The constant barrage of news about the coronavirus outbreak is enough to stress anyone out. And now that we're all pretty much mandated to stay at home with a smaller pool of activities to keep us preoccupied, it can be hard not to wallow in the headlines.

Now may be the perfect time to start meditating. TheMindFi Mindfulnessapp can help us kickstart a meditation habit.

Formerly named as Apple App of the Day, this app is designed to help us destress, reduce distractions, and improve relationships. It's created by a team of meditation and neuroscientists and throughout the day, it sends four different mindfulness modes: quick, haptic breathing exercises, a short yet relevant meditation perfect for particularly busy days, a focus on your to-dos with the Pomodoro timer, and a 10-minute closed-eye meditation for stress relief.

You can also begin and end your day with 10-minute mindfulness courses ranging from sleep to leadership and a whole lot more. To track your progress, you can try the research-backed exercises. No wonderForbessaid hyped it as the "perfect app for every aspiring meditator."

Find peace during this difficult time with a lifetime subscription to MindFi. It usually retails for $365, but for a limited time, you can get iton sale for $39.

They say that there's no such thing as a free lunch. But Apple is giving you free money which is even better!

After a week or so of imposing purchase limits on products outside of China, Apple has now removed them. The limits remain if you're in China, though.

The refreshed iPad Pro now has a LiDAR Scanner and the chances are very good that we can expect iPhone 12 Pro to get one, too.

Apple's flagship iPad is almost all screen. Keep that screen looking amazing with some protection.

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Find inner peace amidst the current chaos with this meditation app - iMore

Easy does it ... Jeff Bridges; RZA; Charlotte Adigry.

Take a deep breath and come to a comfortable seated position: we could all do with some spiritual healing right now, but especially the music industry. Postponed festivals, cancelled tours and closed borders mean a predicted billions of dollars worth of losses globally and a hell of a lot of unemployed guitarists this spring, leading into summer. As mass gatherings continue to be banned quicker than you can say social distancing, the antithesis is surely the meditation tape. Soothing, safe, and you can use them alone at home without having to wipe every surface down with Wet Ones first.

They are also big business. According to TechCrunch.com, the top 10 meditation apps pulled in $195m in 2019, up 52% from 2018, with Calm grossing $92m and Headspace $56m. Musicians, never ones to miss a trend opportunity (hello branded cannabis), have already started wafting into this lucrative space. Last year, Sam Smith channelled his inner Brian Eno and did an ambient remix of his single How Do You Sleep, in partnership with Calm. Whether you find its rippling synths calming or actually quite stressful is another matter. Ditto the attempt from rapper RZA of Wu-Tang Clan. His latest film is called Cut Throat City, so he seems the natural choice to lead a guided meditation for a brand of tea. His audio experience is designed so you can unlock your hidden powers, to a soundtrack of cinematic hip-hop. His script is, it must said, fairly powerful. This how you exert your gravitational force on the chaos around you, he intones, sounding not unlike hes about to announce the end of the world. Fitting, etc.

The best attempt so far has come from Belgian-Caribbean electronic-pop artist Charlotte Adigry, who last winter put out a Yin Yang tape on Soulwaxs Deewee label. She lulls listeners into a false sense of security with the sound of plainsong before delivering what is actually a 17-minute meditation on her own neuroses (dieting, coffee, work, image). It is brilliantly candid and employs some gummy ASMR techniques. I grew up watching American TV shows, she says, as a synthetic choir sings, and now I have this weird, hybrid Flemish-American accent that makes me feel like a fake.

No one has yet matched the OG of celebrity relaxation tapes, Jeff Bridges, who has a voice like a crackling fire in a wood, put to excellent use on 2015s Dreaming With Jeff, a psychedelic album-cum-sleep aid that was favourably reviewed. But there is potential. Billie Eilish, already a noted fan of ASMR, has a coveted whisper that seems custom-made for helping you chillax. And, at the other end of the vocal texture scale, some Tom Waits bedtime stories would not go amiss. One thing is for sure: the demand has never been greater.

Here is the original post:

Breathe in, now breathe out: how musicians are embracing guided meditations - The Guardian

Life can be stressful at the best of times, but given the present Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic were facing, it can feel tougher than ever to stay positive amidst the anxiety and uncertainty.

If youre like most people, chances are youve given meditation apps a try before but never fully got into the habit of using them.

However, during this period where social distancing is our current norm, meditation apps are one of the best ways to help you look after your mental wellbeing remotely. As the world takes steps to safeguard the physical health and wellbeing of ourselves and our loved ones, its also important to care for our minds says Sarah Romotsky, Director of Healthcare at Headspace.

