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Archive for the ‘Meditation’ Category

Meditation for Procrastination – Forbes

Posted: May 19, 2017 at 7:44 am


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Forbes
Meditation for Procrastination
Forbes
Although I teach and study mindfulness .. we all have our moments. I just gave the biggest speech of my life, for TEDx Athens, and .. I procrastinated on writing it. I procrastinated so much I finished a 33-page book proposal instead of writing the ...

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Meditation for Procrastination - Forbes

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May 19th, 2017 at 7:44 am

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No, you don’t have to sit in lotus pose to meditate – 9Honey

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Pretend were playing charades and youre told to mime meditation. What pose do you go into?

Youve almost certainly put your hands out, palms facing up, with your first and second fingers touched to your thumb, into an approximation of whats called lotus pose.

The pose has become linked to meditation in popular culture: search a stock image database for meditation and almost all the results show lotus pose; and last year when I learned to meditate, people all had the same assumption of how I sat while I did it. Like this? theyd ask, pulling a quick lotus.

According to my meditation instructor Rory Kinsella, lotus pose or padmasana, from the Sanskrit is the traditional meditation pose used for centuries in India and other parts of Asia.

But in the modern-day West, where meditation is becoming increasingly popular, most of us are used to sitting in chairs. Sitting cross-legged on the floor is at best unfamiliar, and at worst uncomfortable.

Fortunately, theres no law demanding beginner meditators sit in lotus pose. The primary purpose of meditation is stress relief and that can be achieved by positioning yourself however you like (with a few caveats).

Most modern, westernised schools of meditation say a chair is fine and that finding a position where you are comfortable yet alert is what is most important, Kinsella says.

Well, for starters, you should avoid meditating lying down, because youll probably go to sleep. (You might still nod off if youre sitting upright, but youre more likely to snap out of it.)

According to Kinsella, popular Buddhist and mindfulness practices suggest meditating while sitting in a chair, or on cushion on the floor if you prefer, in a comfortable yet alert position.

The idea is to create a balance of relaxation and focus, he says.

He advises sitting in the middle of the chair with your legs uncrossed and your feet flat on the floor. Your hands can rest in your lap or on your thighs. Your back should be straight to allow ease of breathing and blood flow and you can rest your back for support if you need. (This video from Andy Puddicome, founder of the meditation app Headspace, explains more.)

Other popular schools of meditation including Vedic and transcendental prioritise comfort and relaxation and meditators are encouraged to sit comfortably in a chair, with their back supported but head and neck free, Kinsella says.

The only hard rule is no slouching, but only because it doesnt suggest youve got your head in the meditation game.

Your posture should reflect your intention for the practice whether it be cultivating focus or relaxing and de-stressing, Kinsella explains.

Kinsella speculates the lotus pose is linked to meditation because its so recognisable the equivalent of a film establishing youre in Paris with a shot of the Eiffel Tower. Its also a more evocative way to illustrate meditation than the more practical day-to-day poses.

A picture of someone sitting unremarkably in a chair with their eyes closed doesnt tell as good a story as the lotus, Kinsella says.

But just because the pose isnt necessary for beginner meditators doesnt mean it serves no purpose or that its wrong it might prove useful for some advanced or traditional meditators, particularly those embarking on lengthy meditation sessions.

The lotus is said to allow the body to be keep still in the same spot for long periods, say Kinsella. It applies pressure to the lower spine and blood is directed from the legs to the abdominal region to aid digestion.

Rory Kinsella teaches Vedic meditation and hosts a 45-minute introduction to meditation talk every second Monday at 6.30pm in Bondi Junction, Sydney, for $12.

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No, you don't have to sit in lotus pose to meditate - 9Honey

Written by grays

May 19th, 2017 at 7:44 am

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Best meditation apps to help you de-stress, focus and fight insomnia – Today.com

Posted: May 17, 2017 at 9:42 pm


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With hundreds of meditation apps available, the search alone is enough to induce the need to meditate!

