Bill Roache has urged fans to try meditation to deal with stress during the coronavirus outbreak.

The Coronation Street veteran, best known as Ken Barlow on the soap, said he has been using the practice for 40 years.

He told ITVs This Morning: There are certain basic things to wellbeing, we all know you need enough water, enough sleep, enough fresh air and exercise and enough vegetables and we can do things about that.

But the two things that are very difficult to deal with, mainly the life we have been living in the world today has been full of stress, that is one hard thing to deal with, and with the current situation there is fear, so those two things are pretty difficult to deal with.

Meditation is a discipline, whereby you learn to only think about what you wish to think about and get into your inner, true, loving self and radiate that out.

Leading viewers in a mediation from his conservatory at his home, he said: Remember that darkness is only a lack of light and fear is only a lack of love and we are all loving beings, thats what we are, believe it or not.

We just need to express that and by allowing that to flow out, that helps the fear get removed.

He urged people to find a quiet place and to sit upright in a comfortable chair and said: What you want to think about is your breathing and you want to balance your breathing nice and smoothly in and out.

I like to think about the gentle waves on the seashore, as they come in, you breathe in, and as they go out, you breathe out, so you sit there and you try to do that.

After a while, your thoughts will start coming in, which they will, and you go back to thinking about your breathing, let the thought pass through, dont try and deny it, and then the body will fidget and the emotions will come in and all sorts of frightening things and just go back to thinking about your breathing and seeing these waves coming in and out.

Then you will get to a point where you can always go back to that, whatever you are feeling.

Roache, 87, said that through the practice of meditation he believes he could live for decades more.

He said: I will get to 100, see how I feel and maybe add another 20 years on.

Filming on Coronation Street has been suspended during the coronavirus pandemic but Roache, whose character left the cobbles earlier this month to move to a nearby retirement complex with his girlfriend Claudia Colby, played by Rula Lenska, said he was looking forward to returning.

He said: We have got the 60th anniversary coming up a the end of the year, we will be back for that.

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Bill Roache leads This Morning viewers in meditation to ease stress - BreakingNews.ie

Ommm, french fry meditation.

Image: Westend61 / Getty Images

March Mindfulness is Mashable's series that examines the intersection of meditation practice and technology. Because even in the time of coronavirus, March doesn't have to be madness.

When you think of meditation, do Doritos or Ben and Jerry's come to mind?

No? Well, let's change that.

Whether its because theyre full of high-fructose corn syrup or covered in cheese dust or because you say youll just have a few while you watch the new Drag Race and then look down at an empty packet in your lap one lip-sync later, were used to thinking of snack foods as bad, and then thinking of ourselves as bad when we eat them.

Instead of gleefully shaming yourself for hoovering snacks in your Shame Pants without really enjoying them, savor what you want to eat with a side of mental health benefits by using it as a meditation aid.

Mindfulness "gets roped into the wellness scene to help sell aai bowls and kombucha, says Mary Hoang, founder and principal psychologist of Sydney mental wellbeing organisation The Indigo Project. But mindfulness should not only be reserved for salivating for 10 minutes over a sultana. There are opportunities for mindfulness throughout our day, and [those] shouldnt be sacrificed on account of you eating a Big Mac as opposed to an Activated Quinoa Bowl.

Eating is something thats mentioned often as part of developing a mindfulness practice. Like breathing, you do it every day, and can often take it for granted. Slowing down to focus on it, however, has proven health benefits. According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, a researcher whose mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques are taught at various medical centers, "mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally." One of those techniques involves mindfully eating a raisin.

Meditation students are to focus on a single raisin and imagine they'd never seen this odd dried fruit before. Notice the shades of dark purple, the wrinkles, twirl it in their fingers, listen to the sound it makes as it's squeezed, sniff it, he'd suggest. And if they thought, "what the fuck am I doing?," they were to acknowledge that quickly and then come back to investigating the raisin. They'd let it sit on their tongues before chewing, exploring the taste before following its journey from their tongue to their teeth to their belly.

You don't need a raisin or a "healthy" snack to practice this mindfulness technique. You can do it with any food you want. Even a french fry. Even a Dorito. Even a scoop of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

While instructors may recommend taking about five minutes to do the raisin meditation, Hoang says bringing the concepts explored during the exercise into your day for just 30 seconds has more of an effect than doing nothing.

Next time you grab a really good, fresh, hot French fry, try using it to meditate.

Meditation can be lots of things, but I think primarily it is the cultivation of an intentional focus on something on a thought, a visualisation, an object, and activity, adds Hoang. I also see meditation as a form of self-connection an opportunity to sit with how we are feeling and 'showing up' that day without judgement.

