Daily meditation has proven to have many health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure and stress levels, and helping with sleep.

To meditate you might like to sit in a comfortable chair with your back straight, feet flat on the floor, your hands resting in your lap, palms facing upwards and with your eyes closed. You could also sit on the ground, leaning up against a wall or, alternatively, sitting cross legged or lying down. I like wearing an eye mask when meditating during the day, as I find that helps my brain switch off.

You can use guided meditations for self-help purposes — for lifting your vibration, aura cleansing, healing, calming, reducing anxiety, etc. — and, if you wish, you might listen to one when you go to sleep at night. Put headphones on to listen as, even if you fall asleep, the words and intention behind them are still heard and noted in your subconscious, laying down those positive affirmations as beliefs, regardless of whether you are awake or asleep. When you are asleep, the words can bypass the conscious mind, so it is not able to reject them and thus it affirms the new positive beliefs in your subconscious.

Now the hard part — stopping those thoughts from racing through your mind! For most people, when starting or learning to meditate, this is the hardest part. It is very rarely instantly wonderful, and you will probably find yourself thinking that you haven’t got a clue what you are doing or that you are not really good at it. This is normal and, like most things, it takes practice — learning from mistakes and refining your techniques — until you’re able do it more to your liking. Remember, your mind will never be completely blank. Therefore, it is about learning to let go of the distractions, allowing your mind to become calm and quieter.

Here are some points to follow:

1. Outside noise will always occur. Instead of trying to push away noises or let them annoy you, just accept them and let them be there; let them be part of the meditation. If you try to block them out, you will only hold onto them, so just let them be. Eventually, if you keep doing this practice, you won’t even realise the noise is still there. Practise extending what you are hearing — start with what is close, then shift to what is just outside and then move much further away to hear the birds, the ocean, etc. By doing this, you are allowing these sounds into your consciousness rather than being surprised by them.

2. Focus on your breathing. Take a long, slow breath in through your nose, hold for a moment, then blow it out though your nose or mouth on a long, slow exhale. Do this several times until you feel yourself relaxing. Let your shoulders relax as well as the muscles around your eyes, jaw, hips and legs. Feel the pull of gravity down into your core. Then allow your breathing to become soft, falling into a gentle, repetitive rhythm.

3. Visualise and acknowledge the divine, white light of protection around you, allowing you to feel relaxed, safe and comfortable.

4. If a thought comes in, acknowledge it then let it go. You could visualise putting it in a bubble and see it float away. Know that if it is important, you will remember it.

5. Just try to experience the meditation in the moment rather than having any expectations; if those expectations are not met, it may lead to feelings of disappointment. Be happy with quiet time, breathing and feeling calm.

6. If your focus of the meditation is to receive guidance from Spirit, you might try to visualise a blank blackboard or whiteboard on which images may appear (being the messages from Spirit). Some imagine a theatre with large curtains being pulled back to reveal a stage on which images may appear. Personally, I close my eyes and focus on my third eye area in my mind and allow the pictures or words to appear there.

7. Another visualisation tip is to feel, see or sense your aura’s energy around you. Let it expand from your body like a bubble that extends in front of you, beside you, behind, above and below you. All the while your body gently and safely relaxes, feeling comfortable in your position. Breathe in, lifting your energy, expanding it to where you feel comfortable. Then breathe out, feeling grounded and safe. Allow your energy extension just to be — to feel, to vibrate. There is nothing more you need to do; just sit, allowing your energy vibration to feel, to sense and to be open to other high vibrating energy, as all high vibrating energy is from pure, divine Source, as are you.

Allow energy connections without trying or doubting. Just sit there, feeling safe, grounded and comfortable, and allow your infinite, divine energy to expand and explore, knowing you are in control and will have your cleansed energy return to you when you wish.

8. Lastly, accept what you are able to do — your best in this moment — and enjoy the experience of the quietened mind. It’s all about practice, practice, practice. Ideally, daily meditations are great, even if it’s for 5 minutes. You can then build up to longer periods with practice when time allows.

When you have finished meditating, please remember to ground yourself. Walking barefoot on grass, visualising yourself being grounded (as per earlier notes) or simply drinking a glass of water with the intention of being grounded will work. This is important, as sometimes when you meditate you can go on a journey and it’s good to ground yourself afterwards to bring you back into the present moment