Are you antsy or already pretty Zen? Do you like music or do you prefer listening to someones voice? Do you need to visualize or do you prefer body scans? Whatever your style may be, weve (calmly) sifted through the best meditation apps to bring you more peace, quiet and restoration. All of the following apps are free to start, but you can opt for a monthly or annual fee to upgrade.

1. Headspace, $13 monthly or $95 annually, $420 lifetime, iTunes

Are you a visual learner? If you want to learn how to meditate, this app provides not only verbal meditation but also diagrams and videos explaining the purpose of each meditation and how it works. This app is complimentary for 10 days (and you can repeat them over and over). You can also purchase monthly subscriptions for more access to the database. The goal of these meditations (as the app explains) is to create more space in your head, hence the name, Headspace.

2. Guided Mind, $1 to $5 single meditations, iTunes

Interested in focusing on a problem youre facing or using your meditation to think about a particular topic?

Meditation topics range from anger management to sleep and everything in between within the Guided Mind app. Feeling down on yourself? Try the self-esteem meditations. Suffering from an injury? Try the pain meditations. This app has free and single purchase meditations available in dozens of categories to fit any mood.

3. Calm, $13 monthly, $60 annually, $300 lifetime, iTunes

If youre used to a lot of people talking at once (think: busy household or loud work environment), then you may need to change up what you hear in order to help you meditate. For example, instead of listening to a guided meditation with someones voice, how about trying a meditation thats solely focused on controlled sounds, such as the constant pitter-patter of rain or the sound of a fire in the fireplace?

The Calm app also has an option to be read a nighttime story to help with sleep and to be guided by an expert. Seven Days of Calm and a sample of calming meditation are available for free with options to upgrade by purchasing a more advanced version of the app.

4. Omvana, $10 monthly, $100 annually, $500 lifetime, iTunes

If youre looking to customize your meditation through a mix of music and guided experts, check out Omvana. You can use the background music mixer to customize whichever meditation you choose. Options range from three minutes to 60 minutes, and the app boasts the largest collection of meditations.

If you find an app you like and feel that its working, stick with it. But if youve tried one and decided that meditation just isnt for you, remember that youre not alone. Meditating can be difficult, but the more you do it the easier it becomes. All meditations are not created equally, and we all respond differently to different forms of peace and quiet. So try your hand (and mind) at a new meditation app if you feel yourself discouraged by your initial pick. New ones are popping up every day!

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Stephanie Mansour is a weight loss and lifestyle coach for women. Join her free weight loss challenge here!

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Best meditation apps to help you de-stress, focus and fight insomnia - Today.com

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May 17th, 2017 at 9:42 pm

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Find your inner zen with these meditation apps for Android and iOS – SlashGear

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An increasing number of professionals are extolling the value of meditation; it is relaxing, helps lower blood pressure, and more. Getting started, though, can seem daunting and thats where guided instruction comes in. If youre not keen to visit an actual meditation center and get in-person instruction, your preferred app store has the second-best option: high-quality meditation apps with guided meditations.

Headspace is one of the most notable meditation apps at the moment, and it is available on iTunes, Google Play, and the Kindle App Store. The app offers a large collection of meditation audio hundreds of hours, to be precise though you have to subscribe to get full access to it all. Content is split into categories such as lifestyle and mood.

The app has several useful features, including keeping track of how many meditation sessions a user has performed. Meditation audio can be downloaded for use when offline, as well. The apps subscription is priced at $12.95/month if paid on a monthly basis; the price goes down from there to $6.24/month for two years or $7.99/month for one year. The service also offers a lifetime unlimited subscription for $419.95 USD.

Calm is yet another popular meditation app, though it is quite different from Headspace. This app contains many looping audio tracks that can be set to play for specific durations; they can also be downloaded for use offline. Calm also contains some guided meditations for those who prefer them or are just getting started.