Hoang starts the process of mindful eating by thinking about how her food was made: Be grateful for all the hard work and hands of many that made this snack possible for you to enjoy. (This is equally valid and fascinating whether youre thinking about a cucumber or a Cheeto, I promise.)

Then bring your awareness to your five senses and allow your body to take in the food through all of them. What does the food look like: the colours, the textures? What does it smell like: is it familiar, is it novel? What does it feel like in your mouth? Can you feel its texture? Is it hot or cool? What does it sound like as you bite down: Does it crunch? Does it squish? And finally, how does it taste? Salty? Sweet? Bitter?

So next time you grab a really good, fresh, hot French fry, try using it to meditate.

Seriously. Hold it up as it cools. Look at how the light diffuses through the oil-crisped edge. Focus only on the fry. Think about that weirdly soothing video you saw online of huge machines slicing millions of potatoes into millions of fries, and feel gratitude for this fry, which has come to you. Smell it, gently. Bite it slowly. Taste the salt, and the potato, separately and together. Focus only on the fry. Notice the contrast between that crisp edge and the creamy middle. (Or if youre one of those freaks who prefers the soft and soggy ones, enjoy that.)

If, after all that, you want to shovel them in by the fistful, go for your life. But think about that first fry later, and the peacefulness you felt while you focused only on that fry, even just for a few seconds. You meditated today. Congrats!

Headspace, generally a great resource for mindfulness and meditation beginners, also has a guide to mindful eating. As well as making us watchful about what we eat, the page says, [mindful eating] aims to transform our relationship with food by focusing on the how and why of eating, encouraging a more holistic point of view.

While its program has been helpful for many, being watchful about what we eat has a worrying hint of diet-culture flavor. You don't need to veer in that direction. You can eat mindfully without having to count out almonds. The wellness industry, and the related fixation on whats seen as natural, doesn't have a monopoly on mindfulness. Theres an insidious, well-lit asceticism thats grown around the wellness industrial complex and the way it markets itself. Self-care may have devolved into millennial shorthand for doing whatever you want because life has too many rules and is stressful, but wellness has become synonymous with the perceived virtue of denying yourself certain things, like milk chocolate or processed food, and thats bullshit too.

Mindful eating isnt about making up for your nutritional sins. Its about maximising the pleasure you get from eating anything, whether its a really good strawberry or a Twinkie or an especially cheese-dust-crusted Dorito. If you make the conscious choice to eat something for pleasure, rather than purely for fuel, dont cancel that pleasure out by not enjoying it fully.

I think that some of us are so scared to give ourselves permission to feel good in a genuine and authentic way, because we think that if we do, we will descend into a pit of debauched indulgence, says Hoang. And then theres some of us that constantly chase feeling good by numbing and distracting ourselves, and resisting any deeper investigation inward, to understand how we really feel beneath all the party drugs, alcohol, junk food, etc. The popular thing to tout is its all about balance, but I think its actually all about self-awareness.

If youd like to talk to someone about your eating behaviors, call the National Eating Disorder Associations helpline at 800-931-2237. You can also text NEDA to 741-741 to be connected with a trained volunteer at the Crisis Text Line or visit NEDA's website for more information.

More from March Mindfulness:

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Snack meditation: How to practice mindfulness while eating a fry - Mashable

Lizzoalways makes us smile, whether its turning up to the Brit Awards dressed like a chocolate bar or taking time out of her Australian tour to aid the bushfire efforts. And lets not forget her ridiculously tiny bagat the AMAs.

Now, the Truth Hurts singer is posting videos or meditations on Instagram of her playing the flute in an attempt to help those of us in isolation across the world amid the coronavirus crisis. A meditation and mantra to promote healing during this global crisis. Use at your own pace. Love you! reads one post, where Lizzo playsa flute solo to a bowl of crystals and palo santo. Another video describes itself as a practice in connectivity during this social distance.

As we move further into this period of self-isolation, an increasing number of celebrities are looking to social media to connect with their fans. Last week, Christine and the Queens announced that she will be performing a series of livestream impromptu shows from Ferber studios in Paris, while Charli XCX is putting together a series of daily online events on Instagram Live, which include the likes of Diplo, Kim Petras, Clairo, Rita Ora, and more.

Last weekend, LA rapper D-Nice went live from his Instagram account to host an online party, Club Quarantine, which was attended by over 100,000 people, including the likes of Rihanna, Missy Elliott, Oprah Winfrey, andBernie Sanders.

Artists including Lil Nas X and Megan Thee Stallion have also stepped up to aid fans over social media, sending money to help with potential job losses due to the pandemic.

