I am delighted to interview Steven Aitchison, author and founder of Change Your Thoughts blog. Steven and Angela Artemis have created a new guided meditation program called The Re-Awakening, a program designed to help someone rid themselves of stress, anxiety and depression .
Steve, please introduce yourself to the Treatment Talk readers who may not know you.
I am an extremely happily married soul with 2 great sons and a mental dog named Kara. My heart and home is in Scotland, UK.
I am the author of Change Your Thoughts blog, which has now been running since August 2006, and it’s went through a lot of changes over the years, but it keeps me writing and hopefully brings a lot of readers some pleasure with articles from myself and many great guest bloggers.
I have also written 5 books and produced 11 Products on personal development, with the latest product being The Re-Awakening: A Guided Meditation program narrated by myself and Angela Artemis.
I work full time as an Addiction Counsellor, mainly helping people recover from alcohol issues. When I’m not doing that I love writing and marketing the business.
Please tell us about your amazing blog. When did you start it and why?
Oh, the blog started in August 2006 and I started it as a way to give my creative brain an outlet for ideas on helping others. I had just finished my degree in Psychology and was writing short stories but felt I had something to give as a personal development writer.
The blog started off quite badly as I didn’t have a clue what to write about, so i started talking about trivial stuff, like how to reduce farting (I know, who wants to know about that 🙂 ). However after writing some rubbish for a month I started to get into it and my creative muse was turned on as I started sharing with others what has worked for me in my life as I was a prolific readers of personal development books.
There have been times when I kind of abandoned the blog in search of making money online, as my internet marketing skills were being born, however I kept coming back to it.
In 2010 I decided I was going to focus solely on the blog. At that time I had 3,000 subscribers. As soon as I focussed all my attention on the blog I started getting more and more subscribers, and funny enough I was making more money from it through advertising.
Today the blog has 32,000 subscribers and I feel we have a great community over there.
How long have you been meditating? How has meditation changed your life?
I have been meditating for around 10 years, but it wasn’t constant. There was always the question of was it working, am I doing it right, am I sitting in the right position, does my legs need to be behind my ears for it to really be effective 🙂 you know all that kind of stuff.
However I discovered when I didn’t meditate there was something in me that was missing. I missed it and felt out of balance when I didn’t do it.
When I found a few guided meditations a few years after I started, that’s when it really became a habit for me, and if it wasn’t for the guided meditations I would still be doing it on and off.
Can you please tell us about The Reawakening Guided Meditation System?
The Re-Awakening has been an idea that has been swirling about inside my head for a few years. Ever since I discovered guided mediation I always felt I could maybe produce better ones and more focussed.
So a few months ago I decided it was time to get this idea out of my head and into the real world.
The Re-Awakening is a set of 10 guided meditations designed specifically to Re-Awaken our heart, mind and spirit. I know it sounds a bit airy fairy, but I truly feel that we have lost our way in the world a bit. The news is like a constant stream of blackness which is infecting our core spirit, so much so that people are afraid to go out the door sometimes. What we sometimes forget is that the news is totally skewed in it’s reporting.
I heard somewhere that for every 19 bad news stories that were reported there was 1 piece of good news reported, when in real life there is hundreds of good news stories to every 1 bad news story. That kind of skewed reporting is truly bad for our spirit. So, The Re-Awakening was produced as a way to counteract, if only a little, the bleak view we might have of the world.
Can you specify how meditation and your program would be beneficial to people in recovery or family members of an addicted person?
Over the years of helping others addictions I feel that there is something missing from the lives of people who have become addicted to alcohol or drugs. It’s only recently that I have kind of figured out what it is: A sense of purpose.
We’re living in a world with fewer jobs, higher divorce rates, more stress, and a less socially connected world. Rather than help someone with their addiction I think we should be helping people with addiction issues finding a sense of purpose in their lives. Without a sense of purpose then alcohol and drugs seems like a way of escaping.
Finding your purpose means finding a place within yourself that has the answers. However, to find this place you need stillness, calm and focus and I feel that meditation can give us all of these. This goes for the person in recovery and for the families of the persons in recovery.
What advice do you have for someone who is new to meditation?
Meditation can seem to much of a hassle in the beginning, but the trick is to make it a habit. When you have a good habit in your life you reap the rewards and the benefits become cumulative, meaning the more you do it the more you benefit. However, as I have found, if you do it for a bit, stop, then start again you are not getting the full benefit from it.
With The Re-Awakening you are bypassing the hassle factor of meditating as you are shown straight away images in your mind that are conducive to deep relaxation and having a deep connection to heart, mind and spirit. Almost immediately you start to feel the benefits which will motivate you more to continue and build on those benefits such as: feeling less stressed, less anxious, able to cope with life much better, more productive, and generally much more in control of your own life.
What about people that say they do not have time to meditate? What suggestions would you give them?
If you can’t take 10-20 minutes out of your day to do something for yourself then there is something wrong.