At a time when technology can often feed into panic, what we use our devices to consume is central to how we feel day-to-day, particularly when self isolating.

Meditation can help manage anxious thoughts, build mental resilience and navigate this uncertainty adds Romotsky.

So while youre ensconced indoors, take advantage and use this time to harness technology for some good. Here's our pick of the best meditation apps of 2020 to help you find some solace amidst the chaos and keep your mind healthy.

Cost: Free download, optional subscription at 9.99/month, 44.99/year

Loved for its easy to digest visuals, clear explanations and buildable meditation plans, Headspace is one of the best-known meditation apps around - and for good reason. Beyond its delightfully appealing animations, the app is one of the most accessible, easy to follow toolkits on offer when it comes to meditation.

While Headspaces free 10-part Basics course equips users with all of the mindfulness essentials, at the moment it has also expanded its free offering to include a selection of other curated content under the collection Weathering the storm. Providing an assortment of experiences and exercises, Headspace offers tools designed to give users the means to better navigate the uncertainty that we all currently face.

Better still, the app also recently launched Everybody Headspace, a new feature in which meditations are streamed at the beginning of each half hour in real-time, helping to connect users across the globe to build a stronger sense of community at this time.

From meditations on managing anxiety to sleepcasts that will help lull you to sleep, Headspace is your go-to for mindfulness management.

Download on iOS

Download on Android

Cost: Free one week trial, then 28.99/year

Allow Calm to help you ease your mind with their huge hub of meditation and mindfulness content. Offering guided meditation sessions ranging from three to 25 minutes, soothing musical tracks and exercises designed specifically for children, Calm equips users with all the tools they need to begin their mindfulness journey. The apps mood check-in feature provides a means of reflecting on daily feelings and opportunity to re-centre focus for the day ahead.

For those that struggle with getting to sleep, Calms Sleep Stories offer the perfect solution. Featuring narrators like Matthew McConaughey and Stephen Fry, the sheer variety of resources on offer make Calm a standout meditation app. Being entirely customisable to your needs, Calms offering means that you can truly get anything that you want out of it, whether that be an introduction to meditation or more in-depth explorations on subjects like boosting confidence.

Download on iOS

Download on Android

Cost: Free download, optional subscription at 38.99/year

We all know too well how easy it is to put off taking some time out of the day to focus on ourselves, and no one knows this better than Simple Habit. The app was birthed from the idea that taking even 5 minutes out of your day to practise meditation can make a world of difference to your mood and wellbeing. Whether it be in the morning, on your daily walk, or in the evenings, whenever you can spare a moment Simple Habits handy offline feature (available on premium) means that you can centre yourself without ever needing an internet connection

Billed as the practical solution for modern lifestyles, the meditation app offers over 1,500 different sessions around situations that span morning anxiety to a lack of focus. If youre someone who struggles to fit in time for yourself because of a busy schedule then Simple Habit is the right pick for you - created for people low on time but in pursuit of moments of calm.

Download on iOS

Download on Android

Cost: Free download, optional subscription at 9.99/month or 54.99/year.

Stop, Breathe & Think is the meditation app that prompts you to pause for a moment, check in with how you're feeling and explore mindfulness. Unrivalled by other apps in its flexible tracking and reminder features, if youre someone whos struggled to commit to meditation before then Stop, Breathe & Think will help keep you on the right path.

After your current mood is determined by a quick survey youre given a session based on your results. Whether it be meditation or yoga, exercises are continually updated in line with how youre feeling at that moment in time. Its this granular level of customisation and intuitive design that make the app so unique in its offering, with all content designed to be perfectly in tune with its users. Though the app focuses on encouraging younger people to engage with their mental health, it nonetheless has resources for all ages and is a valuable tool for anyone looking to develop skills to tackle the days highs and lows.

Download on iOS

Download on Android

Cost: Completely free to download during Covid-19, no in-app purchases or fees

Sanvello is your all-in-one self-care toolkit. With habit tracking, journaling, a community area, meditations and longer exercises, there really is nothing this thoughtful little app hasnt considered.

In light of the current coronavirus outbreak, the kind people at Sanvello have made the app entirely free so that you have full access to everything self-care. Having been designed in collaboration with therapists, doctors and researchers, the app is deeply rooted in tried and tested techniques. Going the extra mile by offering CBT activities that help to support meditation sessions, Sanvello is the friend you need to help you get through the toughest times.