Read more here:

Stuck at home? Now you can meditate with Lizzo and her flute - Dazed

Kolkata: With no cricket happening due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik has gone into self-isolation at home and is using the free time doing shadow practice and meditation.

KKR have posted a video of their captain in which he is seen doing shadow practice and meditation.

"As you can see, this is all I have been doing in the last two-three days. I really miss my sport but I am doing everything I can to stay connected with the sport and trying to do everything that is part of the sport as well," the wicket-keeper-batsman said in the video on KKR's official Twitter handle.

"These are the three things that I have been doing in the last three days Number one: social distancing (stay at least six feet away from everybody); two: wash your hands (sanitise them) and three: the most important thing, stay home and stay safe (as much as possible)."

"Remember, it's not just about taking care of ourselves; it's also to take care of everyone around us," he added.

Just as the franchises were getting ready for pre-season activities, the IPL 2020 was postponed to 15 April because of the COVID-19 outbreak and in the current scenario, it is unlikely that the event will take place.

Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak

Updated Date: Mar 23, 2020 21:55:55 IST

Tags : Coronavirus, Coronavirus India, Coronavirus Pandemic, COVID, COVID-19, COVID-19 Cases, COVID-19 Pandemic, Dinesh Karthik, India, KKR, Kolkata Knight Riders, SportsTracker

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Coronavirus Outbreak: Dinesh Karthik takes to shadow practice, meditation during self-isolation at home - Firstpost

A pandemic ushers in uncertainty and worry. While the coronavirus outbreak has confined most of us to our homes, it is pertinent that we use this time to heal our minds and bodies.

Meditation is a good way of calming ones nerves and keeping anxiety in check. Although going to the gym or yoga centre might not be an option now, one can make sure that one meditates daily at home.

Here are some ways on how to practice meditation at home:

Representational image.

Choose your spot

Meditation means clearing away the clutter in your thoughts and attaining inner peace. In order to achieve optimum results, find a comfortable spot in your house. You can go for a space in front of a window, or the glass door which looks upon greenery or your favourite couch.

Handle the first day with care

Working from home, worrying about the viral outbreak and how it is affecting global economy can make you a tad bit distracted while meditating. Do not give up on the first day, it is going to be the hardest initially, but this too shall pass.

Ways to concentrate

To attain utmost concentration, devise a chant or mantra that you would repeat every day. These chants could be full of self love or about expressing gratitude to any power that you believe in. You can also choose to list people for whom youre continuing to battle it out or the things that you are grateful for.

Take outside guidance

Try meditating with your family members, this will provide you with additional boost and energy. Use YouTube videos for guidance and calming music to set the mood. Remember, this is the time to be together.

Dont quit

Try some yoga postures, change your spot give yourself time but do not quit. Make sure before or after work, you take some time out every day to practice meditation. Being consistent will reap better results.

Updated Date: Mar 20, 2020 13:39:51 IST

Tags : Coronavirus, Coronavirus Outbreak, COVID-19, Meditation, NewsTracker, Pandemic, Quarantine, Yoga, YouTube

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Anxious about coronavirus? Here's five tips that'll help you practice meditation at home - Firstpost

Hollywood actors can sometimes be accused of not living in the real world, what with their massive mansions and armies of PR people insulating them from us ordinary mortals.

Most of the A-listers tell anyone who will listen theyre as human as the rest of us, but every now and again a story emerges that proves our point.

Take Jared Leto, for example. The Oscar-winner has gained a huge following thanks to films such as The Dallas Buyers Club and his band, 30 Seconds to Mars.

The singer might as well have been on the Red Planet, as he tweeted his astonishment at the state of the world after he had been holed up at a retreat in the desert for 12 days of silent meditation.

Naturally, Jared cut off all communications with the outside world as he undertook his period of isolation, posting to Twitter only when he returned to civilisation.

In a follow-up tweet he wrote: Walked out yesterday into a very different world. One thats been changed forever. Mind blowing to say the least. Im getting messages from friends and family all around the globe and catching up on whats going on.

Hope you and yours are ok. Sending positive energy to all. Stay inside. Stay safe.

Surprisingly, there wasnt a lot of love around for the star, who recently pulled out of the Hugh Hefner biopic, with people responding to his thread.

One user replying: Insulated, [privileged] and overly emotional. Sheesh, you actors really are in a world of your own.

Aanother posted: Privilege of the rich. Although, tbf, there are quite a few homeless folks who are also unaware of this whole thing.

