Hollywood actors can sometimes be accused of not living in the real world, what with their massive mansions and armies of PR people insulating them from us ordinary mortals.

Most of the A-listers tell anyone who will listen theyre as human as the rest of us, but every now and again a story emerges that proves our point.

Take Jared Leto, for example. The Oscar-winner has gained a huge following thanks to films such as The Dallas Buyers Club and his band, 30 Seconds to Mars.

The singer might as well have been on the Red Planet, as he tweeted his astonishment at the state of the world after he had been holed up at a retreat in the desert for 12 days of silent meditation.

Naturally, Jared cut off all communications with the outside world as he undertook his period of isolation, posting to Twitter only when he returned to civilisation.

In a follow-up tweet he wrote: Walked out yesterday into a very different world. One thats been changed forever. Mind blowing to say the least. Im getting messages from friends and family all around the globe and catching up on whats going on.

Hope you and yours are ok. Sending positive energy to all. Stay inside. Stay safe.

Surprisingly, there wasnt a lot of love around for the star, who recently pulled out of the Hugh Hefner biopic, with people responding to his thread.

One user replying: Insulated, [privileged] and overly emotional. Sheesh, you actors really are in a world of your own.

Aanother posted: Privilege of the rich. Although, tbf, there are quite a few homeless folks who are also unaware of this whole thing.

View post:

Jared Leto accused of privilege on Twitter after emerging from silent meditation in the desert - Extra.ie

Executive Summary

The skills leaders need in a crisis empathy, creative thinking, analytical decision making are the same ones that are compromised when were under extreme stress. Fortunately, meditation can be of tremendous help when youre facing uncertainty and feeling threatened. Practicing meditation has been shown to reduce anxiety, calm the amygdala, increase our ability for to think creatively and empathetically take other peoples perspective. There are three practices leaders can integrate into their day now. Do a short simple meditation first thing in the morning. Start meetings with a moment of mindfulness for your team. And step back when you find yourself in unproductive thought patterns. Each of these will help you and those you lead stay grounded

Weve made our coronavirus coverage free for all readers.

A global pandemic is in full effect. Risks of infection are on the rise, stock markets are tumbling, the economy is on the verge of a global recession, and every business is facing uncertainty. Chances are high that youre feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and afraid.

Thats normal. The survival part of our brain (mainly the amygdala) kicks in when we perceive a threat and causes our focus to narrow. This is helpful when we face an immediate threat, but it also means our thinking can follow unproductive patterns: We are more likely to engage in worst-case scenario thinking or, alternatively, deny the threat; we have less access to the creative and analytical parts of our brain; and we are impaired in our ability to empathize, listen, and relate to others.

Unfortunately, those are the exact skills we need as leaders in times of crisis. We need the full capacity of our brain to weigh best possible options, question our assumptions, come up with new and creative ways of doing things, and remain calm in order to reassure employees, customers, and business partners while listening and taking their concerns seriously.

Meditation can be of tremendous help during times like this. Practicing meditation has been shown to reduce anxiety, calm the amygdala, increase our ability to think creatively and empathetically take other peoples perspective. Steve Jobs, an early adaptor of meditation described his experience like this: You start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before.

In my work with executives Ive observed three practices that help in times of crisis.

In times of uncertainty, there is a strong temptation to start the day by checking your email and news. But when we do that, we are drawn into reactive mode, often fighting one fire after another. On the contrary, starting the day with a few minutes of meditation can help you center and calm fear-based thoughts. There are many different ways to do this: You can use an app such as Insight Timer and sit in bed while listening to a guided meditation. I have found it most useful to get up and, after a cup of coffee, sit down on a cushion or in a chair and practice a simple mindfulness meditation.

Over time you will notice that you start the day with an openness and awareness for possibilities that you would otherwise not have seen. Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki, one of the pioneers of meditation in the U.S., has called this beginners mind. Its when our thoughts quiet down, our minds open up to see the present reality with less judgement and preconceived notions. Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff, an avid meditator, describes this effect like this: Beginners mind is informing me to step back, so that I can create what wants to be, not what was. I know that the future does not equal the past. I know that I have to be here in the moment.

We are biased toward action in times like these and sometimes that can be a good instinct. Buttaking a moment at the beginning of a meeting (virtual or in person) to get present, notice your own emotions, and start the meeting with an increased ability to listen and be open to ideas cancan help teams to be more thoughtful about problem solving.

For some teams, this may be a new experience, and some people might find this too touchy-feely. So to start, tell your team that you need them fully present and focused in the meeting. Then suggest an experiment: Ask them to simply focus on their breath for one minute. When they get distracted, suggest they simply return their attention to the breath. Most first-timers are surprised at just how distracted they are and how hard it was to stay present for one minute. Most of them will also feel that they are more calm and present after doing this. And that one minute can change the nature of a meeting. As one executive described the effect this way, Whereas often times we just talk at each other in these meetings, team members seemed to be more present, they listened, heard each other out, and showed a willingness to learn.