In addition to guided meditations, Calm provide Sleep Stories that include audio and a calming voice to talk a person to sleep. The app is available for both iOS and Android via their respective app stores, and includes a monthly subscription at $12.99/month (or $4.99/month for a year or $299.99 for a lifetime) to get access to hundreds of sleep stories and meditations.

Yet another cross-platform meditation app is Buddhify, an offering with a unique design and meditations tailored to different activities: walking, taking a break, going to sleep, and more. The app ultimately offers more than 11 hours of customized meditations that are suitable for fifteen different aspects of a day. This amounts to a total of more than 80 guided meditations with lengths ranging from 5 minutes to 30 minutes.

The app includes some other notable features, including the ability to keep track of your meditation stats to get a bigger picture of your habits. Theres also a check-in system, a timer for solo meditation, and support for HealthKit on iOS. Unlike the other two apps, Buddhify comes with a price tag, which is higher for iPhone users.

Simple Habit is an app growing in popularity, one that is free to download for iOS and Android but that requires a premium subscription to unlock all of the benefits. This subscription costs $11.99/month if paid on a monthly basis or $8.33/month if a full year is paid for outright. As with competing apps, theres also a $299 option for a lifetime subscription.

This meditation app features more than 1,000 sessions from various teachers, as well as meditations that were designed by Harvard psychologists. In addition to the mobile apps, Simple Habit is also accessible on the web via desktop; new meditation content is added on a weekly basis.

Many meditation apps are available for both of the major mobile platforms, some that come with an outright cost and others that are free to get started. While some apps are available that are totally free, such as Mind Therapy, the four above offer the best combination of stability, content variety, and extra features like session tracking.

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Find your inner zen with these meditation apps for Android and iOS - SlashGear

Written by simmons

May 17th, 2017 at 9:42 pm

Posted in Meditation

Settling into Online Meditation with Guideful – Patheos (blog)

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Mindfulness: Where We Are

There is no escaping it. Mindfulness is everywhere these days. And while it hasnt hit the cultural saturation of meditation and yoga just yet, it is steadily on the rise (as shown in this Google NGRAM viewer, which goes through 2008):

Mindfulness, while still lacking a single widely accepted definition, is a quality or skill being sought out more and more in todays fast-paced and heavily distracted world.The founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Jon Kabat-Zinn, defines mindfulness as: Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally. Others who teach mindfulness emphasize the importance of peripheral awareness in the practice; noting that its not just that wereattendingto our breath or another object, but that we also have a growing sense of awareness of the world around us, both inner and outer, as we do so. Many Buddhists insist that mindfulness must be understoodwithin the complex system of thought and practice laid out by the Buddha 2500 years ago.

Having practiced meditation since 2000 in a wide span of Buddhist and non-Buddhist traditions, I was first introduced to modern mindfulness by the excellent article, Beyond McMindfulness by Donald Purser and David Loy. That article went viral, leading to a number of responses, both for and against the growing interest in the new mindfulness movement. I summarized those in one of the most popular and commented upon posts on the blog, Mindfulness: Critics and Defenders.

At the time, I was deep in my Ph.D. work on Buddhist ethics and the ethical angle stuck with me. Part of one very common Buddhist formula suggests that mindfulness (sati) is just one part of meditation (samadhi)which must be practiced with a foundation in ethics (sila). The worry, articulated by Purser and Loy, as well as others such as meditation teacher Christopher Titmuss and scholar John Dunne, was that without a foundation in ethics, mindfulness could be used for harmful ends; e.g. the mindful sniper, tax evader, or thief.

Others have argued that ethics cannot be taught because their are simply too many ethical teachings to choose one from the Buddhist tradition. Or that teaching ethics might upset students who dislike the term due to cultural conditioning.