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Jared Leto accused of privilege on Twitter after emerging from silent meditation in the desert - Extra.ie

Executive Summary

The skills leaders need in a crisis empathy, creative thinking, analytical decision making are the same ones that are compromised when were under extreme stress. Fortunately, meditation can be of tremendous help when youre facing uncertainty and feeling threatened. Practicing meditation has been shown to reduce anxiety, calm the amygdala, increase our ability for to think creatively and empathetically take other peoples perspective. There are three practices leaders can integrate into their day now. Do a short simple meditation first thing in the morning. Start meetings with a moment of mindfulness for your team. And step back when you find yourself in unproductive thought patterns. Each of these will help you and those you lead stay grounded

Weve made our coronavirus coverage free for all readers.

A global pandemic is in full effect. Risks of infection are on the rise, stock markets are tumbling, the economy is on the verge of a global recession, and every business is facing uncertainty. Chances are high that youre feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and afraid.

Thats normal. The survival part of our brain (mainly the amygdala) kicks in when we perceive a threat and causes our focus to narrow. This is helpful when we face an immediate threat, but it also means our thinking can follow unproductive patterns: We are more likely to engage in worst-case scenario thinking or, alternatively, deny the threat; we have less access to the creative and analytical parts of our brain; and we are impaired in our ability to empathize, listen, and relate to others.

Unfortunately, those are the exact skills we need as leaders in times of crisis. We need the full capacity of our brain to weigh best possible options, question our assumptions, come up with new and creative ways of doing things, and remain calm in order to reassure employees, customers, and business partners while listening and taking their concerns seriously.

Meditation can be of tremendous help during times like this. Practicing meditation has been shown to reduce anxiety, calm the amygdala, increase our ability to think creatively and empathetically take other peoples perspective. Steve Jobs, an early adaptor of meditation described his experience like this: You start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before.

In my work with executives Ive observed three practices that help in times of crisis.

In times of uncertainty, there is a strong temptation to start the day by checking your email and news. But when we do that, we are drawn into reactive mode, often fighting one fire after another. On the contrary, starting the day with a few minutes of meditation can help you center and calm fear-based thoughts. There are many different ways to do this: You can use an app such as Insight Timer and sit in bed while listening to a guided meditation. I have found it most useful to get up and, after a cup of coffee, sit down on a cushion or in a chair and practice a simple mindfulness meditation.

Over time you will notice that you start the day with an openness and awareness for possibilities that you would otherwise not have seen. Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki, one of the pioneers of meditation in the U.S., has called this beginners mind. Its when our thoughts quiet down, our minds open up to see the present reality with less judgement and preconceived notions. Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff, an avid meditator, describes this effect like this: Beginners mind is informing me to step back, so that I can create what wants to be, not what was. I know that the future does not equal the past. I know that I have to be here in the moment.

We are biased toward action in times like these and sometimes that can be a good instinct. Buttaking a moment at the beginning of a meeting (virtual or in person) to get present, notice your own emotions, and start the meeting with an increased ability to listen and be open to ideas cancan help teams to be more thoughtful about problem solving.

For some teams, this may be a new experience, and some people might find this too touchy-feely. So to start, tell your team that you need them fully present and focused in the meeting. Then suggest an experiment: Ask them to simply focus on their breath for one minute. When they get distracted, suggest they simply return their attention to the breath. Most first-timers are surprised at just how distracted they are and how hard it was to stay present for one minute. Most of them will also feel that they are more calm and present after doing this. And that one minute can change the nature of a meeting. As one executive described the effect this way, Whereas often times we just talk at each other in these meetings, team members seemed to be more present, they listened, heard each other out, and showed a willingness to learn.

When you feel anxious throughout the day, take a moment to breathe and observe your thoughts. Chances are you have left the present moment and gone down a rabbit hole of thinking through future scenarios. While scenario planning is critical, its important to do it with presence and a calm state of mind, examining actual facts and not getting carried away by the fiction of your mind. Practically, this is what this looks like: Sit in your chair, close your eyes and focus your attention on the movement of your belly, breathing in and out. After a while you will notice your thoughts calm down, youll feel more present and alive. And youll start to notice an opening of possibilities and opportunities.

One of the most important advantages of meditation is that it allows us to step out of our own survival centric thinking and connect with others empathetically. This is important, because research shows that when we get scared, we display greater egocentrism and it is harder for us to take other peoples perspective. But people inside and outside your organization are in distress right now. This is an opportunity to show compassion and care in difficult times, an opportunity to show your team and organization who you are as a leader.

Originally posted here:

Why Leaders Need Meditation Now More Than Ever - Harvard Business Review

As we face down the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, much about the future remains uncertain, and it can feel easy to give in to stress and fear. However, while much of the anxiety we're feeling right now is valid, spending too much time sitting with it isn't great for anyone, and it's important to differentiate between the things that you can change and those that you can't. While you can't speed up how long we'll be social distancing (and remember, by staying inside, you're doing your part to stop the spread of the virus, you can make the most of your time through connecting with friends, family, and developing a meditation practice. Plus, if you start a meditation practice now, and by the time the coronavirus has passed, you might just gain a little bit of control over your anxiety, or you may even become a mindfulness master.