When you feel anxious throughout the day, take a moment to breathe and observe your thoughts. Chances are you have left the present moment and gone down a rabbit hole of thinking through future scenarios. While scenario planning is critical, its important to do it with presence and a calm state of mind, examining actual facts and not getting carried away by the fiction of your mind. Practically, this is what this looks like: Sit in your chair, close your eyes and focus your attention on the movement of your belly, breathing in and out. After a while you will notice your thoughts calm down, youll feel more present and alive. And youll start to notice an opening of possibilities and opportunities.

One of the most important advantages of meditation is that it allows us to step out of our own survival centric thinking and connect with others empathetically. This is important, because research shows that when we get scared, we display greater egocentrism and it is harder for us to take other peoples perspective. But people inside and outside your organization are in distress right now. This is an opportunity to show compassion and care in difficult times, an opportunity to show your team and organization who you are as a leader.

Originally posted here:

Why Leaders Need Meditation Now More Than Ever - Harvard Business Review

As we face down the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, much about the future remains uncertain, and it can feel easy to give in to stress and fear. However, while much of the anxiety we're feeling right now is valid, spending too much time sitting with it isn't great for anyone, and it's important to differentiate between the things that you can change and those that you can't. While you can't speed up how long we'll be social distancing (and remember, by staying inside, you're doing your part to stop the spread of the virus, you can make the most of your time through connecting with friends, family, and developing a meditation practice. Plus, if you start a meditation practice now, and by the time the coronavirus has passed, you might just gain a little bit of control over your anxiety, or you may even become a mindfulness master.

While meditation isn't meant to be an instant cure for anxious thoughts, if you've been meaning to give it a go, we'd argue that now is a great time to start. But if you're unsure where, or how to start your practice, there's an app for that in fact, there are many. We picked our 11 favorite meditation apps to help you stay cool and clam through uncertain times.

All products featured on Allure are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

More:

11 Best Meditation Apps to Help You Stay Calm - Allure

damircudic/Getty Images

Even before we met the four horsemen ofCOVID-19(illness, panic, isolation and toilet paper shortages), meditation was a cultural darling.Businessmen are bullishon investing in it,brain scientistsare quantifying itseffects andOprah practices it. Ive dipped in and out of the discipline over the years and found it helpful in a variety of ways, from making me more patient to helping me feel more energetic and break addictive behaviors. And whilesolo meditation in the comfort of your own home is certainly effective,I find this practice hard to sustain; quite simply, its more difficult to focus when Imhome alone than when I am in a class setting. Something about thecombined energies of theother meditators together with a teacher make the shared experience more like a warm bath. When I try meditating alone at home, the wholesetup feels like thedrafty floor time that it is.

But given the events of thepastfew weeks,some mindfulness was definitely in order. And withgoing out to a class no longer an option, I decidedto tryonline meditation. Here are a few tips from my firsthand experience.

When I found out thatDen Meditation, a local studio with locations on La Brea and in Studio City, was inaugurating regularly scheduled online classes led by their usual teachers from the privacy and virus-free security of their own homes, I was curious. Would itbe creepy to just close my eyeswhile facing mylaptop? It turns out that the guided meditations offered in both studiosprogramming are wide-ranging,with all sorts of different formats beyond just sitting cross-legged on a cushion. There is yoga nidra, which is alying-down meditation thatsgood for people with insomnia; intention meditation, which is useful forsetting goals; and self-compassion meditation, which helps quiet your inner critical voices, plus many more.

The first class I took was a 9 p.m.breathworkclass. The descriptionwarnsusers tobe prepared for some big emotional shifts.For someone who basically ping-pongs between heightened awareness (read: anxiety) and detachment all day, I certainly did experience a big emotional shift when I leaned back on my pillows withmy laptop screen balanced on my lap. The teacher began leading me (us?were otherslogged into the $10 class? could the teacher see me/us?) through deepbreaths, alternately holding and releasing them in a regular rhythm, while she coolly and calmly counseled on the importance of breath. Thirty minutes into the session, I awoke with a start, with no idea where I wasand for amoment noidea why this woman wasspeaking to me/us/whomever from my laptop. Abashed, I shut the screen, rolled over and fell into a deep sleep.

While I ve only once taken a kundalini yoga class (which I found not yoga-like at all but instead a sort of hyperventilation-inducing pillow party), I registered for one the day after my breathwork class. It was advertised as releasingan ecstatic and electric energy running through you.Sign me up! Led by a kindly older woman in a white turban who giggled fetchingly as she let on that this was the first remote class shedever taught, the class did turn out to be the sort of pulse-quickening midday pick-me-up I was looking for without being a sweaty workout. Small hand gestures, abdomen stretches and syncopated breaths, with a big crescendo of meelephant walking,or holding my ankles in my hands while I walked around the room, made me feel uplifted ifa little dizzy. My three dogs, however, were upset that I seemed to be moving in a playful manner around my bedroom without wanting to play with them.

