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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners

10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation

What is Meditation?

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The Brain's "Hope Circuit"

Cory Muscara

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00:00

Meditation

4.5

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The Brain's "Hope Circuit"

In this meditation, we do a reflection that will help us develop more hopefulness, and ultimately reduce anxiety and depression.

Let's start by settling

into a comfortable posture.

This could be sitting,

standing or lying down.

As always, if it feels okay for

you, you can close your eyes.

And we'll start by taking one deep breath.

In through the nose.

And slowly out through the mouth.

Inviting the jaw to relax.

Letting the shoulders be at ease.

As well as the hands and the belly.

And as the body settles in,

you can let your breath settle

into its natural rhythm.

In today's meditation, we're going

to practice seeing how we may not

be able to influence what arises in

our experience, but we can influence

how we relate to that experience.

And that change in relationship

changes everything.

So start by noticing what the attitude

of your awareness is right now, which

might be a weird thing to contemplate,

the attitude of your awareness.

So you may note that you are aware

of the breath of my voice, something

going on around you, but what is the

attitude infused into that awareness?

Is it a grumpy attitude?

Is it a grateful attitude?

Is it one that is bored or skeptical?

So not ice how there can be an awareness,

but often there is an additional layer of

experience infused into that awareness.

Now once you're in touch with that

attitude, practice trying a different one.

So if there's an attitude of boredom,

practice trying an attitude of

curiosity, If there's an attitude of

skepticism, practice, one of openness.

And this is purely for you to see how

you can choose how you'll show up.

And so pick an attitude.

And over the next couple of minutes,

practice viewing the breath or any aspect

of your experience with that attitude.

Try it out.

And as always, please

have some fun with this.

It's a playground and we're learning

how to use our mind in a different way.

Talk to you in a few moments.

So as we come to the end of

our meditation, let's take

one more deep breath together.

In through the nose.

And slowly ou through the mouth.

Starting to reorient

yourself back into the space.

And eventually letting the eyes open.

Good job today.

Remember, we can't always influence

what arises in our experience.

That's just called life.

And it happens, most of the time,

the way it's going to happen.

But what we can influence is how

we relate to those experiences.

And shifting our relationship to

an experience gives us a sense

of having more influence over our

life, which subsequently leads

to a deeper capacity for hope.

So try this out today.

Thank you for your practice.

Until next time, take care.

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