When life gets busy, let’s make the choice to slow down, breathe and reconnect.
Take time for some R&R.

What is meditation?

The world seems to run at a crazy pace and it is easy to get over
busy and completely out of tune with how we are. We can end up
pinging from A to B until we hit burnout. Meditation is about
taking the time to slow down and tune in.

Why it’s important

Meditation is a great step towards becoming more self-aware
and more emotionally resilient. Meditation has been scientifically
proven to increase emotional wellbeing, reduce worry,
anxiety, fear and depression. It improves optimism, awareness,
self-esteem and emotional intelligence.

Meditation also has the ability to help improve concentration,
memory retention and recall. It promotes better decision making,
creativity and problem solving. If all this wasn’t enough, it
also has a positive impact on your body by reducing blood
pressure, improving breathing and reducing pain.

Here are three easy steps to get going

1.

Find a space where you
can be uninterrupted.

It can be helpful to get into a routine;
maybe you could have a favourite chair
or a certain space in the house to practice.

However, the shorter meditations might
need to fit around a busy day at work.
The key is to be able to tune in without being
interrupted. This could look like sitting in
your car for a few minutes on your lunch
break or finding an unused room in the
office. It doesn’t matter which option you choose, it is much
better to be realistic.

2.

Should I sit or lie down?

Best practice is to be seated
during a meditation; this is to help
reduce the risk of you drifting off to sleep.
But let’s face it, even sitting up may not be
enough to keep you awake some days.

Mostly it is important to be comfortable.
So if sitting causes you pain or discomfort
then find a position you can relax in. Part
of meditation is to practice stillness, so find
a position you can be in and resist the
urge to fidget.

3.

How to stay focused

When practising meditation it is
common to occasionally get distracted
with thoughts or sounds. The key is to
not give up or get disheartened; simply
refocus, rejoin the practice at any point
and keep going. Chin up.

This time is about being kind to yourself,
practising non-judgment and compassion.
That starts towards yourself.

Go and try it yourself…