While solo home meditation for me has alwaysbeen amind-clearing zazen practice of sitting in silence and counting my breaths from one to ten, the last class I tookthree classes in three dayswas a sound meditation. I settled back in the dark, against my pillows, for this nighttime aperitif of a teacher rubbing crystal bowls, tinkling chimes and tittering wooden blocks. And unlike so many meditations in which I tried to build a wall against my dark thoughts, here I just let them in and allowed them to wash over me:What if we run out of food?How long will our California shelter-in-place order endure?What about getting sick?The teacherscalm, clear and encouraging voice rose out of the sounds, drowning out the anxiety. Today I canteven remember what she said, but I realize nowthat thesemeditations workedwonders, and the common thread is that, during all of them, I luxuriated in havingsomeonespeak to me in a soothing voice for 45 minutes.

So maybe Ima little bit hooked on online meditation right now. Try ityou might find your own high in it.

Sign up for drop-in meditation classes atdenmeditation.com.

RELATED: 7 Upgrades That Will Take Your WFH Experience to the Next Level

Continued here:

I Tried Online Meditation to Calm My Mind in These Anxious Times and Heres What Happened - PureWow

Cancer and other health conditions not only affect the body physically; they can also carry a major emotional impact. While the main focus for many patients is treating the cancer itself and its accompanying side effects, its also crucial to address your mental health. While there are many ways to do this, meditation and mindfulness can be effective tools.

But how exactly does meditation work? And where should you start if youve never tried it before?

To learn more about a technique thats practiced by millions of people worldwide, we talk with Patricia Arcari, PhD, RN, program manager for meditation and mindfulness at Dana-Farbers Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living, in this podcast. We cover topics including:

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

AUSTIN FONTANELLA (DANA-FARBER COMMUNICATIONS): What exactly is meditation?

ARCARI: Meditation is actually referred to as a mental discipline. At the Zakim Center, we use it as a mind-body therapy. Its an intervention that allows you to begin to get a sense for the effects of the mind on the rest of the body, so its a basic two-step process that has many different applications.

The basic steps for any meditation practice are:

Now, meditation as a discipline was originally brought to this country from the Buddhists in the east. The Buddhists actually identify many different points of potential focus, many different places that we could anchor our attention, and they say that anything thats based in the senses is a great place to be paying attention. That can mean your breath. That can mean how the body feels as youre breathing.

You can also use the sense of hearing as a place to anchor your attention. So many people use sound either music or bowls or mantras so that sound becomes the place where youre simply paying attention, and when you notice that the mind wanders away from hearing the sound, you say, Oh, there I am, thinking, and you bring it back to the focus on sound.

You can also use awareness of the body as a whole. Thats why yoga and tai chi and qigong are considered forms of meditation, because youre taking your focus, youre paying attention to the body as its moving in the practices, and when you notice that youre not paying attention to the body, if you feel like you fall out of the position, you say, Oh, my mind wandered away! It took me away from this focus on the posture. I need to bring the focus back.

Another point of focus can be sight, that sense of sight, visually. Many people choose to use a candle or a piece of artwork or a religious statue, where they simply fix their attention on seeing whats in front of them, and when they notice that the mind has wandered away, they come back to that sense of seeing.

So, anything that we are paying attention to, other than thinking, can be a place of meditation, and when we pull our attention away from thinking, thats what actually creates the physiologic relaxation that is the main benefit of meditation for beginning practitioners.

FONTANELLA: You mentioned that there are many places of focus, but every time Ive ever thought or heard about meditation, its all about the breathing. Is that just because thats an easier place to start?

ARCARI: Absolutely. Everybody breathes, right? Everybody carries breath with them. Its a very concrete anchor for attention. You can absolutely tell the difference between feeling your breath versus thinking about whats on your desk when you go back to work, right?

That distinction between feeling breath but being caught in thought is very stark and concrete, and it allows people to notice when they are paying attention versus lost in thought.

FONTANELLA: What is the difference between meditation and mindfulness?

ARCARI: Thats such a great question because its something that people wonder about all the time, and we actually do have to spend a little time distinguishing. One of my first teachers was a physiologist down at the University of Massachusetts. His name was Jon Kabat-Zinn, and he actually was responsible for bringing mindfulness into healthcare as an intervention to help people manage their stress, feel a sense of relaxation, and really develop clarity and insight and experiences of positive emotions.

Anyway, Kabat-Zinn distinguishes mindfulness into two categories. Informally, mindfulness means that you are taking this sense of attention, and you are moving it into all the activities of your daily life. Remember when we were talking about meditation, and we said that we need to focus on something sense-based?

Well, mindfulness is about focusing, too, but its about focusing on all of those moment-to-moment, day-to-day activities that were involved in. Its paying attention to everything thats happening in your life as youre moving forward.

So, let me ask you, Austin this morning, what did you notice when you woke up?

FONTANELLA: That it was cold!

ARCARI: That it was cold right. So, you were bringing mindfulness into your life by noticing that experience of feeling cold. You could also notice the appearance of sun much earlier now, right? The sun is coming up at 6:15, so were able to see sunrise. You might be able to notice what did you have for breakfast?

FONTANELLA: Oatmeal.

