it and are out of practice. If you stop using your right hand for a month and then pick up a pen and begin to write, you'll find that you are clearly out of practice. The same thing is true with your intuition. You must learn to put less emphasis on your masculine or yang side of the brain. Just because it makes sense on paper doesn't mean it will work out that way in the real world. Learn to trust your intuition. But, practically speaking, how do you do that? You get to know your intuition, develop a relationship with it. And, as you already know, relationships are based on trust. Guided Healing Meditation will introduce you to the realm of intuition. And, gradually, as you become comfortable with it, you will learn to make decisions in your life that are sound, correct, and beneficial for everyone concerned.

Guided Healing Meditation is an ancient and powerful method of meditation. It's as old as the hills. Examples of it can be found in the Old Testament of the Bible, particularly the Book of Job, and also in the Vedas, the oldest books of knowledge and philosophy on our planet, which date as far back as 5000 BC.

Guided Healing Meditation is also known as a 'waking dream.' In other words, it is a completely natural function of the mind. At night, when you go to sleep, you invariably spend time dreaming. Sometimes you can remember your dreams, sometimes you cannot, but you dream nevertheless. The reason you dream when you sleep is because the conscious mind is set aside through the process of sleep. The conscious mind is the seat of the ego, that is, your identity. If someone walks into the room as you sleep and waters the plants, for example, you are unaware of it because, for all practical purposes, you're not there. Your conscious mind, you, is asleep. While you're asleep, the subconscious mind is free to dream, to roam about, so to speak.

So, in Guided Healing Meditation, we are simulating this same, natural process. However, your conscious mind is not asleep, it is simply in a state of relaxation, more or less out of the way, but still aware of what is going on.

It is important to remember that meditation is a receptive process. It isn't something you do or try to do. Rather, it is something you receive or allow to happen. The harder you try to meditate, the less successful you'll be. The more you are able to allow the images to come, the more you'll be able to meditate easily and effortlessly.

The subconscious will speak to you in the form of images and symbols, especially in the beginning, when you are new to the process. As you become more familiar and comfortable with meditation, words, sentences, and dialogue are likely to increase.

Symbols are representations of your psyche or unconscious self. They are projections of all aspects of your nature. They not only represent the collective and individual impressions of your life experience thus far, but they are windows through which you'll be able to see the shape of things to come.

Generally, our libido, or creative power, is focused on the external world through the conscious mind. When this creative power is turned inward through the process of meditation, it causes an increase in dream and fantasy imagery.

These symbolic images and visions can be effectively used for investigating and understanding the whole range of your habitual feelings, as well as those feelings which you may be unable to experience. It is a quick and practical tool for defining the pattern of your emotional responses in two significant areas—your past experiences, and your potential for development.

The subconscious mind is also the source of imagination and creativity. Inspiration, artistry, genius, and brainstorms — all of these take birth in the womb of the subconscious. The more you are able to draw upon the subconscious, the more you will be able to access your dormant potential in any area of your life.

And how will you ever become all you are meant to be unless you unlock your unconscious potential and actualize it on the level of conscious application — bring it up from the depths of the ocean and expose it to the light of day.

The subconscious also contains knowledge of past, present, and future. For example, a child prodigy who can play Mozart on the piano without having had one lesson is accessing a developed and matured talent from a previous lifetime. The subconscious can clearly communicate your present reality or life circumstance and indicate what is likely to take place in the future if that reality remains unchanged, that is, if you keep heading in the same direction you are now. It can also help you discover your purpose, what you came here specifically to do this lifetime, and how to do it. It can tell you why you are suffering or are afflicted by a particular disease and suggest ways of overcoming it. Any question you may have regarding any aspect of your life can be answered by learning how to communicate with your dynamic subconscious mind, all through the process of Guided Healing Meditation.

Seeing images and pictures in the subconscious is not the same as seeing with physical vision. In the subconscious, you are seeing with the 'mind's eye,' with the imagination. It's just as if you were to close your eyes right now and envision an apple tree. What color are the apples? Are they red, green, or yellow? It's that simple and perfectly natural. Don't be alarmed if you sometimes have difficulty concentrating, and the images seem to come and go. Just relax and bring them back into focus. The more deeply you relax, the easier it will be to enter into your meditation without interruption or interference from the conscious mind.

Since we are trying to simulate a dream-like state, it is important to keep the conscious mind from interfering in the meditation. The reason it is so easy to dream at night is because the conscious mind is asleep. With the conscious mind out of the way, the subconscious is free to travel on the wings of dreams.

The conscious mind is the seat of judgement, criticism and decision. Without the aid of the conscious mind, we would not be able to cross the street safely. But in the realm of meditation, we do not require the participation of the conscious mind. That doesn't mean it won't stick its nose in and give an opinion from time to time — it will. And that's what you have to be on the lookout for. Do not let your conscious mind influence the images and symbols that appear during the meditation. Whatever images appear naturally from the subconscious are the images we want. What they may mean, whether good, bad, or indifferent, is not something for you to determine while you're doing the meditation. There will be plenty of time for that later.

For example, within your meditation, you may see a box on the ground at your feet. When you open it and find out what's inside, whatever image comes into the mind — that's what's inside the box. Supposing your conscious mind does not like the symbol that appears out of the subconscious. Then it will tell you something like this, "What's that doing there? I don't want that thing. I want something better, something nicer. I think I'll change it to such-and-such." This is an example of the conscious mind doing what it does best, judging and criticizing. If this takes place at any time during a meditation, ignore it and go on with the symbol that first appeared. As a general rule, go with the first image that appears.

Another thing to bear in mind while doing Guided Healing Meditation is that you are not subject to the same physical laws that govern the physical world. For example, if you find yourself floating above the ground within your meditation, it is perfectly acceptable.

What are some of the benefits you're likely to experience from Guided Healing Meditation? Through the images, symbols, and visions uncovered in this process, you will be able to:

• Learn the difference between what you really believe and what you think you believe

• Get in touch with suppressed emotions, desires, and aspirations

• Break through blocks, fears and inhibitions

• Release negative behavior patterns

• Adjust beliefs

• Receive accurate intuitions and inspirational communications

• Develop your dormant talents and abilities

And last but certainly not least

• Release stress and tension