The thing is with mediation you actually gain more time in your life. You might be thinking ‘If I have to take 20 minutes to mediate each day, surely I would have less time in the day?’ What mediation does is it gives your brain a boost, a 10 minute mediation can have the same effects as having a 2 hour sleep which means your mind is much more alert, much less tired and is able to be more productive, more creative, and make much better use of your time, therefore you are actually gaining more hours in the day by mediating for 10-20 minutes per day.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
The little spare time I have is spent with family. Friday night is movie night in our house, we get a takeway and sit and watch a good movie together.
Saturday and Sunday is the same, I like to spend time with my wife; go for a meal, go shopping, go to the pictures anything as long as we’re together.
The boys are at an age where it’s not really cool to be with us 🙂 but we still spend time together going to rugby, playing COD or at the moment helping them prepare with their exams at high school.
All the rest of time I am working as an addiction counsellor, writing, producing products and dealing with the business side of my life. I manage to survive on 5 hours of sleep per night and I put that down to mediation and good time management 🙂
Do you think meditation is for you? Are you ready to find some calm in your life? Let us know in comments.
For more from Steven Aitchison, please visit his blog at Change Your Thoughts. You can check out The Re-Awakening BY CLICKING HERE.
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Hi there and thanks for sharing your experience with meditation
My problem is that about 5 min into my meditation I get distracted and give up. Are there any suggestions that you could give me to help with this:
Hi Art,
I would start with shorter periods of time. Try meditating for 5 minutes and then slowly add a minute or two. You could meditate several times a day but for very short periods of time and that might help. As you have more practice, it becomes easier. My mind still wanders from time to time, but as with anything, some days are easier than others.
Guided meditation is helpful because you can listen to someone speaking and focus on their voice and it helps calm the distractions. Take care.
Hi Cathy
I wanted to thank you for this interview. Your questions were great and it was great to sit down and think about how best to answer them.
Art, I would echo what Cathy said. 5 minutes is a great length of time if you are starting out. The key is making it a habit, once you have the habit then think sitting for longer periods. I would say 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at night would be the ideal length of time to aim for, but don’t rush it – make it a habit first (did I say that already 🙂 )
Hi Steve,
Just wanted to thank you for joining us here. Your blog and all the work that you are doing is amazing! I appreciate you sharing your new program with our readers.
Wonderful interview, Cathy. I am enjoying the program very much. Love, Vidya
Hi Vidya,
Great I love it too. Listen to the meditation tapes every morning.
I think I have an amazing blog at soberinthecity.com. I started it because I have so much to say and share about my journey through recovery!! I felt like I was doing so well. I touch on may topics, feelings and realizations. Suddenly I found myself in a relationship with an alcoholic that decided to become active again! My journey into that relationship, pain and more recovery are shared. Recently the blogs have turned into short (under 3 minutes) video blogs posted on Youtube and all links are shared at soberinthecity.com.
Please join me on my journey!
Hi Debbie,
Great – thanks for sharing. I just checked out your site and it is wonderful with so much to offer.
Wonderful interview Cathy and Steve (and I must say it made me smile to read how much you enjoy and spend time with your wife and sons, Steve!). I look forward to trying your program – as you said, slowing down the mind to let one’s heart speak is so very important.
Hi Lisa,
It is wonderful to see what people do behind the scenes. Meditation has helped me be more calm and centered. It also makes me feel happier. I would recommend that everyone give it a try. Take care!
Hi Cathy,
What a wonderful interview with Steven. I really got a chuckle when I read some of the earlier things he was blogging about. I think a good bit of us started on that road.
I also enjoy hearing that at first he questioned whether he was meditating correctly, sitting in the right spot, etc. because I think that’s why it took me so long to finally “get it”. I will admit though. People say mediating will help you quite your mind more and come closer to the Universe. I’m already there so I haven’t seen that meditation has really done that for me.
I probably haven’t meditated a handful of times this year where I was doing it pretty regularly the past few years. But I’m a very happy person all around and I don’t watch the news or listen to bad reports. I also start my day every day being grateful for what I have and what has yet to come so I’m already where most people are headed when it comes to meditation.
Now I’m no expert on this subject either but that’s just been my experience. Would love to hear Steven’s take on this if he happens to come back by.
Thanks for the interview though, really enjoyable.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne
It’s great that you brought this up.
What you are doing by being grateful every day is a form of meditation. I think a lot of us think we have to sit down and be still to meditate, we don’t really. Meditation is all about being there in the moment and letting everything else slip away from our minds for a few minutes at a time. By being grateful you are being totally present, totally in the here and now thanking the world for what you have in your life, that’s an amazing way to meditate.
What our program does is get you started and hopefully get you into the habit of meditating and being present. Once you have that instilled in your mind, you can meditate whilst walking in the woods, whilst being grateful, whilst washing the dishes, whilst going to the toilet 🙂 It seems you have built up enough of the internal state of being present to pretty much do it at will, and that’s the stage we’d love others to reach too.
Sometimes you will find you need to get back to it, just to give yourself a boost. Meditation gives you an energy. As you begin to quiet the mind, the life energy we all have within us, can be channelled the way we want it. Sometimes, we get away from the practice as we pretty much know how to channel that life energy, but it can slip away from time to time and coming back to mediation is a good way to get a boost of energy to re-channel our life energy.