For two years, I sat back as mostly a student or scholar of the debates, sometimes chronically what I did see as gross ethical violations by companies pushing mindfulness (e.g. Google:Mindful of your immorality?). Ive also turned my scholarly work more in the direction of the intersections of meditation and morality, writing a paper comparing Buddhist loving-kindness meditation to Catholic/Ignatianexamen practices (2009/14) and another looking at mindfulness, right-mindfulness and ethicsin early Buddhism (2015).

In 2016, with my Ph.D. approaching completion and some new time on my hands, a couple people suggested I offer some meditation classes. After years of teaching Buddhism, philosophy, and world religions, I knew some training would be needed to transfer those skills, along with the 15 or so years of practice, into a proper (ethical) context for teaching meditation. I took a short course offered by Aura Wellness Center to become a Certified Meditation Teacher, and explored the many other offerings out there, includingthis online 8-week MBSR course, which can be taken for free. These, along with other online resources, gave me the language and pacing for an in-person class, which combined with my years of academic teaching and meditative practice formed my first class on mindfulness in April-May of 2016 at my friend Nickys yoga studio, Hot Yoga Helena. After two successful classes there, one filling beyond capacity, we moved to the Reeders Alley Convention Center, hosted by another friend, Marisa of MerlinCCC, a non-profit dedicated to improving peoples lives through philosophy.

In that class was Bob Funk, a man who had utilized meditation in his work to overcome anxiety and panic attacks (as I had in my early 20s). Bobs passion for helping people with anxiety led to his founding the Awareness Network, a non-profit dedicated to helping teens in particular who struggle with anxiety and related conditions. Part of his work there included evaluating and giving out mindfulness apps, and he saw a flaw in existing apps: they are one-directional, users just download and listen at their leisure, which often leads to poor retention rates (think MOOCs if, like me, youre more familiar with higher ed).

He wanted to develop a platform (both app and web-based) for meditation teachers to offer guided meditations, live teachings, and Q&A Podcasts as well as interactive discussion forums where participants could discuss their progress and difficulties with one another and guides who could help them along. He appreciated that my courses spent a lot of time on in-person sharing and discussion, building relationships and bonds on the road to mindful living.

And thus arose the idea for Guideful. Over the last couple months, Bob and I have been ironing out details in the coming platform. We still have work to do, but so far, it looks a bit like this:

Part of our goal is to provide what some others are already doing, but do it much better and at a lower cost to participants.

But more importantly, to me, it also looks like this:

Guideful guides and teachers, a May 2017 snapshot.

Our community of guides already spans the globe and comes from a wide variety of backgrounds and meditative traditions. We will be building on this, too, as we go, to make sure that everyone who starts out on their meditative journey with us can see themselves in a guide or two, and thus feel empowered and encouraged on the journey ahead. Meditation isnt easy. Any app or teacher who promises you otherwise should be avoided. It takes time and encouragement and interaction. This is something we hope to offer where others cant.

We will be interactive and will grow with the meditation community around us.

Radically, I suppose, we dont have a 10, 5, or even a 1-year plan. Our plan is to grow with you, our supporters, participants, and guides. Community (Sangha in Buddhist terms) is for me the guiding light in this. And, as I have observed before, community is messy. Guidelines and principles will be put forth as we go, and your feedback will be encouraged every step of the way.

For now, I suggest you see our site at http://www.guideful.org and the IndieGoGo campaign to jump-start our work. We arent reaching out to venture capitalists but instead relying on people who will use the platform or those who simply support it for small contributions that will add up to enough to get us off and running. But that means that we need you, any amount, small or large, will mean the world to us and wont be forgotten.

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Settling into Online Meditation with Guideful - Patheos (blog)

Written by simmons

May 17th, 2017 at 9:42 pm

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Mindfulness Meditation May Help Students Combat High Levels of Stress, Depression – NBCNews.com

Posted: May 16, 2017 at 10:44 pm


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The Mindfulness Room at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. Courtesy of Carnegie Mellon University

At the University of Vermont, a popular brain science class begins and ends with mindful meditation.