Alongside its already generous offering, Sanvellos latest release includes a particular focus on how to stay socially connected while we all face our own struggles with social distancing. Self-described as on-demand help for stress, anxiety, and depression this app is definitely one to have in your meditation and mental health arsenal.

Download on iOS

Download on Android

Cost: Free to download, optional annual subscription at 55.99.

If group meditation is more your style then Insight Timer has you covered. Invite friends to participate in sessions, find out who else is meditating nearby and check in on the world map to see how many others are meditating across the globe.

With access to an impressive 30,000+ different guided meditations, its no exaggeration to say that Insight Timer has one of the vastest libraries on offer. Though perhaps somewhat intimidating for a beginner, the apps rich and diverse features mean that you can use it to whatever end you desire, whether that be for more structured guided meditations, soundtracks or to connect with others in the community.

Download on iOS

Download on Android

Cost: Free one week trial, then 12.99/month or 87.99/year

After experiencing a panic attack on live television, Ten Percent Happier founder Dan Harris discovered some peace in meditation. Going on to write books on the topic, including the aptly named Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics, Harris adapted this same approach to creating a meditation app. Unique in its straightforward demystifying of meditation, Ten Percent Happier features a library of over 500 guided meditations covering everything from parenting to quelling anxiety.

Whether youre seeking some bite-sized inspiration, more structured exercises or simply want to get lost in a story, this meditation app has a simple goal: to help its users be a little bit happier each day. With the current outbreak in mind, Ten Percent Happier has also created a dedicated Coronavirus hub full of practical and actionable resources designed to help individuals find some peace amidst the chaos.

Download on iOS

Download on Android

Cost: 4.99 to download on iOS, 2.99 on Android

Buddhify has all the essentials you could want from a meditation app including mindfulness exercises for every part of your day, from waking up to taking a work break. Putting you in good stead to get to grips with meditation, Buddhifys colourful interface offers up practical meditations that slot seamlessly into your daily routine.

Unlike its contemporaries, Buddhify is available to users for a one-off fee rather than rolling subscription, making it an affordable option at 2.99 on Android and 4.99 on iOS. Suitable for both beginners and more advanced meditations, Buddhify provides an effective, relatively no-frills solution, allowing you to focus on the areas of your life that you deem most important.

Download on iOS

Download on Android

Cost: Free to download, in-app subscriptions available.

If youre on the lookout for the best free meditation app, Serenity is a good place to start. Unmatched by other apps in the amount of free content that it has immediately accessible to users, by the time that you work your way through this youll likely be wanting to continue with a subscription.

With easy-to-follow tutorials and small yet mighty 10 minute sessions, Serenity is one of the easiest apps to slot into your day at your own convenience. Subtler details like acknowledging three things that youre grateful for at the end of each session give this app a unique touch that helps users rebalance their focus on the positives. With an emphasis on remembering to be grateful, we could all use a little more Serenity in our day-to-day lives.

Download on iOS

Download on Android

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Queen Sends Message Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

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9 Best Meditation Apps of 2020 To Soothe Anxiety - elle.com

You deserve an incredible orgasm right now.

Image: bob al-greene / mashable

March Mindfulness is Mashable's series that examines the intersection of meditation practice and technology. Because even in the time of coronavirus, March doesn't have to be madness.

I dont know about you, but lifes recently felt like a fever dream of anxious days and sleepless nights. As terrifying news alerts bombarded my phone, though, only one thing gave me the kind of relief needed during a panic-inducing pandemic: meditation masturbation

Before you write it off as new-agey bullshit, I come bearing evidence of its unexpected effectiveness with biofeedback devices that tracked both my brainwaves and my orgasms during sessions (you know, for science).

Meditation and masturbation might sound like strange bedfellows. But actually on both physiological and psychological levels, the two go together like peanut butter and jelly. At a time when we're all looking for stress-relieving solo activities to do from the safety of our homes, a relaxing self-love session comes with numerous health benefits too.

Meditation and masturbation might sound like strange bedfellows.

Meditation masturbation goes by many different names, each with a variety of approaches: erotic meditation, orgasmic meditation, tantric masturbation. All fall under the umbrella of mindful sex, an increasingly popular branch of mind-body awareness centered around sexuality, intimacy, and pleasure. The basic concept is simple: Instead of only using your breath as a focal point during mindfulness exercises like meditation and body scanning, you also concentrate on pleasurable sensations that ground you in your body.

