FISHERS, Ind. (WTHR) Do you start to feel stressed just thinking about going to work? Maybe that feeling is stemming from a big project you have to present to your boss in a few months. Or do you have a student athlete at home whose ability is being capped because of doubts swirling in their head? You might want to consider looking into meditation.

"Meditation is about taking your body out of a fight-or-flight state, a stress state, and turning off that reaction to your nervous system so your body can go into a healing practice," said Paula Lord with BODY by GymRoots. "When I talk about healing, imagine if I cut myself. My body knows how to naturally heal that. Its not some crazy-out-there-idea of healing. Its literally my body's ability to heal itself if I injure it."

Lord brings people back to even at a studio in Fishers called BODY by GymRoots. She hasn't been meditating that long. In fact, she's only been practicing it for two years.

There are many different types of meditation. The type Lord practices is called the meditation on Twin Hearts.

"Its a very powerful packed way of utilizing the life energy that's all around us," said Lord. "Youve heard of life energy through Tai chi. We call it prana, so it's utilizing that prana through meditation and bringing it into our body and helping our bodys healing process be stronger."

If you've never meditated before, Lord suggests starting with five minutes a day.

"Its a lot like upgrading the hardware in your phone," said Lord. "If I had still had the iPhone 3, I wouldnt be able to do much with it. So, as I increase the amount of time I meditate, its like upgrading my phone. So the more I meditate, the stronger I get with it, the more I get to have the most up-to-date, usable equipment."

After just two years of meditating, Lord says she feels like she has more energy and less pain. She also believes meditating can help each and every one of us accomplish extraordinary things. When she started seeing the benefits in her life, she began teaching her daughter and other young athletes.

"She is now 21 years old," said Lord. "She competes in gymnastics for Northern Illinois University."

Lord says her daughter recently finished with a 9.9 on beam and led her team to a conference championship.

"They asked 'what did you do in the locker room before you came out?'" said Lord. "And her first response was 'well, I like to do meditation, and I did that before I came out.' You can do that experiment without meditation, but you have to give credit or a nod where it gave her the ability to perform under pressure."

If you're looking for something to do while you're at the office to get you back to even, Lord suggests giving your eyes a break.

"Sit back and practice turning your eyes to the left, right, up, down," said Lord. "Look around and change the focal point or go look our the window for around 20 seconds every hour."

And when you pick your kids up from school, Lord suggests turning on some light music and have your kids practicing deep breathing with you while you're driving them to their next activity.

"Meditation is not something you have to wear a robe and a scarf for," said Lord. "And you don't even have to turn off the lights or have a quiet space. We would like to find our quiet in the midst of all the chaos."

Lord believes apps can help your kids grasp the concept of meditation but then, you should see if your kids can eventually meditate without them.

"I work with a lot of athletes and kids who are a little young for the powerful Twin Hearts method," said Lord. "We teach them a little bit about the breathing so then, they will utilize the apps in their daily life because it is so easy for them even just walking around at school. Pop in the headphones, go to that calm space, and [it] helps them achieve that state. Also, don't get too dependent on them. Utilize this as a tool to help you learn what its like to be calm, and see what you can do without it."

Paul Wilson teaches Transcendental Meditation in Indianapolis. It's been taught in Indiana for 51 years and research has shown that this technique helps with stress-related conditions, brain function, cardiovascular health and post-traumatic stress.

He says transcendental meditation can't be learned through an app.

"Many people at the free weekly introductory talks at our Nora office have tried meditation phone apps. Hardly anyone says the apps are easy or effective for reducing their stress and anxiety," said Wilson.

Transcendental Meditation Indianapolis offers free introductory talks on the TM technique every Wednesday at both noon and 7:00 p.m., as well as by appointment.

"We make the TM technique affordable for as wide a range of incomes as possible, offering sliding scale, one-time payment even those on government assistance can usually afford if they are serious about feeling better," said Wilson. "This simple system of deep meditation is much less expensive than a single day in a cardiac unit."

Meditation at BODY by GymRoots is free on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. and Thursdays at 8:15 a.m., but you do need to reserve a spot. Love donations are accepted. The next classes on pranic healing at BODY by GymRoots are scheduled to happen June 5-7.

Ball State also recently shared its planetarium-based meditation program. They decided to develop this to help with the rise in mental-health awareness and treatment options. Part of this initiative includes a fulldome planetarium program called "Sunset Meditation."

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Using meditation to benefit your life - WTHR