Rebecca Rosen says her work as a medium has helped her learn ways to better manage the stress of everyday life.

A long strand of beads wraps its way around Rebecca Rosens delicate wrist, which she touches throughout a conversation.

The beads, mostly black with some white, are called malas and in Buddhism, the 108 stones are used during meditation, with the practitioner repeating a specific mantra quietly with each bead.

Rosen knows something about meditation and mantras, though it goes far deeper than the average yoga class. Rosen is a medium. She believes she can communicate with those whove died.

Rosen got her start as a medium doing readings at a coffee shop in West Bloomfield before opening an office in Royal Oak, which she had for three years before moving to Los Angeles.

But beyond her medium work, shes also a busy mom of six yes, six struggling like the rest of us to balance work, children, to-do lists, co-parenting and everything in between. She just happens to have some spiritual guides helping her along her journey.

Rosen, who now lives in Denver but recently visited Metro Detroit to promote her new book, What the Dead Have Taught Me About Living (Rodale, $24.99), that came out Feb. 14, says whether you believe in spiritual guides or not, she says her work as a medium has helped her learn ways to better manage the stress of everyday life.

I always say Im not immune to lifes challenges, says Rosen. Im human, too. It was the guidance and direction I got from the other side that got me through some challenging times.

And one of her best coping mechanisms? Meditation. Rosen says meditation can be as quick and easy as taking several deep breaths at a stoplight, or getting out in nature and taking a walk.

Make time to be quiet, says Rosen, who also had a TV show on Lifetime called The Last Goodbye. Its becoming aware of your breath. When you start breathing, you get present, and when you get present, you start to calm down from the mind chatter. I call it the party in the head.

Rosen says she used to be an avid list-maker and shed feel tremendous guilt if she didnt complete them. After her first son Jakob was born, she remembers crying and later meditating on it. It was then that she got guidance to let go.

I dont put as much judgment on myself anymore, says Rosen. It took the pressure off.

But does she still get caught up at time on lifes gerbil wheel? Yes. When that happens, she touches her beads as a reminder to come back to the present.

Id never met a medium before, let alone had a reading from one. I was skeptical.

But listening to her she immediately asked about my father who died five years ago and other dear loved ones she knew things about my father, my children, even the unhooked car seat in my husbands car that you couldnt Google or find on Facebook.

Still, Rosen acknowledges there will be skeptics. And shes OK with that. During a group reading she did last week at the Jewish Community Center connecting loved ones with others by name, dates, even spouses I saw her work speak for itself.

She connected with a local mother whose 4-year-old girl had died in October. She knew the date her daughter had died, plans for a tattoo on her back and much more.

I cant know this stuff, Rosen says.

She says as skeptical as some may be, she suggests those people open themselves to guidance.

We are not alone, Rosen says. And if we choose to open up and suspend our disbelief long enough to invite spirit in, life becomes a whole lot more magical and interesting and flowy. I call it flow-tastic. Just put it to the test even if you dont believe. Just try it.

mfeighan@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @mfeighan

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Need to quiet 'the party in your head'? Try meditation - The Detroit News