While meditation isn't meant to be an instant cure for anxious thoughts, if you've been meaning to give it a go, we'd argue that now is a great time to start. But if you're unsure where, or how to start your practice, there's an app for that in fact, there are many. We picked our 11 favorite meditation apps to help you stay cool and clam through uncertain times.

All products featured on Allure are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

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11 Best Meditation Apps to Help You Stay Calm - Allure

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Even before we met the four horsemen ofCOVID-19(illness, panic, isolation and toilet paper shortages), meditation was a cultural darling.Businessmen are bullishon investing in it,brain scientistsare quantifying itseffects andOprah practices it. Ive dipped in and out of the discipline over the years and found it helpful in a variety of ways, from making me more patient to helping me feel more energetic and break addictive behaviors. And whilesolo meditation in the comfort of your own home is certainly effective,I find this practice hard to sustain; quite simply, its more difficult to focus when Imhome alone than when I am in a class setting. Something about thecombined energies of theother meditators together with a teacher make the shared experience more like a warm bath. When I try meditating alone at home, the wholesetup feels like thedrafty floor time that it is.

But given the events of thepastfew weeks,some mindfulness was definitely in order. And withgoing out to a class no longer an option, I decidedto tryonline meditation. Here are a few tips from my firsthand experience.

When I found out thatDen Meditation, a local studio with locations on La Brea and in Studio City, was inaugurating regularly scheduled online classes led by their usual teachers from the privacy and virus-free security of their own homes, I was curious. Would itbe creepy to just close my eyeswhile facing mylaptop? It turns out that the guided meditations offered in both studiosprogramming are wide-ranging,with all sorts of different formats beyond just sitting cross-legged on a cushion. There is yoga nidra, which is alying-down meditation thatsgood for people with insomnia; intention meditation, which is useful forsetting goals; and self-compassion meditation, which helps quiet your inner critical voices, plus many more.

The first class I took was a 9 p.m.breathworkclass. The descriptionwarnsusers tobe prepared for some big emotional shifts.For someone who basically ping-pongs between heightened awareness (read: anxiety) and detachment all day, I certainly did experience a big emotional shift when I leaned back on my pillows withmy laptop screen balanced on my lap. The teacher began leading me (us?were otherslogged into the $10 class? could the teacher see me/us?) through deepbreaths, alternately holding and releasing them in a regular rhythm, while she coolly and calmly counseled on the importance of breath. Thirty minutes into the session, I awoke with a start, with no idea where I wasand for amoment noidea why this woman wasspeaking to me/us/whomever from my laptop. Abashed, I shut the screen, rolled over and fell into a deep sleep.

While I ve only once taken a kundalini yoga class (which I found not yoga-like at all but instead a sort of hyperventilation-inducing pillow party), I registered for one the day after my breathwork class. It was advertised as releasingan ecstatic and electric energy running through you.Sign me up! Led by a kindly older woman in a white turban who giggled fetchingly as she let on that this was the first remote class shedever taught, the class did turn out to be the sort of pulse-quickening midday pick-me-up I was looking for without being a sweaty workout. Small hand gestures, abdomen stretches and syncopated breaths, with a big crescendo of meelephant walking,or holding my ankles in my hands while I walked around the room, made me feel uplifted ifa little dizzy. My three dogs, however, were upset that I seemed to be moving in a playful manner around my bedroom without wanting to play with them.

While solo home meditation for me has alwaysbeen amind-clearing zazen practice of sitting in silence and counting my breaths from one to ten, the last class I tookthree classes in three dayswas a sound meditation. I settled back in the dark, against my pillows, for this nighttime aperitif of a teacher rubbing crystal bowls, tinkling chimes and tittering wooden blocks. And unlike so many meditations in which I tried to build a wall against my dark thoughts, here I just let them in and allowed them to wash over me:What if we run out of food?How long will our California shelter-in-place order endure?What about getting sick?The teacherscalm, clear and encouraging voice rose out of the sounds, drowning out the anxiety. Today I canteven remember what she said, but I realize nowthat thesemeditations workedwonders, and the common thread is that, during all of them, I luxuriated in havingsomeonespeak to me in a soothing voice for 45 minutes.

So maybe Ima little bit hooked on online meditation right now. Try ityou might find your own high in it.

Sign up for drop-in meditation classes atdenmeditation.com.