"The practice of mindful sex helps you slow down, pause, and be in the present moment," Janet Britto, a clinical psychologist who offers mindful sex therapy at the Center for Sexual Health and Reproductive Health in Hawaii, wrote in an email. "It helps you adopt a perspective that is open, curious, non-judgmental, so you give yourself permission to be in your body and experience pleasure."

By training people to approach pleasure with a mindful mindset, researchers have found that these techniques can help improve a number of sexual problems: low libido, body image issues, anxiety, trauma, erectile dysfunction, genital pain (like vestibulodynia), and porn addiction. Other research found that women who practice mindfulness have way better sex in general, with higher arousal, desire, and better orgasms.

Whether you struggle with sex or are just looking to explore new possibilities, discover new sensations, deepen your pleasure, or enhance intimacy with a partner mindful sex can benefit just about everyone. Before you graduate to partnered mindful sex, though, it's best to start solo.

Image: bob al-greene / mashable

Still not convinced? I don't blame you.

When I first started exploring mindful sex (which you can read about here), I found all its big claims hard to buy. I'd never experienced a single benefit from meditating, despite people insisting it was the answer to my crippling anxiety. Why would this be any different?

Despite my resistance, the results from even the most basic exercises turned me into a true-blue believer. I felt the need to find definitive proof, though, knowing that skeptical, anti-meditation types like myself would want some tangible results to suspend their disbelief long enough to try it themselves.

So while doing several mindful masturbation exercises over the course of a couple weeks, the Muse meditation headband tracked my brainwaves. For good measure, I also tracked one of my orgasms with the Lioness, a biofeedback tracking smart vibrator.

For each of these experiments I did a sort of "control session" using regular meditation as a comparison, trying to account for as many variables as possible. I set my Muse to a rainforest soundscape, which gets stormier as your mind gets more active and then gentler and eventually produces a bird chirp if you reach a prolonged state of calm. You get more bird chirps the longer you stay calm.

The charts below represent the score the app generates based on how much time your mind was active (light purple), neutral (medium purple), or calm (dark purple) during a session, with larger dot sizes indicating more calm and the number of dots representing the length of time in a session. Blue dots indicate bird status. (To clarify, the number of dots doesn't equal number of birds. Remember, the quantity of dots represent elapsed time.)

But don't just take my word or these results as proof. Try it, following our tips for beginners of mindful sex here to prove it to yourself.

Control session

Listen, this was a rough night. While enduring a peak of political hell as the coronavirus pandemic became increasingly real for everyone, I was battling a phone buzzing with incessantly apocalyptic news notifications. Meditating was harder than usual, and it's never easy for me. With nothing but me and the Muse set to give no guidance or instruction, every stray thought and noise yanked me out of my body and back into the spiral.

Control session for pleasure mapping: The result was 29 percent calm.

Erotic body scanning (or pleasure mapping)

It was exponentially easier to let the spiral go when I had more sensory stimuli to focus on. I used a Lush massage bar on my bare skin, which not only made touching my body feel lovely but filled my nostrils with the smell of calming lavender as I inhaled deeply.

In pleasure mapping or mindful sex body scanning, either you or your partner touches every part of your body to discover what feels good, what doesn't, what level of pressure you like in a touch, if there's a type of touch you prefer, etc.

In this session, I didn't touch any erogenous zones (which is recommended for mindful sex beginners at first), since the exercise is supposed to show the difference between regular goal-oriented sexual touch versus the exploratory, non-demanding sensual touch of mindful sex. By taking the pressures of getting off out of the equation, you learn to separate sensations of arousal from anxiety-inducing expectations and thoughts, such as ("What if I can't orgasm?" and "What if I look ugly?")

With the real-time feedback from Muse, I noticed my mind get stormier whenever I touched my tummy, a major source of my body image issues. But it felt empowering when I heard a bird chirp after touching my neck, which has always been a trigger for me from previous sexual trauma. Mindful sex can be a great way to both help you identify those triggers, then provide the mindset to help conquer those sources of distress. But it takes a lot of practice and patience.

Solo pleasure mapping session with no guide had me at 66 percent calm.

In other erotic body scanning experiments, I used guided recordings from audio erotica platform Dipsea. I usually love their pleasure mapping guided erotic meditation. But it felt as though I'd advanced past needing guidance (leading to only 6 percent calm), instead preferring to take my own path in mindfully exploring my body.

I achieved just 6 percent calm during the guided solo pleasure mapping session.

In another session I did an erotic body scan with my partner's hands exploring me instead, but that showed poorer results too (26 percent calm). This only goes to show that expert advice is right: It's best to graduate to partnered mindful sex, because another person inherently introduces new insecurities and factors. It's harder to remember that this is about you, and your relationship to your pleasure alone.

