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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness.
Today.,We're going to talk about
how to use love and compassion
to soothe anxiety and stress and
bring ease and calm to our minds.
So a lot of the time when emotions
like anxiety or stress arise,
we respond by trying to push
them away or fight with them.
That tends to intensify the difficult
feelings, rev our nervous system up and
pull us into reactivity and struggle.
But what would happen instead of fearing
the anxiety, fighting with the anxiety,
if we met it with kindness and compassion?
Although it might sound a little bit
counter-intuitive to bring love to your
anxiety, it's actually a really powerful
way to regulate your emotions, soothe
your nervous system and find in a calm.
So according to Professor Paul
Gilbert, we have three types of
emotional regulation systems.
So we've got the threat system, the
drive system and the soothing system.
The threat system focuses
on self protection.
So that's our fight or flight response.
The drive system is reward focused.
It's involved in wanting,
striving, achieving, and consuming.
And the soothing system focuses
on bonding and connection.
It involves kindness, caring, and play.
In the soothing system, we feel more safe.
We feel more relaxed.
We feel content and we feel connected.
Now when we're experiencing a lot of
stress and anxiety, we often get stuck
with our threat system, turned on.
Basically we get stuck in a fear response.
And if we're responding to that fear,
that anxiety, that stress by fighting it
or denying it, the emotions, as I said,
become more intense, they get prolonged.
But if we can bring compassion and
kindness to what we're feeling,
we switch on that soothing system.
And we start to surround our anxiety
in soothing softness and kindness.
When we switch on this soothing
system, our brain releases oxytocin.
We get this squirt of soothing and
feel good hormones into our bodies.
And oxytocin is often called the cuddle
hormone because it makes us feel a sense
of love, of relaxation, of wellbeing.
So by practicing self compassion
and kindness in these moments, what
happens really is we stop ourselves
from getting caught in a vicious cycle.
We stop throwing fuel on the fire
of difficult emotions so they can
just pass through us more easily.
We also soothe our nervous system
and bring kindness and presence to
ourselves when we need it the most.
So in today's meditation, we'll
practice this skill a little bit more.
Bringing loving kindness to our feelings,
to ourselves and to whatever arises.
So I invite you to settle in for that now.
And of course, as always,
thank you for your practice
and your presence here with us.
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Vidyamala’s tips on catching anger as it’s happening or about to happen are great - clear, practical, and doable.
- Vicoir
The little talks before the meditations are priceless. It's like I've found my peeps. The topics, the quotes, the goals—it all makes so much sense to me, things I want to be thinking and learning about. Most importantly, the meditations are kindness-centered, which I love. It feels like a new way to approach meditation.
- Lauren
Incredible, easy to navigate app. I would highly recommend this app to anyone who wishes to reduce stress and anxiety or simply as an aid to improve overall mental health.
- Kirtus
I love how the app gives me pointers to new things to explore.
- Lydia
So calm and soothing. I love the new bundle with Kelly Boys, she’s brilliant!
- EJ
Better than Headspace. I've had the paid version of both apps, and I must say I enjoy this one better.
- Gina, Plus+ Member
Vidyamala’s tips on catching anger as it’s happening or about to happen are great - clear, practical, and doable.
- Vicoir
The little talks before the meditations are priceless. It's like I've found my peeps. The topics, the quotes, the goals—it all makes so much sense to me, things I want to be thinking and learning about. Most importantly, the meditations are kindness-centered, which I love. It feels like a new way to approach meditation.
- Lauren
Incredible, easy to navigate app. I would highly recommend this app to anyone who wishes to reduce stress and anxiety or simply as an aid to improve overall mental health.
- Kirtus
I love how the app gives me pointers to new things to explore.
- Lydia
So calm and soothing. I love the new bundle with Kelly Boys, she’s brilliant!
- EJ
Better than Headspace. I've had the paid version of both apps, and I must say I enjoy this one better.
- Gina, Plus+ Member
Vidyamala’s tips on catching anger as it’s happening or about to happen are great - clear, practical, and doable.
- Vicoir
The little talks before the meditations are priceless. It's like I've found my peeps. The topics, the quotes, the goals—it all makes so much sense to me, things I want to be thinking and learning about. Most importantly, the meditations are kindness-centered, which I love. It feels like a new way to approach meditation.
- Lauren
Incredible, easy to navigate app. I would highly recommend this app to anyone who wishes to reduce stress and anxiety or simply as an aid to improve overall mental health.
- Kirtus
I love how the app gives me pointers to new things to explore.
- Lydia
So calm and soothing. I love the new bundle with Kelly Boys, she’s brilliant!
- EJ
Better than Headspace. I've had the paid version of both apps, and I must say I enjoy this one better.
- Gina, Plus+ Member
I am very new to meditation, and am so happy that my first introduction to it has been through this app
The first session was fantastic. I feel safe. And supported. Almost like having someone helping me through my difficult time. I’m very grateful for this app.
- Babi
You get a lot of useful tips for handling stress and anxiety in 'real life'.
- Joy
Highly recommend.
- Humanfrst
Kelly Boys is hands down the best. Everytime I click on one of her guided meditations I get excited for the calmness that lies ahead.
-
I am very new to meditation, and am so happy that my first introduction to it has been through this app
The first session was fantastic. I feel safe. And supported. Almost like having someone helping me through my difficult time. I’m very grateful for this app.
- Babi
You get a lot of useful tips for handling stress and anxiety in 'real life'.
- Joy
Highly recommend.
- Humanfrst
Kelly Boys is hands down the best. Everytime I click on one of her guided meditations I get excited for the calmness that lies ahead.
-
I am very new to meditation, and am so happy that my first introduction to it has been through this app
The first session was fantastic. I feel safe. And supported. Almost like having someone helping me through my difficult time. I’m very grateful for this app.
- Babi
You get a lot of useful tips for handling stress and anxiety in 'real life'.
- Joy
Highly recommend.
- Humanfrst
Kelly Boys is hands down the best. Everytime I click on one of her guided meditations I get excited for the calmness that lies ahead.
-
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