ARCARI: Did you taste it?

FONTANELLA: I did.

ARCARI: You did! So, you were bringing mindfulness into your breakfast. Its about paying attention in the moment to what youre doing versus letting your thoughts go into things that are not happening in the moment.

Did you notice, maybe as you were eating your oatmeal, were you wondering about what your commute might be like on your way to work?

FONTANELLA: I did.

ARCARI: You did?

FONTANELLA: I did.

ARCARI: Yeah, so if youre thinking about the commute, then you probably werent tasting the oatmeal, right?

FONTANELLA: No.

ARCARI: So, mindfulness is this quality that allows us to really experience the fullness of life, the joys, the everyday pleasures that are always part of our lives, but were just not paying attention to them because were caught up in our thoughts. Mindfulness is sort of this application of meditation but in a moment-to-moment, day-to-day way with all of our activities, not just that sitting down or spending twenty minutes in an activity thats structured like meditation.

Unfortunately, if you ever stop and look at where your mind is at, most of the time, its not in the present moment. Most of the time, were either anticipating whats next, were in the future, thinking about what your commute is or whats on your laptop or what you have to do when you get to work, or youre caught in thinking about the past, that conversation that I had with my mother yesterday or that great shirt that I saw in the store window. Your mind is usually not in this moment but spends most of its time thinking about whats next or what happened before, so mindfulness is a skill that needs to be cultivated because of the minds natural tendency to want to go other places.

FONTANELLA: Is it important to then mix meditation with mindfulness? How do you start from there? How do you work those two together?

ARCARI: The daily practice of meditation gives you the experience of what it means to be paying attention. It gives you the relaxation. It gives you the ability to really notice if your mind has wandered and come back. It gives you that opportunity to experience a sense of calm when youre just anchored on that focus.

So, I like to think of it as the thing that reminds me every morning that I need to be paying attention, not just while Im sitting in my meditation practice, but to take that sense of attention into everything that Im doing, because when Im paying attention and in the moment, no matter what Im doing, I do get those same benefits of relaxation and calm and joy.

Theres another teacher by the name of Thich Nhat Hanh who says that everything that happens in our lives has the ability to bring joy. Everything is a miracle when we stop and pay attention to it, but the thing is, we dont pay attention, so were not experiencing those benefits. Meditation is the daily practice that reminds you to pay attention throughout all of your day so that, instead of living in a stress response, feeling anxious, we can come to rest in this place of calm and positivity that the present moment has to give us.

FONTANELLA: It doesnt sound like meditation has to be spiritual or completely structured for you to get benefits from it.

ARCARI: Right. No, there are many different kinds of meditation that can elicit this mind-body phenomenon of relaxation. Its just a matter of finding a strategy that resonates with you. So, if you are an exerciser, lets say, maybe you want to choose a meditation thats body-based. Maybe you want to use yoga or tai chi as your meditation. If you are someone who has a deeply spiritual root, maybe you want to use a religious word or phrase to ground your meditation practice. If you are someone who really loves the arts, you can use music as that door into meditation. There are lots of different ways to cultivate this practice in your life.

And if I can, in our mind-body programs at Dana-Farber, we do introduce patients to many different ways to meditate because its not about doing it the way that someone tells you that you need to do it. Its about finding the way that feels best for you, because ultimately, youre only going to do this practice if it feels comfortable for you, right?

And meditation only works if you use it regularly, so anything thats going to allow you to create the discipline of daily practice is what you want to find so that you make sure that the practice stays grounded in your life in a regular way, and thats when you see the benefits. Meditation only works to the degree that you use it regularly.

FONTANELLA: Is there one tip or one exercise you give people who are completely new to this practice that just want to try it and go from there?

ARCARI: The breath is usually the go-to first place where we introduce people who are new to the practice to meditation.

FONTANELLA: How long should each meditation session be? Are there rules or restrictions that you should be following with this?

ARCARI: Unfortunately, we dont have research yet that sort of quantifies in a dose-dependent relationship how much meditation will produce a certain outcome, but a general guideline that we use is twenty minutes. Twenty minutes can feel like an eternity, or twenty minutes can feel like something that passes really quickly. The point of it is just to be with whatever youre experiencing in those twenty minutes and allowing it to unfold and know that, whatever happens during those twenty minutes, youre doing it right just by setting the intention to pay attention.

So, twenty minutes as a general guideline The second, again, important guideline is to attempt to create a daily practice. How do you introduce this new behavior of meditation into your life in a daily way? Thats a challenge. Sometimes we say that it can be stressful to take a stress management class because theyre going to ask you to create this new behavior, to find twenty minutes in the course of a life thats already really busy to fit meditation in.

A good way to begin to create this new behavior is to experiment in the course of your day when it most easily fits and then anchor it to that time and place. For me, when I first started meditating, I would anchor my meditation to my shower. I would get up, get in the shower, and then, after my shower, I would sit and meditate. That worked for a really long time until I had kids and didnt necessarily have the chance to get a shower, so then I had to shift my practice to a time that did work in the context of my life.

