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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 I'm going to share a breathing
technique that will help you soothe stress
and anxiety and calm your nervous system.
So why would we need to calm
our nervous system at all?
Well, for many of us, daily life
is very demanding, busy ,stressful.
And so what tends to happen is we get
stuck with our nervous system kind
of caught in fight or flight mode.
And fight or flight mode is the same
system that turns on in an animal if
it's running from a predator in the wild.
It's a stress response.
So the heart is beating faster, breathing
speeds up and become shallow, blood
pumps out to our extremities so that
we can get ready to run or fight.
Vision narrows and stress hormones
get released into the body
like adrenaline and cortisol.
In this mode, we're also very
reactive and the mind tends to
really race, but we can't think
all that clearly and objectively.
So when we get stuck in this mode
of being, it really takes its toll.
So we might get to the end of the day
feeling pretty edgy and bleary-eyed
we've probably all been there, right?
And we may have ways of taking
the edge off at the end of the
day, maybe a glass of wine, or
we zone out in front of the TV.
But although these strategies might
be relieving in the moment, they don't
actually help us reset our nervous
system so that we can effectively
let go of stress and recover.
But the impact of this ongoing
stress over time can be quite
detrimental to our long-term health.
When we don't reset our nervous
system remaining in fight or flight,
it disturbs our sleep and our
ability to think clearly and relax.
And it's actually just really
unpleasant to live in that kind of
wired, but tired state all the time.
So to effectively ease our stress
response, we need to activate the
body's natural relaxation response.
And breathing deeply with a slow,
steady, even inhale to exhale ratio,
stimulates our nervous system to switch
gears into the relaxation response.
It calms the body down and that in turn
tends to calm the mind down too, and
then the stress response switches off.
So in this way, deep, slow, even
breathing helps us ease, anxiety,
fear, and stress, and helps us relax.
As our heartbeat decreases, our
breathing slows, our racing mind
starts to settle and a lot of
that inner turmoil just relaxes.
So in today's meditation, I'm going
to guide you through a really simple
breathing practice called the 'force
that breath.' And then once you
learn it after today's meditation,
you can use it any time you want to
soothe your body's stress response.
So this is wonderful to use at the end
of the day when you want to unwind or
any time you're feeling stressed or
anxious, or you just want to settle
yourself in before a good night's sleep.
So I invite you to begin to settle
in now for today's practice.
And 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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