Partnered pleasure mapping session netted a calm score of 26 percent.

Control session

For this control session, I decided to try to mimic the tantric session as much as possible by choosing a guided breath-focused exercise from the Muse app.

It definitely improved my experience, but breath has always been a tricky focal point for me. I get weirdly obsessive about perfectly aligning with the instructor's timing, and this exercise exacerbated that anxiety by adding a count of 10 breaths. Whenever I absent-mindedly counted past 10, I'd get upset with myself and my brain would get stormy. Towards the end though, I was much better at just accepting this impulse without reacting negatively.

Control session with guided breath exercise came in at 34 percent calm.

Tantric masturbation

Honestly I was pretty skeptical that this one would do me any good. I'd tried this guided session from Dipsea ("Breathing Deeply") before and liked it less than their other mindful sex guides. But this time I found the hyper-focus on localized deep breathing helpful to releasing any insecurities that usually come up while I'm naked (like a big belly from deep breathing, for example).

One of the main differences between tantra and other mindful sex practices is this higher premium on a specific type of breath (also known as orgasmic breathing). It's supposed to train you to disperse sexual energy throughout the body, helping your muscles relax rather than tense during moments of arousal, and allegedly leading to better climax.

I've found other mindful sex practices (like pleasure mapping) instead encourage a bit more active analysis of your own experience, coaxing you to sit with and explore unpleasant sensations as much as the pleasant ones. This is probably counter to how Muse tracks success, since it can lead to thoughts that are less calming but still fruitful for your mindful sex practice.

But tantra aims to reach a liminal headspace that allows you to more fully lose yourself in being a body receiving stimuli with no sense of self. That might be the kind of brainwave activity Muse rewards more.

The success of this tantric exercise led me to want to test another experiment, though...

With the tantric deep breathing guided meditation, I was 67 percent calm.

Control session

Just a regular, guide-less meditation this time. I noted that it was after having a bit of wine and weed, though, so I had aids helping me relax. At the same time, I was also dealing with a bit of annoyance with my partner, which melted away by the end of the session.

During the control session for mindful sense-play, I was 69 percent calm. (*Insert sex joke here*)

Mindful sense-play

Now technically, all these experiments are mindful sense-play in a way. But specifically, I wanted to experiment with the kinkier definition of the word, which describes everything from BDSM spanking, to temperature play (think hot wax and ice cubes), and blindfolding.

There's interesting preliminary research happening right now into the relationship between mindfulness and BDSM at the University of British Columbia's Brotto Labs, one of the premier institutes for mindful sex therapy and research. While studying this is still in the early stages, the hypothesis is that pain and BDSM might actually be great tools for advanced mindfulness practitioners.

"Pain really centers your attention on the present moment."

As Cara Dunkley, the Ph.D. candidate studying this phenomenon at Brotto Labs explained over the phone, Pain really centers your attention on the present moment. It demands intense focus upon an intense sensation.

Also, on a neurological level, mindfulness has been found to reduce activity in the part of the brain responsible for our sense of selfhood and mind wandering. Similarly, those who practice role-playing BDSM often describe entering an altered state of mind called "domspace" (for dominants) or "subspace" (for submissives) that seems similar, as Dunkley described it.

People talk about a sense of oneness with the universe, that lessening of selfhood thats associated with a more spiritual, heady, altered state of consciousness, she said.

I've experienced that subspace in the past through roleplay and pain, so I hoped the Muse could capture this unique mindset that can result from BDSM. But evidently, pain didn't help my meditation. Whether that's because it was the wrong time, situation, incompatible with how Muse tracks success, or the theory just doesn't pan out, I can't say.

Using body-safe wax with my partner resulted in only 28 percent calm, my brain growing stormier with every tense anticipation of another drop of hot wax on my chest. The lack of success might also be due to us communicating less than usual, since Muse counts that as "active" brainwaves. But communication is key to proper BDSM and reaching subspace (for me, at least).

During the partnered sense-play session, I was only 28 percent calm.

However, a gentler version of sense play proved much more fruitful. My partner ran a downy feather up and down my body to add a new sensation to partnered pleasure mapping, resulting in 48 percent calm. Still, it wasn't as good as my initial control session, but I'm not giving up on the potential usefulness of BDSM sense-play as meditative. It could be that in both these instances my calm was thrown off by the factor of a partner being present, which always lowered my score during these mindful sex experiments.