Again, step number two, most important figure out a way that meditation is going to fit into the context of your day-to-day life, so it becomes something that you do every day, just like taking a shower or brushing your teeth.

FONTANELLA: What are some of the benefits that people can get from practicing this every day?

ARCARI: I think the benefits break down into three categories.

The first is that sense of relaxation, or literally the physiology of relaxation. Many people start to meditate in response to the stressors in their lives. Especially here at Dana-Farber, this meditation strategy is something that people rely on to cope with the stressors of their illness. Meditation as a discipline actually works physiologically to induce a state of relaxation in the body. When were stressed, the body goes into fight-or-flight. When we meditate, the body moves into relaxation response, which literally creates a calming of the body. Thats the first benefit.

The second benefit of meditation that accrues over time is you begin to develop insight into how your mind works. Our minds are constantly thinking, but that thought is occurring just below the level of conscious awareness. That can create real damage for us emotionally and physically because the brain is the place where we create stress. The brain perceives some sort of a threat again, with our cancer patients, a threat to our physical wellbeing, to our emotional wellbeing, and those thoughts of threat create that physiology of fight-or-flight that can cause physical damage. Over time, with continuing practice, we come to sort of make friends with that mind, to notice when the mind is taking us to those places that are creating the feeling of threat, and when we can see the thoughts as theyre coming up, were in a position to say, No, thats not real. Thats not true. Im not going to experience something really horrible. Its just my mind worrying about it. So, the second benefit of the meditation practice is to give you a little window into the thinking mind that allows you to let go of those thoughts that are irrational and distorted, and move into thoughts that are more positive and reflective of reality.

And then the third benefit of the practice over time is that we really can choose to be in this place inside that is the source of peace and wellbeing and joy and love and all of those positive emotions that we want to be experiencing. Theyre all inside. Meditation helps us find that way in.

FONTANELLA: What if youve tried it before, and youre like, I just dont get it I cant do it? What do you tell those people?

ARCARI: Kabat-Zinn used to say all the time, Its simple. Its a simple practice, but its not easy, because youre coming face to face with the thinking mind. If youre new to meditation, thats just been used to doing what it wants to do. The mind was designed to think, so what youre trying to do is not necessarily to stop it from thinking but to choose the place where youre focusing. When youve noticed that youve moved into thinking, you acknowledge the thoughts, but then, from this place of insight and ability to control what happens in our heads, we bring the focus back.

So, thats why, again, we introduce so many different ways to meditate, because inevitably, youll find a way that works for you. And if you notice that youve tried one way youve tried the breath but your mind is just out of control, you can deal with it in one of two ways. You can say, Im finally coming to understand whats happening in my mind. Im going to not give myself a hard time. Im just going to look at this, learn from it, and keep coming back to my breath focus. Or, The breath is just not working for me. Let me see if I can try yoga and use my body as a focus. Maybe sound meditation is most helpful. Maybe I can use Tibetan singing bowls as my point of focus. Maybe its nature, focusing visually on what youre experiencing, that can anchor your attention.

There are many different ways to meditate. The most important ingredient is your intention, your desire to do so. The more you practice, the easier it becomes, but you need to make that commitment.

FONTANELLA: Would you mind taking us through a quick meditation session, just to give people an idea of what they should be looking for?

ARCARI: Sure.

As we begin this meditation practice, Im going to ask you to just let your feet connect to the floor so that your feet are firmly anchored on the floor, and just take your sense of attention, your focus, and move it down into the bottoms of your feet.

So, what youre focusing on now is just those feelings that are here, in the bottoms of your feet, as you begin to notice this connection with possibly your shoes or the feeling of the floor beneath you, that support that the floor is providing to your body as its sitting now.

Shift your attention up, from the bottoms of your feet, and just begin to notice the feelings that are present in your thighs now. Take your hands and place them, palms down, on your thighs. As youre focusing on your thighs now, you might begin to notice sensations of warmth. You might feel a sense of tingling. Just allow those sensations that are here now in your thighs to be the place where youre paying attention. So, youre not thinking about your thighs, but youre simply being with the feelings that are here, right now, in your thighs.

Now, if you havent already, allow your eyes to gently close and take that sense of attention and move it even more deeply into your body so that youre just beginning to notice your breathing, becoming aware of your in-breath and feeling your out-breath. If you notice that your mind jumps in it happens for us all if you notice that youre caught in thinking, its OK. Just gently, without giving yourself a hard time, label that thinking, and then escort your attention back to feeling this breath.

Breathing in now, I calm my body.

Breathing out now, I smile.

Dwelling in this present moment, with this breath, just as I am This is a wonderful moment.

And as we come to the end of this breath-focused meditation, just begin to bring yourself back to a sense, once again, of sitting here in your chair, feeling your body as a whole, maybe wiggling your toes and shaking out your fingers a bit. And when you feel ready, gently open your eyes.

Read the original post:

Meditation: What It Is and How To Try It - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

MILTON, Vt. (WCAX) The impacts of the coronavirus outbreak can take a toll on a person's business as well as mental health, but thanks to technology, some local businesses are reaching their clients and keeping the peace.