The class is part of the

"Mindfulness can take many forms meditation, mindful eating, mindful walking, mindful relationships," said Dr. James Hudziak, chief of child psychiatry at the UVM College of Medicine and program founder.

It can help regulate aggression and impulsivity, as well as improve attention and performance on academic tests.

"It's weightlifting for the brain," he told NBC News.

And research backs this up.

A

The randomized study recruited unemployed adults and took them to a three-day retreat. Half the group got skill training and did mindful meditation and the other half had a relaxing group activity.

Researchers took brain scans before and after the retreat.

"We know that unemployment is a massive stressor for folks and we wanted to see if mindful meditation could manage that," said lead author J. David Creswell, who is an associate professor of psychology and the director of the Health and Human Performance Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University.

The researchers did brain scans before and after the experience.

"The folks in both programs loved it," Creswell told NBC News. "But what we found were changes in how the resting brain was wired in the mindfulness group."

In those who meditated, scans showed more connections in the stress regulatory areas of the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that manages emotions and attention.

"It suggests how meditation training might foster resilience," he said.

But are those changes permanent? Scientists don't know, said Creswell, but a four-month study follow-up suggests, "there is some lasting benefit."

"Like any other type of behavior, it has a benefit over time, but won't persist, if we don't do it," he said.

But CMU senior Rob Stephens says that for him, he hopes mindfulness will be a lifelong practice.

"You have this one body and this one life to live," he said. "Especially at a place as rigorous as CMU, we often don't check in with ourselves. I always make sure to take a moment to see how how I am doing with life."

"Less stressful people are more successful because they lead more fulfilling lives."

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Mindfulness Meditation May Help Students Combat High Levels of Stress, Depression - NBCNews.com

Written by simmons

May 16th, 2017 at 10:44 pm

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Even the Depths of God A Brief Meditation – Patheos (blog)

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Photo credit: Shutterstock.

Here are two verses from the New Testament for your consideration.

First:

For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God. I Corinthians 2:10

And:

Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. Romans 5:5

Please join with me in reflecting on these two verses.

First, the Holy Spirit of God is a gift, given to us. This is hardly controversial: Jesus himself breathed on his disciples, giving them the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). But what I love about the verse from Romans is this notion that the Holy Spirit is the means by which the love of God has been poured out into our hearts.

Consider this. Your heart is a chalice into which the love of God has been poured, through the Holy Spirit, Gods gift to us.

Now, hold this thought alongside the verse from I Corinthians. Here we see Paul proclaim that the Spirit scrutinizes (beholds) everything eventhe very depths of God. This is the same Spirit given to us, mind you. The same Spirit through which the love of God has been poured into our hearts.

So, to the extent that we calibrate our hearts or, should I say, that we allow God to calibrate our hearts to live with trust and gratitude in that Spirit so generously given to us, we can joyfully live into these promises:

In other words, when we pray by the aid of the Spirit, who intercedes beyond the depth of words (Romans 8:26), we ourselves areinvited, our hearts filled with Divine Love, to gaze into the very depths of God.

My friends, with this in mind, let us pray.

Stay in touch! Connect with Carl McColman on Facebook:

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Even the Depths of God A Brief Meditation - Patheos (blog)

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May 16th, 2017 at 10:44 pm

Posted in Meditation

Motivational Monday: Meditation – IllinoisHomePage.net

Posted: May 15, 2017 at 8:48 pm


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CHAMPAIGN, IL - CHAMPAIGN--

Jolie Carston, Clinical Director with the Elliott Counseling Group joinds is for Motivational Monday.

What is meditation:

* Intentional focus to increase feelings of peace and decrease feelings of stress.

* Exercise for the brain to reduce atrophy and improve neurological functioning.

* Attention - intentionally focusing on something for even one minute is meditation.

