“The mind is restless and difficult to restrain, but it is subdued by practice.” – From the Bhagavad Gita

Meditation is that important tool for me that when life gets challenging and busy — less is not more.  I need more of it.

It gives me clarity, clarity in the moment that is here in front of me. 

It gives my nervous system a reset.

It gives me a sense of renewed hope and relief.

It eases anxiety.

It’s like a big exhale, a sense of grounding and the feeling that all will be OK and all is ok.

It allows me to feel more gratitude for all that is around me. A sense of how magical and precious life is.

It gives me some time with myself. It gives me a lot of answers.

It’s where I listen to my inner voice.

It’s where I practice self compassion.

And set an inquiry to any thoughts that come in. I welcome all thoughts and I welcome the space in between the thoughts.

Dr Joe Dispenza, states in his book – Becoming Supernatural  “When you close your eyes and sit still and eliminate the external environment, you can train yourself to get a clear signal and receive information from it. When you do this repeatedly, you tune into a new level of information that you can use to influence. Your body experience syntropy (enhanced order) instead of entropy (disorder, physical breakdown, and chaos). Once you can quiet down your analytical, thinking mind and more readily tune in to this more orderly information, your body automatically responds by processing this new stream of consciousness and energy, thereby becoming more efficient, coherent and healthy.”

3 tools that I use for my practice :

1. Insight timer

   It is an app which you can download and access 25,000 guided mediations, music, ambient sounds. There is something for everyone. It also helps you track your progress with milestones.

   I like this feature as it is a great accountability tool as well. My favorites currently on Insight timer are meditations by Davidji, course by Sarah Boldin, Tara Brach  and binaural beats mediations. Here is a meditation from me for you to enjoy. 

   

2. Heartmath

   I use the innerbalance app by heart math. It works with a pulse sensor that clips to your ear. The inner balance app shows you your heart rhythm pattern along with a breathing pacer. The app trains you to change your heart rhythm patterns to a more coherent state.

   I recommend this tool to clients who have a goal of managing stress and achieving that flow state but are unable to practice sit down meditation. It also helps maintain a state of resilience with practice. My daughter’s notes after using the innerbalance — “I feel very content and peaceful after breathing with inner balance. I feel happy and loved. My body feels very calm!”

3. ChooseMuse      

Is a biofeedback brain sensing headband with 7 EEG brain sensors — on  the forehead and behind the ears that detect and measure the activity of the brain. When your mind is calm — you hear peaceful weather and birds chirping and when your attention drifts you hear stormy weather to cue you back to your breath.

There are guided meditations to follow as well. You can view your sessions results here as well and track progress. 

Bonus – Walking meditation

Sun in my face, cool breeze in the air. It is the perfect way I love to start my day, though not always possible. I’m grateful for weekends when I’ve space to do so.

Meditation is more than just good for the soul and to connect to one’s deep inner self. Research confirms how meditation helps us with stress reduction, decreased anxiety, reduction in pain, improved memory along with physiological benefits — reduced blood pressure, heart rate, cortisol, increased melatonin, relative blood flow to the brain and more.

What are your favorite practices to come back to yourself?