These days spiritual well-being is almost as important as an internet connection.

Lonnie Poland runs Experience Yoga out of her Milton home. Right now, she can't lead any in-person classes. So like many instructors nationwide, she's taking her sessions to the web.

"We don't just do this for fun. This is our practice and it's important," says Lonnie.

This week, she led a meditation class of nearly 20 people on the video conference app Zoom.

"This is what I do, I come to my mat and it feeds me and so to be able to see everybody's faces, there was joy. We could feel it, we connected and that alone, was beautiful," says Poland.

Chrissy Lefavour, the owner of Grateful Yoga in Montpelier, has figured it out. She's livestreaming classes on her social media platforms.

"It calms your nervous system and when you calm your nervous system and you come to a place that you can move away from the symptoms of stress, then you will build your immune system. You will build your resiliency. So, it's very important," says Poland.

Keep calm and meditate on... online that is.

Read more from the original source:

Moving meditation and mindfulness practices online - WCAX

The best meditation apps could help you to sleep better, reduce your stress levels and find some much-needed inner peace. But given the situation right now with Covid-19, even if meditation apps just give you a break from the news and a chance to chill out for ten minutes, theyre more than worth it.

Headspace, one of the most popular meditation apps around, first launched 10 years ago. Since then, hundreds of other meditation apps have been created and that means finding the best meditation app for you can be overwhelming.

But when it comes to meditation, choice is a good thing. There are now meditation apps to cater to all kinds of people and preferences. From apps for beginners that walk you through the basics of meditation (like Headspace and Buddhify), through to those that just provide you with a timer and sound cues so you can freestyle your meditation practice instead (like Samsara Timer and Pocket Meditation Timer).

Not only are there different styles of apps, but different variations of meditative practice. Youve likely heard celebs shout about the benefits of transcendental meditation, but most of the meditation apps you can download, and the ones on this list, allow you to practice a form of mindfulness meditation less focus on chanting and mantras and more focus on, well, focus.

Its easy to roll your eyes at the word mindfulness. Weve all been inundated with books, articles and apps about becoming more mindful, from mindful swimming and shopping to mindfultidying and travelling, and everything else in-between. But, put simply, mindfulness is about being present and noticing whats happening.

Contrary to popular belief, that doesnt mean emptying your mind. Instead, it means paying more attention. Whether thats to your thoughts, your breath or sounds around you. The benefit of mindfulness meditation is that you can start to take some of the presence and awareness you feel when youre meditating into everything else you do throughout the day.

And, giving you the tools to be a bit more present throughout the day is just one of the many benefits of meditation. Its still early days for scientific studies (so we cant say for definite that meditation works well for everyone and brings about the same benefits for everyone), but results are promising.

So far, studies have shown meditation can lower blood pressure, improve sleep, alleviate some of the symptoms of depression, reduce stress and increase self-compassion, improve your memory and even bolster your immune system.

With all of that in mind, heres our top pick of the best meditation apps at the moment. All of which weve used and tested (in some cases for years) to bring you the best chance of cultivating a bit more calm and a little less stress in your life.

Best for those who want a simple practice steeped in insight

Waking up was created by Sam Harris, a neuroscientist, philosopher, podcaster and author who teaches and discusses meditation in a modern, scientific context.

What we like about the Waking Up app above all others is its no-nonsense. Theres no chanting, twinkling rain sounds or spiritual references. Even the app itself has a very easy-to-use and minimal design.

The goal here is to be present and aware. But that doesnt mean it isnt also soothing and transformative. Weve been using Waking Up for more than a year and have found its made a huge difference particularly to stress levels and reactiveness.

There are two sections of Waking Up. The Practice section is where you can access simple daily meditations narrated by Sam Harris himself. When you first sign-up to the app, these daily practices will serve as an introduction to meditation, easing you into the basics of sitting still and becoming more aware.

But theres also a section called Theory, which is about learning whats going on behind the practice. Sam Harris interviews a number of prominent figures in the meditation, self-development and neuroscience spaces to discuss topics like death and awareness and also posts smaller lessons, which are like chunks of wisdom we sometimes listen to when weve already meditated that day.

This wealth of lessons, interviews and additional insights about meditation is what makes Waking Up stand apart from the competition. This is why we recommend Waking Up for those who want to get to grips with meditation, as well as the science and thinking behind it.

Pricing: Free. But with in-app purchases to unlock more content. You can also get in touch with Sam Harris and the creators if you really want to try more of the app but cant afford it.

Available for iOS / Android

Best for beginners

Headspace is one of the most popular meditations apps and for good reason. We first started meditating with Headspace more than six years ago and credit it with getting our heads around the obstacles that can come up when you first choose to meditate. How do we sit still? What if we get caught up in thinking? How do we stop beating ourselves up when we get distracted?

It managed to ease us into a daily practice through an easy-to-use app full of color, simple instructions, fantastic visuals to illustrate whats going on when you meditate and the soothing voice of Headspaces founder, Andy Puddicombe.