Feather touching sense-play during partnered pleasure mapping made me 48 percent calm. (Note: I'm unsure why this chart has a different design than the others, but it might have to do with length of time I was in each state).

Control session

Just another regular meditation session. This one gives credence to the idea of "practice makes perfect" when it comes to meditation. It got easier and easier with every day of consistent practice. I was so deep in it this time that I didn't even realize nearly seven minutes had passed, thinking it'd only been a few.

Control session for orgasmic mediation made me 65 percent calm.

Orgasmic meditation

Orgasmic meditation is one of the trendier mindful sex practices going around, even getting the Goop treatment. It's the central philosophy of places like The Institute of OM (previously OneTaste), a highly controversial studio that has offered classes for $199 where people rub each others' clitorises for 15 minutes while meditating.

But I felt down to try the basic premise of orgasmic meditation for the sake of the experiment and you, dear reader. So I got out the big guns in clitoral stimulation sex toys: the Womanizer. It felt like the best toy for the job (despite its misguided name) because the pinpoint suction stimulation induces almost involuntary orgasms in me, and the process is automatic enough to not require much maneuvering or thinking.

It was during this session that I felt the proof was in the pudding: I am indeed most at peace while getting off.

Before I started any sort of mindfulness practice, I used to say sex was the only time my overactive ADHD brain would blissfully shut off. And that experience proved true during my orgasmic meditation. It also goes to show that fantasizing during mindful sex exercises is a totally acceptable aid. I used Dipsea's audio erotic mediation story called "Sail," which puts you in the middle of a calming but arousing fantasy on the beach.

Orgasmic meditation with guided erotic meditation and the Womanizer sex toy helped me get to 71 percent calm.

But then I set out to gather biofeedback data of my orgasm using the Lioness, a rabbit vibrator that measures the force produced by your vaginal contractions during arousal. While the session felt wonderful and the orgasm was of the highest caliber, the Muse results were less favorable than my control case. I realized that was due to one fatal mistake.

Orgasmic meditation using the Lioness to track my orgasm had me at 52 percent calm.

A major principle of mindful sex, in all its forms, is to avoid any sort of goal-oriented expectations especially like putting pressure on yourself to climax. But because I wanted to have something to show for the experiment, that's exactly what I did. In my previous session, while I came close, it didn't matter whether or not I reached orgasm, leading to a more calming experience overall. To be fair to myself, though, the name "orgasmic" meditation itself kind of sets you up for failure in the expectation department.

Regardless, though, my tracked orgasm showed there's some credence to the claims of how mindful sex can lead to better orgasms. For comparison, here's a chart of a regular, quick and dirty orgasm (green) where I masturbated to visual porn versus my orgasmic mediation session (red).

As you can see, I started out with vaginal contractions with higher pressure and tension. But while that only mounted more and more until climax in the regular masturbation session, orgasmic meditation gave me the time and permission to relax my body. The results, both anecdotally and from the data, show a better orgasm. My climax from orgasmic meditation was not only longer, but I was physically more at ease, leading to a fuller body climax rather than a localized one that only sends those tingly good feelings to your clitoris. I rarely ever make any audible noise while masturbating, but in this case, I couldn't hold back a guttural and involuntary, "Oh!"

So is mindful or meditative masturbation perfect? Absolutely not. And the "proof" I managed to get only goes to show how it's a journey of discovery, figuring out what works best for you. But what I can say definitively is that these results show it's definitely worth shooting your shot.

More from March Mindfulness:

More here:

Masturbation meditation works. Heres the proof. - Mashable

Welcome back for the fourth and final week of Meditation Month, our annual challenge to sit all 31 days of March with Insight meditation teacher and writer Sebene Selassie.

This week, Sebene leads a guided meditation that incorporates the Buddhas teachings on all four elements and shows us how these teachings can help us strengthen and broaden our practice on and off the cushion. Focusing first on the element of air, Sebene reminds us of our interconnectedness with all beings. The breath is a very popular object of meditation, and we can use it to tap into the sense of not-self and connect with others.

We can experience the element of air as an ephemeral reality that not only sustains us moment-to-moment, but also connects us through time and space to all living creatures.

Reflecting on these last four weeks, Sebene invites us to take what weve learned about earth, water, fire, and air and use this knowledge to let go and find freedom in any moment.

Download a copy of this talk. It has been edited for clarity.

Thank you for meditating with more than 10,000 people around the world this month!

If youre hearing about Meditation Month for the first time, missed a video, or need a refresher, this video series will remain free and available.

More meditation material to support your practice:

See all our Meditation Month offerings here.

