Meditation

Focused Attention Meditation

Surprise, you’ve already been practicing meditation! We introduced Focused Attention Meditation when we introduced mindfulness. This meditation simply requires you to tune into your breath cycles and bring your attention back to your breath any time it wanders. If your mind latches on to a thought, be gentle with yourself and simply release it. It may be helpful to set a timer for this type of meditation when you are beginning. Start at 2 or 3 minutes and increase as your skill increases.

Guided Meditation

A guided meditation is a meditation that is, well, guided by someone else. There are millions of guided meditations out there, including many here in your Reframe app. In a guided meditation, a teacher leads you through an auditory meditation where they may ask you to image scenery, sensations, etc. These are a great place to start for beginners.

Body Scan Meditation

This is another meditation you’ve already been practicing, and an excellent tool for tuning back into our physical needs and the way our bodies feel. When you practice a body scan, you begin either at the crown or the toes and work your way through each part of the body. Notice, without judgement, how you are feeling in your body, and take note if there’s any discomfort or tension being held anywhere.

Important things to remember about meditation:

• It is a practice, meaning it takes practice to improve. It may feel difficult at first, but if you practice regularly, it will become more intuitive.

• Start small: set a timer for 3 minutes or plug into a quick guided meditation. No need to start out with a 30 minute meditation; that will only discourage you

• You can practice anywhere. Meditation does not require a quiet, dimly lit room; practice it in a public bathroom, in a crowded subway, at Thanksgiving dinner when politics come up—wherever you need to call upon a little peace and quiet.

• Your brain isn’t truly a muscle, but it behaves like one in many ways. We can strengthen the function and structure of our brains with time and practice.

Now that you’ve been introduced to meditation, pick one of the above meditations and incorporate it into your day today. How do you feel after 5 minutes of quiet? What did you notice?