Why meditate?
A quiet mind is getting a good rap these days, with everyone talking about the benefits from Oprah and Katy Perry to Clint Eastwood. It seems our very powerful brain is much more cooperative and responsive when we give it some time out. In fact, training the mind for just 5 minutes a day according to meditation specialists, Headspace with a mindfulness app can have profound benefits for your sense of relaxation and control. Mindfulness and meditation practices help to positively rewire the brains of people that have been effected by trauma. Very powerful medicine indeed.
Being busy means we often put things that are good for us to the side, however, I must say a short meditation is worth its time many times over in the benefits we gain, not just for ourselves but also for those around us, our relationships and our work. Author of Happiness from the Inside Out: The Art and Science of Fulfillment, Rob Mack suggests that simply taking time for a single breath to be completely in the moment is a mini-meditation we can benefit from. Taking a breath? Once a day? I challenge you, you can find time for that in your schedule!
If you prefer the ease of guided meditation, and they are fabulous training for minds new to meditation, these are some of the best meditation apps around:
Try these meditation apps
- Headspace has a free 10-day intro course, which is only 3-5 minutes a day, it is a nice easy intro to mindfulness meditation, with some cute animations. https://www.headspace.com. If you get really into it, you can subscribe and access hundreds of different guided meditations from their library.
- Smiling Mind is a free Australian version to go on with after the Headspace course if you choose not to subscribe https://smilingmind.com.au. Aim for doing one quick meditation each day, perhaps before bed is a good time for you? Or maybe take a 5-minute break at work to do one at your desk?
- Calm has beautiful guided meditations for relaxation and sleep. The word from my colleagues in the industry is that Calm does like to mix up their narrators and have just added a sleep story narrated by Matthew McConaughey. Perhaps that's just the motivation you needed to pick try meditation? If not there is sure to be another voice that soothes you here: https://www.calm.com/
Relaxation prescription
We regularly hear about the negative effects of stress – from triggering skin conditions to heart issues, it is enough to give you a panic attack. In reality, modern life is busy and we have plenty of distractions to keep our minds constantly working, most of the time without us even registering that our thoughts haven't stopped to take a breath, so to speak, all day. So, when you feel your mind whirring away, take note, take a pause, breathe, be in the moment, even just for that moment and you might just get some valuable insight on what it's like to relax and nurture your mind.