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Meditation Month 2020: Breathing with All Beings - Tricycle

Greetings to all. I pray for all of our safety during this time in the world.

We have been arguing the fact that our Lord and Savior did not come to this world, hang, bleed and die for nothing. Our world at his time was full of evil, ugliness, meanness, ungodliness, and sin. Much like todays time.

The world and mankind were like this during Noahs time, and God sent a flood to end all humanity, with the exception of eight souls.

This new virus is a reminder that if God wanted to, he could end all humanity again just like that. I asked the members of my church a question: Who wants to go to heaven? Everybody said that they do want to go to heaven. Then I stated that you cant get there unless you die! If we are afraid to die, then we need to take self-inventory.

Get your house in order is a popular saying in our tradition, meaning you should make sure your relationship with Christ is in order so that when he comes (and he is coming again), you will be ready. No one wants to rush death, but death to truly saved people, not religious folks or churchgoers (there is a difference) is the beginning of true life.

God made a promise to never leave us nor forsake us. When Gods people who are called by his name humble themselves and pray it causes God to move. We need to be wise, cautious and concerned, true, but we must never lose faith or operate out of fear.

God is bigger than this new virus. We hear a lot every day from the president, CDC, governors, and civic leaders about how to take measures to help to stop the spread of this new strait to humanity.

Those who can go to work are going to work, but no one is wanting to go to worship, yet Jesus, who didnt die for nothing, is still the answer. The prophet Elisha called on the Lord for rain in a contest between he and 400 prophets of Baal, and he won because he called on the name of the Lord.

God is sending a warning to the whole world that he is still God, and if we as humans dont turn from our evil and ugliness towards each other, then we could be facing the end; therefore, if so, are you ready? To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

My God can do all things but fail. Hmm, havent heard of a city or state in these United States of America talking about a nationwide or statewide conference call, livestreaming, prayer call. Maybe God is calling us all at the same time using whatever social media is available to get on our knees and pray.

Wow, can you imagine all North Carolinians on a Monday afternoon kneeling down at home, work, parks, grocery stores, banks, on postal routes, pulling over off the roads and highways, construction workers, day cares, business offices, and all 100 counties governments to pray collectively to God for healing and for an end to this new strait. Luke 18 says he will move quickly if he finds such faith on Earth. Who is that he? Jesus! No, he didnt die for nothing, and if weve ever needed the Lord, we sure do need him now!

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Meditation: If we've ever needed the Lord, now is the time - Hickory Daily Record

This Portland-based progressive sludge-metal band returned from a lull last year with two new members, bassist-vocalist Alyssa Maucere (formerly of Eight Bells) and drummer Kevin Swartz (of Bottom and Forgotten Gods), and their third full-length, Mysterium Tremendum (eOne). Its beautiful, but its a concept album about deathwhich makes it either the best thing or the worst thing to listen to while staring down the barrel of a pandemic. The bands cofounders, guitarist-vocalist Erik Olsen and guitarist Chris Evans (not the Captain America guy), have both faced sorrow and tragedy in recent yearsEvanss sister suddenly passed away, and both of Olsens parents were diagnosed with cancerand they channeled their grief into music. Lord Dyings previous two albums may have felt heavier in a musical sense, but Mysterium Tremendum (which translates to terrible mystery) is heavier psychologically: the band use a diverse array of techniques from the prog-metal toolbox to meditate on death, spirituality, and the afterlife. The result is not just awe-inspiring but also surprisingly tender and kind. Olsen relies mostly on clean vocals, and on thoughtful tracks such as The End of Experience he sounds vulnerable and plaintive in the face of the inevitableemotions that are cushioned by the ghostly instrumental buildup of the following track, Exploring Inward. That song winds up in shreking defiance, but the high, clear melodic notes of the ballad Even the Darkness Went Away strike a tone of elegiac acceptance. Maucere uses her striking singing to great effect, and its presence is evidence of Lord Dyings willingness to shake up their already powerful sound in order to explore a greater emotional range. Though death is a staple subject in metal lyrics, its rarely explored with as much grace and depth. v

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Lord Dying's Mysterium Tremendum is a beautiful meditation on tragedy - Chicago Reader

Jared Leto says he walked out yesterday into a very different world, after being in total isolation from the outside communication during a 12-day meditation trip in the desert. The Oscar winner took to social media on Monday to share that he had no idea what was happening outside the facility amid the current coronavirus climate.

Wow. 12 days ago I began a silent meditation in the desert. We were totally isolated. No phone, no communication etc. We had no idea what was happening outside the facility, Leto wrote on his social platforms.

