I sit down to meditate and my mind explodes with catastrophic thinking. I dont get a moments peace from my mean inner critic. Whats the matter with me? I even fail at sitting still with nothing to do.Said by every traumatized meditation student I have ever worked with.

These days, meditation is becoming a recommended treatment to heal everything from fibromyalgia to panic attacks. It is true that healing is a powerful side-effect of meditation. It is also true that relaxation and breathing practices heal the nervous system and improve our physical and emotional health.

Giving your inner critic more air time isnt meditation. Its torture. Forcing ourselves to sit through storms of self-recrimination traumatizes us more.

We need a certain amount of healing from trauma and the compulsions of our mind before practicing meditation will allow us to experience stillness and peace.

Meditation is the seventh rung of Raja Yoga, a holistic comprehensive system from India. The first two rungs guide us in daily life through principles like kindness, truth, and non-attachment. Rungs three and four bring in yoga poses, breathing, energy work and relaxation. Five and six help us develop the capacity to withdraw our attention away from distractions of daily life and focus inward.

Relaxation, breathing and yoga can open up space and glimpses of peace and stillness. Then, with our life working better, and with our body breath and mind somewhat healed, we are able to meditate and enjoy the stillness within.

Mindfulness and the Inner Critic

Children who grow up without stable attachment with parents feel unsafe and unprotected. This is the root of the current epidemic of anxiety and depression and often drives addiction as a way to escape our pain. We need to get away from feeling unworthy and broken.

Someone is angry and abusive with us. We feel alone and without resources. We are humiliated,afraid and helpless. Our nervous system goes into fight/ flight/ freeze/ fawn strategies to ensure we will never feel that terror and hopelessness again. Hating ourselves feels safer than completely disconnecting from our parents.

Critical voices of our parents become our own inner critic. We experienced their abuse or neglect as evidence something was fundamentally wrong with us and this belief is deeply lodged in our unconscious mind and in our body. We take over shaming ourselves.

In Vipassana meditation, a popular form of mindfulness meditation in the West, the practice is to observe what comes and goes in the mind. In this way we get to know ourselves. The first step in change is awareness. We cant work with what we dont see.

Trauma informed mindfulness is where we notice what is going on in our mind, then we intervene. We are firm with our mind to stop compulsive, catastrophic and worst-case scenario thinking. Bathing in toxic thoughts makes us feel worse about ourselves.

Beliefs of your unworthiness are not true. These are false core deficiency beliefs.

You were hurt, alone and not to blame for what happened. As adults, we can see that we couldnt cure moms depression or dads temper or whatever was contributing to their unhappiness. It had little to do with us. We were made to feel that their frustrations with life were our fault. This is not true.

A childs strategies dont work because they are not responsible for, and do not have the power to heal a parents mental health, addictions or to stop violence.

From our perspective now, witnessing can help us see our fears, beliefs and the strategies we tried. We become familiar with the energy and feelings in our body and they dont scare us anymore. We feel safe enough to be present because we know that sensations are not here to hurt us.

We develop the capacity to stay grounded and steady even when our mind is stirred up and we feel afraid. We become respectful, patient and kind with ourselves. We know when to move closer and when to take a break to breathe and become grounded again.

Safety IS the treatment. Dr Stephen Porges

We do not need to push or be aggressive with ourselves. Acknowledge that you do want to heal and you are doing the best you can. Kindness and compassion for ourselves is possible and essential. Be patient and understanding with yourself. It takes courage and time to heal.

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This is NOT the Time to Meditate - Thrive Global

This article is part ofHives Mental Health Week initiative. To celebrate World Mental Health Day on October 10th, were hosting a panel all about mental health at work. To compliment that panel, were releasing articles throughout the week about mental health in an effort to open and improve dialogue around mental health.

Meditation has become a buzzword in the wellness community over the last 10 years and is now the fastest-growing health trend in the United States. There aredozens of meditation apps on the market,meditation studios where you can practice with a group, and evenweek-long meditation retreatsthat you can sign up for.

When it comes to meditation, the science is definitely there to back up any anecdotal claims of its benefits it really does helpreduce negative activity in the brainand increase activity in the part that aids in positive emotion and attention. Meditation has also been shown toalleviate anxiety and depression, increase focus, make you more creative, andenhance our ability to connect and empathizewith others.