RELATED: 7 Upgrades That Will Take Your WFH Experience to the Next Level

Continued here:

I Tried Online Meditation to Calm My Mind in These Anxious Times and Heres What Happened - PureWow

Cancer and other health conditions not only affect the body physically; they can also carry a major emotional impact. While the main focus for many patients is treating the cancer itself and its accompanying side effects, its also crucial to address your mental health. While there are many ways to do this, meditation and mindfulness can be effective tools.

But how exactly does meditation work? And where should you start if youve never tried it before?

To learn more about a technique thats practiced by millions of people worldwide, we talk with Patricia Arcari, PhD, RN, program manager for meditation and mindfulness at Dana-Farbers Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living, in this podcast. We cover topics including:

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

AUSTIN FONTANELLA (DANA-FARBER COMMUNICATIONS): What exactly is meditation?

ARCARI: Meditation is actually referred to as a mental discipline. At the Zakim Center, we use it as a mind-body therapy. Its an intervention that allows you to begin to get a sense for the effects of the mind on the rest of the body, so its a basic two-step process that has many different applications.

The basic steps for any meditation practice are:

Now, meditation as a discipline was originally brought to this country from the Buddhists in the east. The Buddhists actually identify many different points of potential focus, many different places that we could anchor our attention, and they say that anything thats based in the senses is a great place to be paying attention. That can mean your breath. That can mean how the body feels as youre breathing.

You can also use the sense of hearing as a place to anchor your attention. So many people use sound either music or bowls or mantras so that sound becomes the place where youre simply paying attention, and when you notice that the mind wanders away from hearing the sound, you say, Oh, there I am, thinking, and you bring it back to the focus on sound.

You can also use awareness of the body as a whole. Thats why yoga and tai chi and qigong are considered forms of meditation, because youre taking your focus, youre paying attention to the body as its moving in the practices, and when you notice that youre not paying attention to the body, if you feel like you fall out of the position, you say, Oh, my mind wandered away! It took me away from this focus on the posture. I need to bring the focus back.

Another point of focus can be sight, that sense of sight, visually. Many people choose to use a candle or a piece of artwork or a religious statue, where they simply fix their attention on seeing whats in front of them, and when they notice that the mind has wandered away, they come back to that sense of seeing.

So, anything that we are paying attention to, other than thinking, can be a place of meditation, and when we pull our attention away from thinking, thats what actually creates the physiologic relaxation that is the main benefit of meditation for beginning practitioners.

FONTANELLA: You mentioned that there are many places of focus, but every time Ive ever thought or heard about meditation, its all about the breathing. Is that just because thats an easier place to start?

ARCARI: Absolutely. Everybody breathes, right? Everybody carries breath with them. Its a very concrete anchor for attention. You can absolutely tell the difference between feeling your breath versus thinking about whats on your desk when you go back to work, right?

That distinction between feeling breath but being caught in thought is very stark and concrete, and it allows people to notice when they are paying attention versus lost in thought.

FONTANELLA: What is the difference between meditation and mindfulness?

ARCARI: Thats such a great question because its something that people wonder about all the time, and we actually do have to spend a little time distinguishing. One of my first teachers was a physiologist down at the University of Massachusetts. His name was Jon Kabat-Zinn, and he actually was responsible for bringing mindfulness into healthcare as an intervention to help people manage their stress, feel a sense of relaxation, and really develop clarity and insight and experiences of positive emotions.

Anyway, Kabat-Zinn distinguishes mindfulness into two categories. Informally, mindfulness means that you are taking this sense of attention, and you are moving it into all the activities of your daily life. Remember when we were talking about meditation, and we said that we need to focus on something sense-based?

Well, mindfulness is about focusing, too, but its about focusing on all of those moment-to-moment, day-to-day activities that were involved in. Its paying attention to everything thats happening in your life as youre moving forward.

So, let me ask you, Austin this morning, what did you notice when you woke up?

FONTANELLA: That it was cold!

ARCARI: That it was cold right. So, you were bringing mindfulness into your life by noticing that experience of feeling cold. You could also notice the appearance of sun much earlier now, right? The sun is coming up at 6:15, so were able to see sunrise. You might be able to notice what did you have for breakfast?

FONTANELLA: Oatmeal.

ARCARI: Did you taste it?

FONTANELLA: I did.

ARCARI: You did! So, you were bringing mindfulness into your breakfast. Its about paying attention in the moment to what youre doing versus letting your thoughts go into things that are not happening in the moment.

Did you notice, maybe as you were eating your oatmeal, were you wondering about what your commute might be like on your way to work?

FONTANELLA: I did.

ARCARI: You did?

FONTANELLA: I did.

ARCARI: Yeah, so if youre thinking about the commute, then you probably werent tasting the oatmeal, right?

FONTANELLA: No.

