Mary comments on a listener's email -- how to listen to these meditations. This episode can bring insights about meditation and enhance your experience. Launched in 2018, Forever35 is ostensibly “a podcast about things we do to take care of ourselves,†as it describes itself in its opener each episode.
Any form of practice contains some discomfort and pain, but it’s not supposed to be torture. Whenever you notice that a thought, feeling, or perception has taken your attention away from the breath, just say to yourself, “thinking,†and return to following the breath. No need to judge yourself when this happens; just gently note it and attend to your breath and posture. To get started, download a binaural beats meditation audio, put on a headset, and listen. If you have a serious mental disorder or brain injury, discuss this with your doctor before giving binaural beats a try. There is some concern that listening to binaural beats could be a problem for anyone who has epilepsy, an irregular heartbeat, or wears a pacemaker.
The Calmer You Podcast features Chloe Brotheridge, author of The Anxiety Solution and Brave New Girl. Most Western practitioners find that a combination of meditation and psychology is the most effective way to liberate ourselves from trauma, bad habits, and negative feelings. While meditation provides insight into the nature of thoughts and emotions, psychotherapy engages with their substance. If you’re interested in meditating for mental health, talk to a medical professional. It’s not bad at all—in fact, it’s perfectly natural.
This means finding music that you enjoy listening to—if you don’t enjoy classical music, for example, don’t choose it. You should also look for music that has a slower tempo, and preferably without lyrics, which can be distracting and can engage your conscious mind—the part of your mind that we hope to slow down. As an added bonus, for many people who are beginners to meditation, or who are perfectionists, music meditation can feel simpler and more instantly relaxing than other forms of practice.
Movement meditation is good for people who find peace in action and prefer to let their minds wander. As the name suggests, this practice is ideal for anyone who requires additional focus in their life. Spiritual meditation can be practiced at home or in a place of worship.
Army Research Lab found experienced meditators preferred silence while novices liked music without a distinct melody. A 2017 study at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center discovered the part of the brain associated with internally focused thought lit up most often on MRI scans when someone heard a spa music song they liked . The road to better health doesn’t have to involve major changes to your lifestyle. Making minor modifications, such as following the guided meditations on these health and wellness podcasts, can help boost your wellbeing and improve the quality of your life.
Or, find some time to experiment with mindful eating using a simple food, like a raisin or an apple. Mindfulness meditation is the practice of actually being present in the moment, which in turn trains us to become more mindful throughout the day, particularly during difficult situations. After a few breaths, invariably, the mind will wander again. What’s important is how we respond when it happens.
Instructions from an experienced teacher can help remind us to come back to the present moment, let go of distracting thoughts and not be so hard on ourselves. In addition to basic meditation instructions, we’ve compiled guided meditations for a few popular exercises including the body scan, walking meditation and mindful eating. “Each of the applied mindfulness practices brings alive an experience that might otherwise be more automatic,†said Ms. Brach. One popular mindful listening exercise that kids appreciate is the bell or gong practice.
A lake water sound provides a calm rhythm that helps you drift off to sleep or create a relaxing peaceful environment. Basic mindfulness meditation is very simple, even if it isn’t always easy to do. More than anything else, it requires a commitment. “Admiring the idea of meditation doesn’t really do anything,†said Sharon Salzberg, who has taught mindfulness meditation for more than 40 years.