Weve written before about howmeditation is becoming the next big productivity tool its effects on focus, memory and positive emotions are hard to argue with. And being the forward-thinking tech startup we are, we decided to conduct an office-wide Hive experiment to see how much of an impact meditation really makes on our ability to get things done. To kick this experiment off, we brought a meditation expert into the office fromMNDFL, one of our partners throughout our Mental Health Week initiative (which you can learn more abouthere). MNDFL is a meditation studio in New York that teaches a variety of class types, ranging from breath to mantra classes, and also offers corporate in-office sessions.

Hive employees gathered in our biggest conference room at 11:30 AM, right before lunch, to take part in a 30 minute MNDFL Breath class, which is described as a practice thatgrounds you in the here and now like a cold shower on a hot summer day. Learn to focus on your breathing in order to become more present. Work with the breath in a way that allows you to be calmer and not get too lost in your own head.

For thirty minutes, we worked with a MNDFL teacher to quiet our minds, improve our breathing, and center our awareness. After the class was wrapped, I decided that Hive employees would take part in a little experiment wed anonymously collect the number of tasks they completed today in Hive, and in the days following the meditation, to compare the results to prior weeks. Then wed use that data to posit the effectiveness of the class.

Now I know what youre thinking: Isnt meditation a practice? Dont you need to do it more than one? And the answer is yes. But our staff immediately noticed calming effects, anxiety reduction, and increased focus. And we wanted to see how that played out in our overall productivity.

When I went back over the data, the results were impressive. That one, 30-minute meditation class actually improved our employees productivity by a whopping 47% on average, when compared to the average tasks completed on that day of the week. We also had resounding positive feedback from employees one of our Account Executives noted that After meditating, my head felt totally clear. Once I got back to my desk, I ran through a list of contacts that I had to write in half the time it usually takes. I had a new focus that lasted for hours.

Now, were not saying that all its going to take to improve office morale or productivity is a singular meditation session. But incorporating wellness rituals on a weekly and monthly basis at your company could set the stage for positive improvements at an individual and company level. You cant argue with the science meditation does increase empathy and your ability to connect with the people around you, which is pretty pivotal in the office.

A Hive team member also noted that the office felt lighter, less anxious, and less hectic, which makes sense, because the decreased anxiety on an individual level can lessen the offices anxiety as a whole via emotional contagion, or the idea that emotions, both positive and negative, actually spread among your employees like viruses. (Read more about emotional contagion here.) And if a meditation practice can help prohibit the spread of negative emotions, its definitely a work perk worth looking into.If youre in the NYC area, check out MNDFLs corporate classes here.

Do you practice meditation? Does your company meditate together? Let us know in the comments below.

This article first appeared on Hive.

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How meditation improved this startup's productivity by 47% - Ladders

The taxi driver appraises me with suspicion when I tell him my destination. But youve not got a yoga mat, he says.

Having never been on a meditation retreat before, I was self-conscious of criss-crossing busy train stations with a yoga mat strapped to my back, so Id concealed it inside a Sainsburys bag for life. I point it out now to the driver, and he offers a wry smile as he takes me to the place where, for the next four days, Im to be immersed in an intensive period of me time. Ive never done this before, so have no idea what to expect.

Long-term health conditions can be interesting in all sorts of unexpected ways. You learn about your levels of resilience, and the efforts you are prepared to take to get better. Ive been struggling with low physical energy for almost a decade, my mitochondrial cells malfunctioning after successive flu viruses never quite left my body. Doctors didnt know what to recommend these cells arent easily fixed and so suggested what they suggest to anyone who presents mysteriously: eat better, sleep well. Do yoga, learn to meditate.

Ive spent the last five years dipping in and out of meditation apps, YouTube, Ruby Waxs focus on mindfulness through books and interviews but it was vedic meditation (a close cousin of transcendental, which uses a silent mantra or sound repeated over and over) I kept returning to. I liked it but always let it slip. I knew that to establish a habit I would need to immerse myself, under in-person instruction.

And so here I am, near Arundel in West Sussex, at a large, rambling country house with lush gardens, on a weekend vedic retreat run by Beeja. Its strapline suggests: Meditation for Everyone and its founder, Will Williams, has been teaching vedic meditation for more than five years. After a stint in the music business, and falling ill, he recovered through meditation and began to teach what he had learned. He runs introductory courses in London. Will is a convincing communicator: bearded and smiley, dressed not in robes but in jeans, conspicuously one of us.

There are 15 in attendance, eight women, seven men, ranging from 24 to 70. Were a cosmopolitan bunch: theres a Saudi, a Lebanese, one from Guadalupe, another from South Korea. Two from Essex. Some, like me, have medical issues, others are struggling with anxiety, depression and such pronounced social media addiction that handing over phones upon arrival proves problematic. Im to share a dorm for four but mercifully theres just two of us this weekend.

After an introductory dinner of nut loaf, Wills co-instructor, Niamh Keane, reminds us of the house rules: up at 6.45am, in bed by 10.30pm; respect one anothers confidentiality. No sex and no solo sex, as Niamh puts it, just unbroken serenity and purity of mind. Were detoxing, so can have neither caffeine nor alcohol. No breakfast either, a fact that horrifies us all initially but becomes curiously unimportant by day two.

On a meditation retreat I find you meditate, and do precious little else. Beejas version comprises a succession of rounding exercises: 15 minutes of yoga, five minutes of alternate nostril breathing, 20 of meditation, and 10 of the flat-on-your-back yoga pose, shavasana. Were all given an individual secret mantra to repeat silently (though whos to say we dont have the same one?!). For three days.

At first, most of us choose to do our exercises communally, in the living room, but increasingly we drift off in pursuit of solitude. I thought Id struggle, because meditating at home is difficult, but here, with no distractions, I slide into it as if it were a hot bath. Hours pass, then hours more.

Respite comes in the evenings, after simple vegetarian food (rice and dhal, Thai soup), when Will sits, Buddha-like, with us at his feet while he shares his vedic-derived wisdom. Hes a practitioner of many years and is so convinced of his disciplines ability to heal the world that he can tend towards the over-prescriptive. He condemns most diets in favour of an ayurvedic-approved one, and proffers opinion on antidepressants, climate change, and Trump voters. He tells us that the introduction of 5G will kill off the insect world, that we should never cross our legs, and how we must avoid eating onions because the skin contains properties that promote selfishness. Much of what he says is fascinating, plenty else sails far above our heads.

He asks how our sessions are going and when I tell him that during one of mine my hands began to levitate and my fingers grew like intertwining tree branches, as if I were morphing into a Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, he beams with pleasure and says: Youve shifted some serious energy there, fella.

The more we meditate, the more our protective bubble expands. When we come to leave, Niamh implores we take care upon re-entering the world outside, as we will be newly hypersensitive to light, noise, other people. Be gentle with yourselves, she advises.

The trip back home is complicated by the usual travel chaos delays, overcrowding but we endure it without any obvious adverse effect on our hitherto delicate dispositions. But then meditation affects different people differently and any long-term benefits may only announce themselves over time. What I know right now is that Ive never had a weekend quite like it, never been so still, or rested, never spent so much time with myself, or by myself.

It wasnt quite bliss, but I did attain something conspicuously rare in a life otherwise filled with such perpetual distraction: peace.

Four-day, three-night weekend retreats cost from 594 for a twin room, 534 for a dorm room, and include food, drink and instruction; six-monthly payment options available, beejameditation.com

Nick Duerdens memoir, Get Well Soon: Adventures in Alternative Healthcare, is out now (Bloomsbury, 12.99). To buy a copy for 11.43 visit The Guardian bookshop

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No sex please, were meditating: peace and positivity on a weekend retreat - The Guardian

Photograph by Felix Kunze.

For those of you struggling through a Headspace session alone in your apartment, fear notyou can now meditate with a couple hundred of your closest friends.

The Big Quiet will be in DC on October 23 for a mass meditation at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The group expects over 300 participants will show up to settle onto meditation pillows before being guided through breathing exercises, vocal-toning, and a sound meditation. A series of performances by live artists will round out the event. (The musicians are a surprise, says a Big Quiet spokesperson, but theyre all local and have their own meditation practices.)

The series was started in 2014 by Jesse Israel, who started gathering a group of friends in his New York apartment for meditation sessions. He wanted to create a way for folks who arent yogis or mindfulness experts to dip their toes into meditation. Since then, the group has held over 25 events across the country in spots like Madison Square Garden and Fenway Park.

As part of a 10-day tour, the Big Quiet has made its way through cities like Los Angeles, Denver, and Nashville en route to DC.

Tickets for the event are $35and include a complimentary Tuft & Needle meditation pillow. A percentage of ticket sales will be donated to Choose, which battles climate change, and Kula for Karma, which introduces folks recovering from trauma to meditation.

National Museum of Women in the Arts; 1250 New York Ave. NW

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Associate Editor

Mimi Montgomery joined Washingtonian in 2018. She previously was the editorial assistant at Walter Magazine in Raleigh, North Carolina, and her work has appeared in Washington City Paper, DCist, and PoPVille. Originally from North Carolina, she now lives in Adams Morgan.

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You Can Meditate to Live Music With 300 Other People at the National Museum of Women in the Arts - Washingtonian

I am by nature a wanderer and a loner. A group of us preachers-in-training sat in a room one day years ago, and I asked the question: I wonder what it would be like to be on staff at a huge church? A colleague laughed his patootie off, then opined: You need to command your own starship and boldly go where no one has gone before!

People in our neck of the woods like to poke good-natured fun at me for my MINI Cooper, my combat boots and cargo shorts and my frenetic, kinetic ways. If my hair was as thick and rich as it used to be, I suppose Id grow my hair out long again and give folks something else to talk about, too. I am not, by nature, a country gent. And yet I have been told on more than one occasion that I somehow embody the best of the red-neck spirit.

Bizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God. Ive learned to dance in New England, on the outskirts of the Mississippi Delta, and currently, I am enjoying an extended jig in these lovely foothills of Appalachia. And on reflection, it becomes quite apparent that the rabbis were correct: Man plans, God laughs.

When I started preacher school, I didnt realize that my destiny was to be a small-town country parson or any number of other things that I am today. I do still dream sometimes of biking across Great Britain or exploring the African plains or a thousand things Ive never done before. But the real surprise present? You can be a tourist in your own hometown. Unlock treasures outside your back door. Traverse the cosmos without leaving your easy chair. It takes faith. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going (Hebrews 11:8). Good journey.

The Rev. Eugene Stockstill is pastor of Ebenezer United Methodist Church and Myrtle United Methodist Church in Union County.

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MEDITATION: Don't miss the adventure of a lifetime - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

GENEVA Nanci Rose-Ritter recognizes that people in todays world are leading busier lives than ever before and many are unable to slow down, breathe deeply and reflect.

A Zen meditation workshop and retreat she planned in conjunction with Hobart and William Smith Colleges Associate Professor John Krummel can offer tools to help people.

A good portion of it is geared in that direction, said Rose-Ritter, a teacher and practitioner in the Japanese and Tibetan Buddhist methods of Zen meditation. Some of it will be specific to our current times, but the overall emphasis is on the benefits of meditation for individuals and society at large.

Certainly, the element of compassion, this being a Zen Buddhist-style retreat, will be incorporated, and is always incorporated into this approach compassion for ones self, compassion for ones immediate family, compassion for the wider community and for the world as a whole.

Sessions are planned for 6:30 to 8 p.m. Friday and 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday in the Fisher Center of HWS Demarest Hall. It costs $10 to participate in one or $20 for both. As of Wednesday, limited spots remained.

The retreat will be offered in the style of Japanese Zen Buddhist sesshin, a focused period of group meditation and personal guidance. There will be information and discussion on specific techniques and philosophies.

Its the first time Rose-Ritter has opened the event to the community at large; she worked with Krummels first-year students on one prior occasion. Krummel, a member of the Colleges Religious Studies department, teaches a class about the Japanese form of Zen meditation.

Part of the workshops focus will be on the heart-mind connection.

Bringing those two together is always important, she said. We dont want to be just thinking creatures or just feeling creatures. We want to be balanced.

Rose-Ritter began studying the Japanese form of Zen meditation about seven years ago. She has taught and practiced the Tibetan Buddhist method for more than 35 years, first becoming interested in meditation as a 20-something.

I was interested in meditation, like many of my friends. I am a child of the 60s, after all, she said. A group of us opened a meditation center on Seneca Lake, near Watkins Glen, back in the early 1970s. We did d lot of comparative philosophy, with a strong emphasis on meditation. From there I found the Buddhist tradition.

She spent six months in Dharamsala, India, where the Dalai Lama lives. Eventually, she co-authored a book, Living Tibet, that includes a forward written by the Dalai Lama.

Rose-Ritter works as a trauma counselor, and uses meditation with her clients.

She said people have expressed an interest in learning more about meditation, so much so that she is considering the possibility of creating a regular group. Anyone interested in becoming a part of that group should contact Rose-Ritter at (315) 651-2570 or mindfulnanci@gmail.com.

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Meditation workshop, retreat later this week | Lifestyle - Finger Lakes Times

Meditation is a refuge from the business of our livesIllustration by Lisha Zhong for Varsity

Meditation has been practised for thousands of years around the world, with many modern forms of meditation rooted in Buddhism or Hinduism (though other religions have also adopted meditation in different forms). Studies show that regular meditation reduces, among other things, stress, anxiety and increases perceived wellbeing. Meditation can seem very alien at first for anyone who has never tried the practice before, but there are many different types and it is about finding the type of meditation that is right for you. There are different Buddhist forms of meditation, as well as Yoga meditation in Hinduism, Judeo-Christian meditation, chanting (mantra) meditation and more modern meditations. These practices all differ slightly but all allow us to develop greater awareness of ourselves and allow for emotional calm and clear thinking.

The go-to position people usually imagine when they think of meditation is the lotus pose or semi lotus (with legs crossed and one or both feet positioned on top of the leg). You can sit like this if you wish but for a lot of people it is not comfortable; instead you can sit cross legged, in a chair, lying down whatever is most comfortable for you. Often with meditation we focus on one thing, either something external from the body, for example a candle flame or something within the body, such as the breath. This helps our minds to focus, as I talked about in breathing last week, on the present moment and the exercise. For example, with a breathing meditation, we can bring our awareness to our breath and notice where we feel the breath, and bring our awareness to this moment, to the here and now. We can also visualise the breath entering and travelling down into our core and being released again.

There is no right or wrong way to meditate

An important part of mediation is letting go of judgement and allowing thoughts to arise and pass if they occur. It is normal to have thoughts appear in our heads as we meditate (often about tasks we have to do, deadlines or what we should be doing in this time), but we must be gentle and patient with ourselves. Acceptance is key to meditation and allowing any thoughts that occur to arise and pass without judging ourselves for becoming distracted, we can observe our thoughts and then return our focus back to our breathing or mantra. Meditation is about letting go of control, of accepting this present moment and though we focus to bring awareness and calm the mind we are kind to ourselves if we lose that awareness momentarily. Everyone is on their own path and it takes time to find a meditation that works for you and begins to bring you peace. Particularly in loving kindness meditations, where the purpose is to imagine sending loving kindness and compassion to yourself and others, it is emphasised to just allow thoughts to appear and if they do to acknowledge that and let them pass we are gentle with ourselves.

You can meditate in silence, along to meditative music, or there are guided meditations that take you slowly through the process. (There are various apps that provide guided meditations but some are much more beneficial than others so it was worth looking around for the right one for you.) Walking meditation is also a form of meditation that focuses on bringing awareness to very step to become aware and connected to the earth, aware of each step, our attention being on our next step, our next connection with the earth. When we walk it is one of the times we are probably most in our thoughts and thinking about tasks to do or where we are having to go to walking meditation is a way of bringing us into the present and letting go or our thoughts.

There is no right or wrong way to meditate and no set time you should meditate for. Often it is best to start with a short amount of time and work upwards. It can sometimes feel, particularly at Cambridge, that we do not have enough time or that we can be using our time for something more useful but allowing ourselves to stop, meditate and focus our awareness into the here and now benefits us for the rest of the day and is one of the most useful things we can do. Meditation (in whatever form) is a refuge away from the business of our lives, the business of our thoughts it is time that is completely for you to be able to discover who you are beneath the noise, when you allow yourself to just be.

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Meditate, and help bring calm to yourself - Varsity Online

BY SWAMI KRIYANANDA

Meditation is any practice of which the goal is superconsciousness. Its the process of retraining our awareness to operate not from the conscious or subconscious level, but from the superconscious.

The essential attitude for correct meditation is one of listening. The mind must be kept receptive, because we cant think our way into deep meditation. Nor, indeed, can you think your way to true guidance and inspiration. You can only receive wisdom: you cannot concoct it.

A truth must be perceived in that calm awareness that is superconsciousness. Meditation, then, is not creating answers: it is perceiving, or receiving them. And this is the secret of true guidance.

To understand what meditation is we must learn to listen to what is, and not keep insisting on what we think it ought to be. We must try to tune in to things as they are. Meditation is the opposite of imposing your will on the world. Try to relinquish, even for just a few minutes, the process of concocting plans and projects for the future. Be more, not less, conscious, however.

Meditation is a state of intense awareness achieved by stilling and concentrating the thought.