ARCARI: So, mindfulness is this quality that allows us to really experience the fullness of life, the joys, the everyday pleasures that are always part of our lives, but were just not paying attention to them because were caught up in our thoughts. Mindfulness is sort of this application of meditation but in a moment-to-moment, day-to-day way with all of our activities, not just that sitting down or spending twenty minutes in an activity thats structured like meditation.

Unfortunately, if you ever stop and look at where your mind is at, most of the time, its not in the present moment. Most of the time, were either anticipating whats next, were in the future, thinking about what your commute is or whats on your laptop or what you have to do when you get to work, or youre caught in thinking about the past, that conversation that I had with my mother yesterday or that great shirt that I saw in the store window. Your mind is usually not in this moment but spends most of its time thinking about whats next or what happened before, so mindfulness is a skill that needs to be cultivated because of the minds natural tendency to want to go other places.

FONTANELLA: Is it important to then mix meditation with mindfulness? How do you start from there? How do you work those two together?

ARCARI: The daily practice of meditation gives you the experience of what it means to be paying attention. It gives you the relaxation. It gives you the ability to really notice if your mind has wandered and come back. It gives you that opportunity to experience a sense of calm when youre just anchored on that focus.

So, I like to think of it as the thing that reminds me every morning that I need to be paying attention, not just while Im sitting in my meditation practice, but to take that sense of attention into everything that Im doing, because when Im paying attention and in the moment, no matter what Im doing, I do get those same benefits of relaxation and calm and joy.

Theres another teacher by the name of Thich Nhat Hanh who says that everything that happens in our lives has the ability to bring joy. Everything is a miracle when we stop and pay attention to it, but the thing is, we dont pay attention, so were not experiencing those benefits. Meditation is the daily practice that reminds you to pay attention throughout all of your day so that, instead of living in a stress response, feeling anxious, we can come to rest in this place of calm and positivity that the present moment has to give us.

FONTANELLA: It doesnt sound like meditation has to be spiritual or completely structured for you to get benefits from it.

ARCARI: Right. No, there are many different kinds of meditation that can elicit this mind-body phenomenon of relaxation. Its just a matter of finding a strategy that resonates with you. So, if you are an exerciser, lets say, maybe you want to choose a meditation thats body-based. Maybe you want to use yoga or tai chi as your meditation. If you are someone who has a deeply spiritual root, maybe you want to use a religious word or phrase to ground your meditation practice. If you are someone who really loves the arts, you can use music as that door into meditation. There are lots of different ways to cultivate this practice in your life.

And if I can, in our mind-body programs at Dana-Farber, we do introduce patients to many different ways to meditate because its not about doing it the way that someone tells you that you need to do it. Its about finding the way that feels best for you, because ultimately, youre only going to do this practice if it feels comfortable for you, right?

And meditation only works if you use it regularly, so anything thats going to allow you to create the discipline of daily practice is what you want to find so that you make sure that the practice stays grounded in your life in a regular way, and thats when you see the benefits. Meditation only works to the degree that you use it regularly.

FONTANELLA: Is there one tip or one exercise you give people who are completely new to this practice that just want to try it and go from there?

ARCARI: The breath is usually the go-to first place where we introduce people who are new to the practice to meditation.

FONTANELLA: How long should each meditation session be? Are there rules or restrictions that you should be following with this?

ARCARI: Unfortunately, we dont have research yet that sort of quantifies in a dose-dependent relationship how much meditation will produce a certain outcome, but a general guideline that we use is twenty minutes. Twenty minutes can feel like an eternity, or twenty minutes can feel like something that passes really quickly. The point of it is just to be with whatever youre experiencing in those twenty minutes and allowing it to unfold and know that, whatever happens during those twenty minutes, youre doing it right just by setting the intention to pay attention.

So, twenty minutes as a general guideline The second, again, important guideline is to attempt to create a daily practice. How do you introduce this new behavior of meditation into your life in a daily way? Thats a challenge. Sometimes we say that it can be stressful to take a stress management class because theyre going to ask you to create this new behavior, to find twenty minutes in the course of a life thats already really busy to fit meditation in.

A good way to begin to create this new behavior is to experiment in the course of your day when it most easily fits and then anchor it to that time and place. For me, when I first started meditating, I would anchor my meditation to my shower. I would get up, get in the shower, and then, after my shower, I would sit and meditate. That worked for a really long time until I had kids and didnt necessarily have the chance to get a shower, so then I had to shift my practice to a time that did work in the context of my life.

Again, step number two, most important figure out a way that meditation is going to fit into the context of your day-to-day life, so it becomes something that you do every day, just like taking a shower or brushing your teeth.

FONTANELLA: What are some of the benefits that people can get from practicing this every day?