This is a great first port of call for beginners looking to get to grips with meditating. One of the best bits is there are so many different types of meditation to try for all kinds of situations. Whether its a simple mindfulness practice, meditation for kids, for sleep or for when youre busy, including mindful cooking.

We particularly love the SOS meditations, specially designed for mini meltdowns. Theres one for feeling overwhelmed and another for panicking, which weve used on many, many occasions to get us back to neutral.

Pricing: Free. But with in-app purchases to unlock more content.

Available for iOS / Android

Best for those who cant get enough of meditation

When you first open the Calm app it tells you to take a deep breath and thats what the whole experience with the app feels like. A breath of fresh air and a chance to switch off and slow down, just for a few minutes.

One of our favorite things about Calm is youre asked what your focus is before you begin. Whether thats developing gratitude, increasing happiness or, our favorite, reducing stress.

Calm has a wide selection of different meditations to choose from. Theres a series about confidence, one about saying yes to life, and even a Sigur Ros sound bath experience for when you dont want guidance but just want some soothing sounds to chill out to.

Theres also a Sleep Stories section of the app all about helping you to sleep soundly. With bedtime stories read by soothing voices or famous soothing voices, including Matthew McConaughey. He tells a story about the universe called Wonder and its a very, very dreamy experience.

If you dont fancy following a guided meditation, Calm also has a timer and a huge catalog of calming music, sounds and ambient noises to choose from, many are geared up for sleep but others are just lovely to listen to while youre working or doing chores.

We think there are better apps for teaching you the basics of meditation, but Calm has the widest range of meditations, sounds, sleep features and stories to choose from. For us, it really delivers on its name its a destination for calm.

Pricing: You can sign up for a 7-day free trial of Calm. Its then 42.99/$42.99 for a year.

Available for iOS / Android

Best for those who want practical tools to help them through the day

Even though were creatures of habit, many of us dont always want to meditate in the same way each and every day. Thats where Buddhify comes in.

Sometimes you might want something slow and soothing to guide you through a difficult experience, other times you need a simple body scan when youre waiting at the doctors office or in line at the post office.

Thats why instead of asking you what you want to focus on (because oftentimes we dont know, especially if were stressed-out) Buddhify will show you a number of scenarios on a colorful wheel and your job is just to choose which situation best describes what youre going through right now.

The app serves up a recommendation focused on what you might need in the moment and it always tends to perfectly match your situation with a meditation. Whether thats going to sleep, walking or travelling.

Our recommendation would be to kick off your meditation journey with Headspace or Waking Up and then supplement your practice with Buddhify, as it makes meditation less of a sacred practice that requires a quiet room, a comfy cushion and incense and more of a practical and helpful tool.

Pricing: 4.99 / $4.99

Available for iOS / Android

Best for a pick 'n mix of meditation

Like Calm, Insight Timer is an app with many guided meditation practices, lessons and features to choose from. That means its not just an app for meditating, but a one-stop-shop for feeling good, calming down and reading up about the wider thinking and history behind meditation practice and self-development too.

There are a range of guided meditations on offer in Insight Timer. You can choose from a beginner kit, which includes learning to meditate or coping with anxiety. Or select how youd like to meditate based on a particular focus, like sleep, stress and anxiety. Or you can pick the type of practice youre in the mood for, like paying attention to sound, movement or sitting back and taking part in a guided visualization.

Theres a useful 7-day course wed recommend if youre new to meditation, which teaches you the basics. But like Calm, we think Insight Timer is a great option once youve started to meditate and then want access to a huge range of practices at your fingertips its a pick n mix of meditation.

Pricing: Free. But with in-app purchases to unlock more content.

Available for iOS / Android

More:

Best meditation apps: practice mindfulness with Headspace, Calm and more - TechRadar

Only 8 weeks of daily meditation can decrease negative mood and anxiety and improve attention, working memory, and recognition memory in non-experienced meditators. These findings come from a recent study published in Behavioural Brain Research.

Meditation is a mental exercise that uses mindfulness techniques to work on attention and awareness with the goal of achieving a calmer state of mind. The practice of meditation is said to foster greater self-awareness, enhance emotional regulation, improve focus, and alleviate stress. But little is known about whether short, practical meditation sessions provide cognitive benefits for inexperienced meditators.

The study included a total of 42 non-experienced meditators between the ages of 18 and 45 who were split into two randomized groups. One group practiced 13 minutes of daily guided meditation over an 8-week period. The second group (the control group) listened to 13 minutes of a podcast every day for 8 weeks. Researchers compared the results between the two groups to see how meditation might improve cognition when compared to podcast listening.

Throughout the study, researchers had participants complete neuropsychological tasks to test their cognitive functioning and answer self-reported questionnaires to assess their mood state. To assess participants stress levels at the physiological level, saliva cortisol samples were also taken. All data was collected at the start of the study, again at the 4-week period, and finally at the 8-week period when the study ended.