Its a journey to the centre of our being, a process so perfectly natural that we dont have to learn how to meditate. Rather, we have to unlearn those habits and attitudes that keep us from experiencing our natural state of expanded awareness. Deeper states of meditation come automatically as we peel away the layers of tension and attachments that prevent us from being more aware.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Meditation is awareness - Economic Times

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) Meditation in schools has grown increasingly popular in cities across the country.

Now, this national trend may be coming to a classroom in the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS).

Julia Corin, a student at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), came up with the proposal to bring mindfulness activities into SCCPSS schools.

Knowing the impact mindfulness made on her, Corin says she felt it was important to bring spread how useful mindfulness techniques are.

Elementary schools in Baltimore, Chicago and San Francisco are just some of the districts that have already implemented mandatory meditation classes for students.

After seeing their successes, Corin says she knew she had to propose the idea to the school district a few weeks ago.

SCCPSS says Corin met with Dr. Quentina Miller-Fields, Director of Student Affairs, and agreed that the district will be implementing mindfulness for elementary students starting at the Success Center.

Theyre open and theyre looking for positive solutions to bring into primary education in Savannah, says Corin.

According to Corin, mindfulness practices include breathing techniques, yoga poses and meditation. She says bringing these into the classroom has shown to enhances emotional intelligence, lessen violence, improve test scores.

Its really important to start putting mindfulness into younger students so that they have the skills at an early age to deal with all the things theyre going to have to deal with, says Corin.

Corin says the plans are still in the very early stages of development, but she has a rough idea of what is needed for the program to be implemented.

The first thing you need to do is to train the teachers how to be mindful, says Corin. The second step in the process is to teach the teachers how to facilitate mindfulness or meditation or a guided meditation session. And the third step is to then teach the children.

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Only On 3: Bringing meditation and mindfulness into the classroom - WSAV-TV

Drazen Zigic/iStockPhoto / Getty Images

Her newborn was sleeping, but Sarah Lynch wasnt tackling household chores, or having a shower, or even napping herself any of which would have been preferable to what she was doing, which was mindlessly scrolling on her phone. I realized it was making me feel bad about myself, anxious and more tired than I needed to be, she says. I understand, because Ive been to therapy, the kind of person that I am I can get caught up in negative thinking or feeling anxious. And I didnt need any more of that stress in my life.

What she did need was meditation, as it turns out. She downloaded an app, committed to a years subscription and started doing guided meditations when her son went down for his morning nap. And she saw the benefits immediately. After about 10 minutes, its over and I feel better. It doesnt even take that long but Ive taken that moment for myself, Ive actually paid attention to my breath.

Lynchs meditation practice is just one example of mindfulness, which is anytime we are purposefully paying attention, says Stephanie Kersta MSc, RP, a psychotherapist and the co-owner of Hoame, a meditation studio in Toronto. According to Kersta, you can eat mindfully by paying attention to the sight, smell, texture and taste of your food. You can drink coffee mindfully. You can even walk mindfully. And there are real benefits, including decreased anxiety, decreased depression, improved sleep, increased energy, increased productivity, increased focus, increased immunity, decreased pain response and [an] overall happier mood, she says.

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This is especially true for new moms, who may feel isolated from their partners, family and friends while on maternity leave, which can make anxiety and other negative emotions worse. Kersta points to a 2017 study published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, which found mindfulness practices during the postpartum period may contribute to a mothers psychological wellbeing. And, a 2016 study in Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology found pregnant women with a history of depression who tried mindfulness-based cognitive therapy reported significantly lower rates of depressive episodes and when they did have those episodes, they were not as severe.

And Lynch is right it really doesnt take much. If you can swing it, it can be easier to get into a meditative state at a class outside of your home. But apps are great options, too. Try Calm, Headspace, or we really love Insight Timer as it is a free option, which is helpful with reduced mat leave pay! Kersta says. We also really encourage to start small: three minutes per day, and build on that.

You can also add mindfulness into other parts of your day, whether thats while youre drinking your morning sup of coffee, as you take your baby for a walk or while youre having a shower. And, she says, its important to breathe deeply. Stress can cause us to take shallow breaths, which signals to our brain that theres an impending threat.

Your brain kind of scrambles after you have a baby, Lynch says. But programming mindfulness into my world is a positive thing for me. Its giving myself permission to be kinder to myself. I know, on one level of my brain, to take care of myself first is to take better care of my son.

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Why new moms should carve out time for mindfulness and meditation - The Globe and Mail