ARCARI: I think the benefits break down into three categories.

The first is that sense of relaxation, or literally the physiology of relaxation. Many people start to meditate in response to the stressors in their lives. Especially here at Dana-Farber, this meditation strategy is something that people rely on to cope with the stressors of their illness. Meditation as a discipline actually works physiologically to induce a state of relaxation in the body. When were stressed, the body goes into fight-or-flight. When we meditate, the body moves into relaxation response, which literally creates a calming of the body. Thats the first benefit.

The second benefit of meditation that accrues over time is you begin to develop insight into how your mind works. Our minds are constantly thinking, but that thought is occurring just below the level of conscious awareness. That can create real damage for us emotionally and physically because the brain is the place where we create stress. The brain perceives some sort of a threat again, with our cancer patients, a threat to our physical wellbeing, to our emotional wellbeing, and those thoughts of threat create that physiology of fight-or-flight that can cause physical damage. Over time, with continuing practice, we come to sort of make friends with that mind, to notice when the mind is taking us to those places that are creating the feeling of threat, and when we can see the thoughts as theyre coming up, were in a position to say, No, thats not real. Thats not true. Im not going to experience something really horrible. Its just my mind worrying about it. So, the second benefit of the meditation practice is to give you a little window into the thinking mind that allows you to let go of those thoughts that are irrational and distorted, and move into thoughts that are more positive and reflective of reality.

And then the third benefit of the practice over time is that we really can choose to be in this place inside that is the source of peace and wellbeing and joy and love and all of those positive emotions that we want to be experiencing. Theyre all inside. Meditation helps us find that way in.

FONTANELLA: What if youve tried it before, and youre like, I just dont get it I cant do it? What do you tell those people?

ARCARI: Kabat-Zinn used to say all the time, Its simple. Its a simple practice, but its not easy, because youre coming face to face with the thinking mind. If youre new to meditation, thats just been used to doing what it wants to do. The mind was designed to think, so what youre trying to do is not necessarily to stop it from thinking but to choose the place where youre focusing. When youve noticed that youve moved into thinking, you acknowledge the thoughts, but then, from this place of insight and ability to control what happens in our heads, we bring the focus back.

So, thats why, again, we introduce so many different ways to meditate, because inevitably, youll find a way that works for you. And if you notice that youve tried one way youve tried the breath but your mind is just out of control, you can deal with it in one of two ways. You can say, Im finally coming to understand whats happening in my mind. Im going to not give myself a hard time. Im just going to look at this, learn from it, and keep coming back to my breath focus. Or, The breath is just not working for me. Let me see if I can try yoga and use my body as a focus. Maybe sound meditation is most helpful. Maybe I can use Tibetan singing bowls as my point of focus. Maybe its nature, focusing visually on what youre experiencing, that can anchor your attention.

There are many different ways to meditate. The most important ingredient is your intention, your desire to do so. The more you practice, the easier it becomes, but you need to make that commitment.

FONTANELLA: Would you mind taking us through a quick meditation session, just to give people an idea of what they should be looking for?

ARCARI: Sure.

As we begin this meditation practice, Im going to ask you to just let your feet connect to the floor so that your feet are firmly anchored on the floor, and just take your sense of attention, your focus, and move it down into the bottoms of your feet.

So, what youre focusing on now is just those feelings that are here, in the bottoms of your feet, as you begin to notice this connection with possibly your shoes or the feeling of the floor beneath you, that support that the floor is providing to your body as its sitting now.

Shift your attention up, from the bottoms of your feet, and just begin to notice the feelings that are present in your thighs now. Take your hands and place them, palms down, on your thighs. As youre focusing on your thighs now, you might begin to notice sensations of warmth. You might feel a sense of tingling. Just allow those sensations that are here now in your thighs to be the place where youre paying attention. So, youre not thinking about your thighs, but youre simply being with the feelings that are here, right now, in your thighs.

Now, if you havent already, allow your eyes to gently close and take that sense of attention and move it even more deeply into your body so that youre just beginning to notice your breathing, becoming aware of your in-breath and feeling your out-breath. If you notice that your mind jumps in it happens for us all if you notice that youre caught in thinking, its OK. Just gently, without giving yourself a hard time, label that thinking, and then escort your attention back to feeling this breath.

Breathing in now, I calm my body.

Breathing out now, I smile.

Dwelling in this present moment, with this breath, just as I am This is a wonderful moment.

And as we come to the end of this breath-focused meditation, just begin to bring yourself back to a sense, once again, of sitting here in your chair, feeling your body as a whole, maybe wiggling your toes and shaking out your fingers a bit. And when you feel ready, gently open your eyes.

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Meditation: What It Is and How To Try It - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute