Meditation…ooohhhhhmmmm. Who has time? I don’t! My mind wanders. My to do list, the “should” of next week’s schedule, and the carbs I ate the day before get loud in my head. I’m not sure I can sit still long enough to gain the benefits of meditation.
Recently I was struck by my colleague Instagram post where she reported meditating for 352 days in a row. Holy cow. How did she do it and did it really make a difference? The short answer is yes. Coming out a difficult year of losing family members to Covid, having a baby and surviving a pandemic, she shared that meditation helped to ground her, reduce stress and anxiety and increased a sense of peace during stressful times.
Now I was curious.
Who couldn’t use some of that?! I was introduced to an app that provides a wide range of guided meditations for newbies like myself on a range of topics – sleep, anxiety, communication, healing and much more. That was all I needed to get started and so began my own journey with meditation.
Getting enough sleep is a challenge for me. I’m a light sleeper easily disrupted by hungry cats, a snoring husband and things that go bump in the night. That seemed like a good place to start. Instead of scrolling through my phone when I can’t sleep, guided meditations have offered just the right voice to help me relax, reduce the chatter in my head and get me in the right space to fall asleep.
Practice Daily
While the benefits of meditation have been known for thousands of years and is a core element in some religious practices, scientific studies have shown that meditation can help to reduce stress, manage anxiety, support emotional health and change the pathways of the brain!
Meditating has now become a daily practice and a respite when I need inner peace or grounding. It’s also an excellent way to set daily intentions, help me to energize or make the transition to bedtime. With the help of an app, meditating can be as short or long as I am in the mood for. And no, I don’t stand on my heading chanting ohm but I do feel better, more present and more energized as a result. Why not give it a try? There’s something a little magical to it!