* Concentration - intentionally focusing on a word, a phrase, an object, a sound, or an image.

* Awareness - intentionally focusing on the present moment as it comes without judgment.

What meditation is not:

* Not a relaxation technique: meditation can lead to relaxation, but it is not the goal.

* Not emptying the mind: meditation is developing awareness of thoughts.

* Not a goal to achieve: meditation is focusing on the present rather than the past or future.

Benefits of meditation:

* Reduce feelings of stress and increase feelings of mental preparedness.

* Decrease negative health issues:

o Hypertension

o Anxiety

o Depression

o Irritable bowel syndrome

o Chronic pain

o Addiction

o Insomnia

* Positive effects on brain:

o Increased gray-matter density in various areas of brain associated with learning, attention, concentration, memory, empathy, and self-reflection.

o Reduce or even reverse effects of aging on brain, such as mind-wandering and decreased senses.

o Decreased amygdala area less anxiety, fear, and stress

Simple ways to practice meditation:

* Eating: try to sit alone and focus on enjoying your food with all of your senses and gratitude.

* Breath awareness: focus on breathing fully and deeply, from your belly rather than your chest.

* Body scan: focus on each part of your body, from your head to your feet, noticing any tension.

* Rainbow Walk: focus on things around you that match each color of the rainbow.

* Perspective: focus on at least one positive quality within each person you encounter for a day.

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Motivational Monday: Meditation - IllinoisHomePage.net

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May 15th, 2017 at 8:48 pm

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The Effects Of Meditation On The Brain – Forbes

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Forbes
The Effects Of Meditation On The Brain
Forbes
What happens in the brain during meditation? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Headspace, The meditation and mindfulness app, on ...

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The Effects Of Meditation On The Brain - Forbes

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May 15th, 2017 at 8:48 pm

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9 Women on How Meditation Changed Their Lives – SheKnows.com

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Who doesn't have that one friend who's always gushing about meditation? She finds time for it, doesnt have a problem sitting still and claims it's changed her life. Admit it: You kind of want to know her secret.

Since May is National Meditation Month, we thought it was the right moment to ask women about the real ways it's impacted them. All of the studies already laud meditation for things like lowering risk of heart disease and cancer,improving calm and focus and overcoming fears and anxiety. But aside from avoiding a super-scary diagnosis and feeling better overall, which are obviously great benefits, what does that actually mean in day-to-day life?

For me, it began in the last few moments of yoga class during Savasana. At first, it was hard to lay there and hear the silence around me, but I soon embraced the downtime. Before long, I found myself taking Savasana breaks at home for a few minutes at a time. Ultimately, I think meditation is most helpful at helping us focus on our actions so they align with what we really want. For instance, I may not react as quickly to something that upsets me, which helps my body avoid harmful cortisol or adrenaline surges that come with being an anxious person.

Meditation can happen in many ways, and once you practice it, you'll find that it works itself into your day seemingly without even having to try. To me, thats the biggest benefit of all. Here's how other real women use meditation in everyday life.

By sitting still for five to 30 minutes a day, I've learned I shouldnt believe everything I think, and that's made such a difference in my ability to lead and parent. As an author, I spend quite a bit of time at the computer, and thus, my neck and shoulders can be tight. I realized after about a month of meditation how much more relaxed I was physically. Now, while I write, I take breaks and meditate for five minutes to increase my stamina and ability to think creatively." Christina Harbridge, author of Swayed: How to Communicate for Impact, San Francisco, California

Press pause on reactions

I had a global marketing career, steadily climbing the corporate ladder for 18 years. Then I developed a rare, aggressive and advanced breast cancer. I discovered that it's not stress that's the problem it's our physiological response to it. Mindfulness helped me wake up from a life of autopilot action and reactivity. It gives me space between emotions and reactions, allowing time, however brief, to reflect and respond more skillfully. After many months of intense daily practice, I realized if you want to make changes in the world, you have to start with changes in yourself. My schedule now includes intention and goal-setting in the morning, a formal meditation practice before breakfast or at lunch and mindful moments during the day. Kate Kerr, 42, mindfulness consultant, Burlington, Ontario, Canada

