Launching straight back into work in the New Year can be challenging, but learning how to meditate can help you stay focused. Feel free to roll your eyes right about now, but numerous studies have shown that meditation can boost creativity, improve sleep quality, and manage stress.
“Meditation is a practice to calm the brain by recentering our attention, most often on our breath,” says Mel Mah, an instructor at the meditation app Calm. ”It gives us a chance to check in with ourselves and pause in our busy, overstimulated lives. In those few minutes, you’re giving your nervous system permission to settle and reset.”
If your workspace doesn’t already have a dedicated chill-out area to decompress and reset, it’s probably only a matter of time. This ancient practice is becoming firmly rooted in our modern lives, with both celebs and top business execs making meditation an important part of their daily routine. For example, Oprah champions the power of transcendental meditation for grounding and finding her “silent voice of awareness,” while Jeff Weiner, the executive chairman of LinkedIn, recommends mindfulness meditation to his team for increased productivity and focus.
While there are no fast and hard rules for meditation, we asked the experts for advice on how to get started on the path to pure zen—or at least to feel a little relaxed for a few moments per day. Don’t forget to check out the rest of our wellness resources at Recovery Mode, which includes the Best Workout Apps and the Best Red Light Therapy Masks.
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What Can You Expect From Meditation?
You can meditate anywhere–whether you’re in an empty boardroom or at home in bed–and it’s free.
“Learning to meditate is a powerful tool as it can help you sleep better and reduce stress in the body,” says Michael James Wong, meditation teacher and founder of Just Breathe. “Studies show up to 30 percent reduction in cortisol levels after consistent meditation practice, for example. It can also strengthen the brain’s attention networks, and research using fMRI has shown that just eight weeks of mindfulness training increases activity and density in the prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for focus and decisionmaking.”
There are many different types of meditations that you can try, including movement-based meditation, or sessions guided by sound or mantra. Each practice can use a number of techniques. You may have heard of body scanning, visualization, or loving kindness.
“With our meditation and breath work training methods, we look at the practice in three distinct categories,” says Wong. These include focused attention meditation, present moment and here-and-now practices, and mantra-based practices to help expand consciousness.
Where to Start
There isn’t one single right way to meditate! While there are numerous types of meditation, a breath-based practice is simple. Guided sessions using an app such as Just Breathe or Calm that walk you through the meditation can be helpful but aren’t essential. Many traditional forms of meditation are done in silence, but if you feel particularly restless or anxious, gentle instrumental music can help.