At the end of the study, participants completed the Trier Social Stress Test, a test designed to elicit social stress. Researchers administered the state anxiety portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory right before the social stress test, immediately after the test, and 10, 20 and 30 minutes after the test to measure participants acute response to stress.

Results showed no significant difference in cognitive function, mood, or cortisol levels between the meditation and podcast groups at the 4-week point. However, results at the 8-week mark were a different story. When compared to the podcast listening group, participants in the meditation group showed decreased mood disturbance, anxiety, and fatigue scores. They also showed improved attention, working memory and recognition memory and a decrease in the behavioral anxiety response to the Trier Social Stress Test.

Although cognitive benefits related to meditation practice have been demonstrated before, this study was the first to show them for novice meditators. Mindfulness research is relatively new and much needs to be explored with regards to specific mechanisms in the brain that are involved in meditation. The current study suggests that daily meditation has significant benefits to practitioners, even those who are new to meditation and only practicing in brief sessions.

The study, Brief, daily meditation enhances attention, memory, mood, and emotional regulation in non-experienced meditators, was authored by Julia C. Basso, Alexandra McHale, Victoria Ende, Douglas J. Oberlin, and Wendy A. Suzuki.

(Photo credit: Stephen McCarthy/Collision)

See more here:

Daily meditation decreases anxiety and improves cognitive functioning in new meditators after 8 weeks - PsyPost

Im not sure how many days we are into this 15 days thing. Frankly, Im not really sure what day of the week it is. As we collectively lose our grip on reality and socialization and increasingly turn to technology to cope, a number of meditation apps are offering up content free to help folks recenter as we push to shelter in place.

Headspace was among the first to offer a plan. The popular app announced that it would be making its premium tier free for all US healthcare professionals who work in public health settings, a nicenod to the first-responders who are among the hardest working and most emotionally wiped amid the pandemic.

Interested parties who qualify can redeem free access to Headspace Plus through the end of 2020 by entering their National Provider Identifier (NPI) and email address on the services site.

Simple Habit this morning announced free premium memberships for all people who are impacted by the pandemic and can no longer afford to pay. Those who qualify need only email help [at] simplehabit.com and note that theyre in a precarious financial position due to the pandemic. Access includes free meditation collections through the end of April.

Calm CEO Michael Acton Smith told TechCrunch that the company is currently exploring ways it might help a strained community. In the meantime, the service is making a number of meditations available for free to users.

A number of yoga studios and exercise applications are offering similar services for those who are housebound.

View post:

Meditation apps offer free mindfulness, as social distancing takes a toll - TechCrunch

The world is facing unprecedented challenges that translate into unprecedented anxiety. The coronavirus outbreak disrupted everyones life, forcing to change their routines and bringing social tensions over health, the economy, and many more areas with no clear answers in many cases.

Its ok to feel anxious. But these researchers have some advice for you.

Meditation can turn out to be a good ally to calm the nerves. Practicing it every day for eight weeks can bring a decrease in negative moods and anxiety, while improving attention, working memory and recognition memory, according to a new study.

Meditation is a mental exercise through which we can observe our interior and the way in which we conceive what is happening around us. There are many ways of doing it but all with the main goal of having a calmer state of mind. While there are studies about it, not many have looked at the effect of doing short and practical sessions. There are many myths and legends to meditation, but according to this study, there is definite scientific merit to meditation.

Julia Basso and a group of experts from New York University worked with a group of 42 non-experienced meditators between 18 and 45 years-old. They were divided into two groups, one doing a daily 13-minutes mediation session over eight weeks, while the other one listened to a meditation podcast with the same regularity.

As they went through the study, participants had to do neuropsychological tasks, testing their cognitive functioning and answering questionnaires. They also had to provide saliva cortisol samples to test their stress levels.

The data was collected at the start, the middle and the final part of the study, comparing the results between the different groups.

Then, when they finished the study, the participants had to do a Trier Social Stress Study, which is meant to produce social stress. They were given levels of state anxiety before the test, immediately after and 10, 20 and 30 minutes after measuring their response to stress.

After four weeks of the exercise, the research showed no major changes in cognitive function or mood between the group that listened to the podcast and the group that did meditation classes. Nevertheless, the scenario changed drastically when reaching the eight-week mark.

The participants that went through mediation classes saw a drop in the levels of anxiety, fatigue and mood disturbance when compared to the group that listened to the podcast. They even showed a better working and recognition memory and improved attention.

This study not only suggests a lower limit for the duration of brief daily meditation needed to see significant benefits in non-experienced meditators, but suggests that even relatively short daily meditation practice can have similar behavioral effects as longer duration and higher-intensity mediation practices, the researchers wrote.

Doing a live class can be tricky in times of self-quarantine but as an alternative health and wellness apps are offering free meditation exercises. The app Headspace is now offering free services to US health care professionals, while Simple Habit, a mindfulness app, is doing the same for the ones that cant afford it. No doubt, there are a myriad of apps and solutions and free courses going on now and they might be an excellent way to calm yourself in this trying time.

The study was published in Behavioral Brain Research.

See original here:

Meditation is a good ally against coronavirus anxiety - ZME Science