Dial down stress

The word overwhelmed has started to disappear from my vocabulary. I wear many hats in an emerging technology field and at fast-paced growing company. There will never be a day where I'm not faced with challenges. Meditation has changed the way I respond to that stress. Since I started practicing regularly, my mental response to stressors is no longer panicked and I don't have the same physical response either. I find myself naturally reverting to breathing and other meditation techniques without thinking about it. The cool, calm, balanced demeanor is a win, not only in my personal and professional life, but a win for the company and my colleagues who are looking to me for an example and support. Brittiany Broadwater, 29, director of operations at Phone2Action,Washington, D.C.

More: Wilderness Survival Tips From an Indoor Kid

Get perspective

Meditation helps me shut out the anxious voices or external and literal sounds. Today, I'm in southern Maine, and meditation means concentrating on the crashing waves. When I'm home, it can be the rustling trees, blue skies or clouds. It's quite literally looking at the beauty of the bigger picture and being able to focus on that instead of the stress of life. Rachel Weingarten, author of Ancient Prayer: Channeling Your Faith 365 Days of the Year, New York City

Be more efficient

Meditation gives me a crucial mental focus and clarity that allows me to be more efficient at work. My partner and I meditate together and its given us some great quality-time together, offering us a new depth of intimacy in the interactions between actual meditation sessions. I also make more conscious decisions in everything from my eating habits to life-altering decisions, rather than moving through life triggered by my past and reactions." Tiffany Cruikshank,37 founder of Yoga Medicine and author of Meditate Your Weight, Seattle, Washington

Let inspiration in

Meditation helps me surrender more to what is instead of worrying what should be happening. My sense of touch, taste and smell is heightened. Its amazing what good ideas come when I let my thoughts be and allow pure inspiration in. I am not trying to control my thoughts, but just allowing what needs to filter in come. Steffi Black, 50, life and career coach, Toronto

Ease anxiety

I used to suffer from anxiety and panic attacks, but by meditating, I've found that I can avoid getting too anxious, which means I avoid spiraling into panic. I'm always surprised at the difference I feel when I don't meditate compared when I do. I have more clarity about what I want and am much more productive during the day. I feel more sure about the decisions I make and know that I'm more present in all aspects of my life. It's really rewarding. Amanda Leigh Doueihi, 31 lawyer/writer, New York City

Enhance empathy

When I practice, I feel more clear, conscious and able to flow with the changing nature of life and myself. It's an adventure every time too exploring the great mystery that is my own mind. It's better than any vacation I've ever taken! A body scan allows me to witness whether or not I have emotional discomfort that I need to deal with. This sets me free from looping fear, anxiety, anger and sadness. It allows me a moment where I transcend my mind, which sets me free, if only for a moment, from the insanity that makes up my relentless thoughts. It allows me brief access to a bigger experience than my own limited personal view of the world. Every chance I get to connect to all things offers me greater compassion and empathy. Kristen Ulmer, 50, author of The Art of Fear: Why Conquering Fear Wont Work and What to do Instead, Salt Lake City, Utah

Press reset

Some people resist starting a meditation practice because they believe, erroneously, that it requires long, boring stretches of trying to sit still, doing nothing for 20 minutes or more. It doesn't have to be like that. Meditation can be as simple and easy as pausing to clear your mind for three minutes, two or three times a day. Mini-meditations give me pleasant, healthy little rewards throughout the day, providing an opportunity to press the reset button whenever needed. Dr. Liisa Kyle, creative life coach, Washington state

More: How to Get Away With Not Showering After a Workout

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9 Women on How Meditation Changed Their Lives - SheKnows.com

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