5 Essential Meditations That Will Change Your Life

I used to take time to meditate, but it really lacked focus. I was only meditating because I had heard it was a good idea, rather than for any real purpose. I didn't believe it actually had the power to change anything in my life.

It wasn't until I started experimenting with more focused meditations and developed a real, consistent practice that things began to shift in a profound way. As the experiences began to deepen it became like watching a flower bloom.

Here are five meditations that will literally change everything in your life for the better:

1. Forgiveness Meditation

Get calm and comfy in a cross-legged position or in a chair. Begin to observe your inhales and exhales. Then think of someone or something in your life that you need to forgive. See them before you in your mind's eye and look into their eyes. Say to them, "I forgive you," as you breathe in, followed by, "you are free now," as you breathe out.

Continue this cycle until you feel ready to come out of your meditative state. As this meditation develops, you will figure out new people to forgive and eventually, you'll be able to come to forgiving yourself — the most transformative of all.

2. Gratitude Meditation

Once again, get calm and comfy in your meditation space. Focus on your breathing. Don't worry if thoughts come — they are just a part of the process. You are aiming to become a detached observer of your thoughts.

Now, imagine going through your day collecting things to be grateful for in your mind. You can imagine collecting them in a basket or into a treasure chest.

See the things that you are grateful for in your mind's eye and notice the feeling that this thinking creates in you. It does not matter if the things seem small, nor does it matter if there are too few or too many to count. This is why this is called "a practice."

3. Self-Worth Meditation

Once you're seated comfortably and your breathing is calm and regulated, take a deep inhale and say to yourself, "I am worthy" and then on the exhale say, 'I am whole and perfect just as I am." Repeat this for the duration of your meditation practice, for as many minutes as it takes you to feel uplifted and confident.

4. Abundance Meditation

This meditation isn't just about generating more money, but cultivating more abundance into all aspects of your life.

Relax and begin to watch your breath as it goes in and out. As you breathe in say to yourself, "I breathe in abundance," and as you breathe out say, "there is always more than enough." Once you begin to notice how you already have everything you need, that's when you can open yourself up to receive the abundant gifts the universe has to offer.

5. Loving-Kindness Meditation