He continued, 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.

He made sure to send well-wishes to his millions of followers. Hope you and yours are ok. Sending positive energy to all. Stay inside. Stay safe.

Leto is up next set to star as the titular character in Sonys Spider-Man spinoff, Morbius, due out in July, and opposite Denzel Washington and Rami Malek in Warner Bros The Little Things, which is slated to hit theaters in January 2021. As of now, both release dates are still in place.

As of Tuesday, the total number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. has grown to 4,226 known cases in 49 states plus the District of Columbia, and that the death toll has passed 70. President Trump declared the pandemic a national emergency last Friday and recommended that Americans avoid gatherings of 10 or more people.

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A post shared by JARED LETO (@jaredleto) on Mar 16, 2020 at 10:26pm PDT

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Jared Leto Says He Just Became Aware Of Coronavirus Pandemic After 12-Day Isolated Meditation Trip - Deadline

As Australians suffer the blow of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts say meditation is a skill worth learning to help us cope and you don't even need to formally practise it.

Although many meditation practices recommend sitting twice a day for 20 minutes, research shows we can get the perks from far less.

Dr Elise Bialylew is using meditation to ease anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic.

In fact, we may not need to be consistent to get its anxiety and stress-relieving benefits.

Monash University researchers say a 15-second comma, placed here or there between our daily activities, can be enough to punctuate our day and clean the slate.

This involves simply pausing to notice any tension in your body, the depth of your breath and how you are feeling. You then allow your body to relax, slow and deepen the breath, and name whatever thought or feeling you are having.

Dr Elise Bialylew, a psychiatrist and founder of Mindful in May, says meditation teaches skills and perspective around how we relate to our thoughts and emotions. It also makes you more likely to be able to release negative feelings.

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[It] is invaluable, even if you are not doing a regular meditation practice, says Bialylew, who is also the author of The Happiness Plan. For me, its about emotional intelligence and self-awareness and the ripple effect of that.

This means that simply dropping into it for a moment can be enough to provide us the grounding we need.

Crisis support service Lifeline is experiencing a spike in calls related to COVID-19 over financial stress, social isolation and health concerns, with chairman John Brogden saying about a quarter of callers last week were ringing to discuss the coronavirus.

In an op-ed for The New York Times last week, psychiatrist Judson Brewer, an associate professor at Brown University, wrote that simply pausing and naming what we are feeling is a brain hack that can help to break the cycle of COVID-19 anxiety.

Overwhelmed by uncertainty and fear of the future, the rational parts of our brains go offline, Brewer wrote.

By taking a moment to become aware of our angst and what has prompted it (do we really need a six-month supply of loo roll?), Brewer says we give our prefrontal cortex the brain's rational part a chance to come back online.

We can compare anxiety to what it feels like to be calm. To our brains, its a no-brainer."

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This technique pausing, perceiving and naming is also commonly taught as part of meditation practice.

Looking at whats happening moment to moment and labelling it silently thinking, worrying, whatever that naming has been shown to activate the prefrontal cortex, Bialylew explains.

While we may not need a formal practice of meditation, Bialylew does recommend an initial period of regular practice to integrate it into our lives so that we remember to use it when we need.

Once integrated, she says the results can extend beyond calming COVID-19 anxiety.

People are often coming to meditation for stress relief and to get blissed out, but I think its about so much more than that, Bialylew says.

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Sarah Berry is a lifestyle and health writer at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

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15 seconds can help calm the spread of coronavirus anxiety - The Age

Find Peace at Home With This 10-Minute Guided Meditation

Yes, we should all be social distancing right now but that doesn't mean we can't metaphorically lean on one another for support during these times of uncertainty.

I'm finding stress relief since reaching out to Kelsey Patel, a certified reiki expert and yoga instructor. She created a guided meditation for moments when I need to catch my breath and mentally escape from the confines of my home, and it may help you out, too.

Before getting started, it's key to clean up your space and set the mood. Lighting a candle, brewing a cup of tea, and settling in among blankets and pillows does the trick for me.

By priming our environment, Patel explains that we are creating an intentional practice of slowing down and catering to ourselves.

As you embark on the meditation below, remember to be easy on yourself it's normal for your mind to wander. If this happens, though, allow yourself to readjust and find your center.

"You can do this practice at any time of the day, and do it as many times as needed to reclaim your sense of peace and calm," Patel notes.

Click here for more health and wellness stories, tips, and news.

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This 10-Minute Guided Meditation Will Help Mentally Transport You to a Happier Place - POPSUGAR