I hope that helps a little Adrienne, and thanks for a great question.
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Great interview Cathy! I have the meditation series and love it.
Hi Betsy,
I’m glad you found it helpful, and I love it as well. It is so helpful to get me in that place of calm.
Hi Cathy. I’m a big fan of Steve’s blog and admire the endless source of positive energy for helping others. He lives as true expression of his authentic self. Most folks don’t happen upon their life purpose without some form of meditation. I’ve found that meditation put me in touch with simplicity and clarity. Simplicity and clarity leads to deeper understanding, and deeper understanding leads to pure knowing. Pure knowing is a profound state of being that leads to unshakeable beliefs. This can only occur at the subconscious level of the mind. Finding a way to quiet the mind is essential to finding our true life purpose, which is why a guided meditation is such a powerful tool.
Hi Rob,
You expressed it so well! Thank you. I agree that we need to find a way to access those inner thoughts and feelings. The only way is to take some time to quiet all the external noise and the mind chatter. Meditation does that for so many and I do believe it has a profound effect on the lives of those that develop a mediation practice. I as well have found insights during my meditation practice that I would have missed otherwise.
Hi Cathy and Steven,
I do my meditation at night before going to sleep, that end with a grateful prayer. I always get a great nights sleep this way. I do have to watch myself though, if really tired I may fall asleep and then wake up realizing that I fell asleep during it. Guess that isn’t a bad thing if you get that good nights sleep.
Thanks for the interview, Cathy, and Steven. Have a great day the two of you and blessings to you.
Debbie
Hi Debbie,
Meditating at night is a great routine. That is wonderful that it helps you sleep. Possibly sitting in a chair might help with falling asleep during meditation, if you haven’t tried that already. Glad you found meditation to be useful in your life.
I love this gift that Angela and Steve have given the world. It’s life changing for sure!
Hi Tess,
Yes, it is a great gift and one that many will find useful I believe. For those just starting or thinking about meditation, this program is a great way to get started with some guidance. Take care.
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Wonderful interview Cathy & glad you got Steven over too!
I have been a regular visitor of Stevens wonderful and inspirational blog and love the posts he puts up 🙂 And I have read about the Re-awakening program at Vidya’s blog earlier this week and found it to be nice too.
Speaking of which, I practice Transcendental Mediation and have been doing so for a few years now. Actually my dad started it years ago and I have seen how his health has improved because of it, so I started it after I learned more about it from a teacher. I find TM to be beneficial and working well for me, giving me the same benefits of a great health, calm and peace within myself, and it sharpens your senses and you are more relaxed after meditating.
I do want to ask that how is this program different from TM or any other kind of meditation for that matter, especially for those who are already practicing it for sometime now.
Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Welcome to Treatment Talk. The Re-Awakening offers guided meditation. It works well for any level to get you into that place where you can really relax. For more advanced meditators like yourself, you might want to listen to the guided mediation and then go on an meditate in silence for a period of time. I’ve done that myself, and found it to be quite helpful.
I’m glad that you enjoy meditation. How wonderful that your dad was a role model for the health benefits. It is new for many of us, as my parents did not meditate, but I do feel that it brings me to a place of calm that I really enjoy. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Steve and Cathy,
What an excellent interview. Thank you to you both! 🙂
Steve, I always love hearing more about you. Your blog is truly inspirational!
I’m a regular meditator in the Vipassana style of meditation. I can so relate to the point you made Steve, about feeling out of balance when you’ve stopped meditating for a while. I too have found this to be the case.
In way it’s good because if one has got into a regular meditation practice, and suddenly stops for a short period of time, life changes back to the old hectic ways. This is a great indication to start meditating again.
I wish you the very best with your new meditation program. 🙂
Hi Hiten,
I agree with your point. I feel it as well when I let meditation go for awhile. I realize I’m edgy and then know that I need to practice again on a regular basis. Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Cathy!
Thank you for interviewing Steven! I’m actually tabbing his website right now. I took a class at UC Berkeley, which was designed towards the art of meditation. It was a psychology class, and I cannot thank the professor enough. Meditation is crucial; however,the whole patience part is killing me. I’m on Steven’s site loooking for some free content, right now. I do get paid on Friday – so we’ll see where it leads me (:
Thank you Cathy!!!
Hi Jonathan,
So glad you discovered meditation. It is a wonderful tool that has helped me through my life these past few years, and I hope it can help you as well. Definitely check out Steve’s site. He has a wealth of information there. Best of luck to you with your meditation practice. Thanks for stopping by!
#7 – 100% agree. I often say I don’t have time for 10 minutes a day and that’s ridiculous. If I don’t, then there’s something in my life I need to fix. Thanks for the reminder.
Hi Missy,
We do all get so busy and focused on the task at hand that we don’t think we have time to meditate. I’ve been there and know exactly how you feel. I, as well, am trying to make it a priority in my life. I do notice when I don’t meditate for awhile. I begin to feel a bit on edge. It do think it really helps to just bring back that feeling of calmness. Take care.
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