If youve tried meditation and hated it, theres good news: Youre normal. Many people find that their experience with meditation doesnt match the blissed-out expressions of the meditating models on magazine covers. Many of the people Ive treated in my clinical practice wanted the benefits of a regular meditation practice but found it to be so unpleasant that they couldnt bring themselves to do it.

Common negative reactions to meditation include:

To be honest, it took me a long time to warm up to the practice. I still find it a bit painful at times. But I can tell you from personal experience that we can grow to enjoy and benefit from meditation, even if we tried it and hated it.

The key for most of us is to understand what meditation is and what it isnt. I like to think of it as a circle with three phases:

Notice from this description that at no point does your mind stop having thoughts. Its what minds do. So if you think of meditation as clearing your mind, youre going to be extremely frustrated, and youll probably blame yourself as you vow that meditation isnt for me.

If youve struggled with meditation but would like to give it another try, here are some approaches that can make the practice more engaging.

Experiment with different types.

There are countless forms of meditation, some guided, some unguided; some body-focused, others breath-focused; eyes open, eyes closed. Find a variation that seems like it might be a good fit for you. Just be sure to practice it enough times to really explore it before trying a different type, so you have a good sense of whether its right for you.

Get comfortable(ish).

You dont have to sit on the floor with your legs crossed to meditate. You can sit on a chair or a couch, or anywhere you can be comfortable for a few minutes -- but not so comfortable that youre slouching or likely to fall asleep. Choose a posture that embodies a sense of alertness without being tense or rigid. Let your hands rest where they naturally fall.

Keep it short.

It only takes a moment to find mindful awareness. Begin with brief sessions. Three to 5 minutes is a good starting point.

Let go of expectations.

When we expect meditation to produce some desired result -- relaxation, peace, focus -- were bound to be disappointed. We cant really focus on our intention when were measuring it against a goal: Am I relaxed yet? What about now? Why dont I feel more at ease? Instead, let each meditation session be what it is.

Dont try to clear your mind.

As described above, its pointless to try to stop thinking. Instead, see the thoughts clearly when they come. Keep your perspective on them, knowing the thoughts are there without getting lost in them. Let your breath be the music on stage and your thoughts the restless rustlings of the audience. Keep coming back to the music.

Keep it light.

Mindful presence isnt a heavy obligation or an overly serious pursuit. Bring a light touch. Let a slight smile grace your lips.

Do it with a partner.

In the past couple years, Ive enjoying doing medidates with my wife, where we sit in silence together or follow a guided meditation. Some people find it more meaningful to practice with a partner, and committing together to regular practice can provide a helpful measure of accountability.

Expect that you wont feel like doing it.

You might really want to meditate, and yet somehow you keep not finding time for it. How can I not find 5 minutes a day to meditate? you ask yourself. I waste way more time than that on Instagram every day.

The obstacle might very well be that your ego doesnt want you to meditate. Ego here means the part of ourselves thats overly attached to its identity as a separate being, distinct from everything else. The ego constantly wants to enlarge its small self by dividing everything in the world into for me or against me. Its the doing, striving, judging part of ourselves that we usually think of as me.

While meditation is an expansion of awareness and a spiritually enriching practice, its also a painful death for the ego. Meditation requires a pause in the constant activity of the ego mind, and the ego doesnt easily give up its throne. So expect a part of you to put up some resistance. It will probably offer plenty of reasons why now isnt the right time to meditate: Let me just do these dishes. Or send this email. Or make this phone call.

Try to consciously side with the part of yourself thats drawn to meditation. Perhaps more than anything, a meditation practice allows you to discover a you thats deeper and truer than the superficial ego -- one that knows connection, and love, and peace. Use the time to come home to yourself: body, breath, spirit.

See what happens when you approach it from a different angle. And remember that meditation isnt about getting good at it. Its all observation and learning. Be very friendly with yourself. Find the stillness within you that doesnt hate meditation, or anything else thats part of your experience. Make room for all of it.

WebMD Blog

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How to Start a Meditation Practice if You Hate Meditating - WebMD - WebMD

It is a known fact that meditation heals the mind. It helps alleviate stress, leaving you in a calmer and more focused state. While adults have one too many reasons to meditate, children are encouraged to participate in this healing process, too. It is immensely beneficial for the child, especially in their growing up years when there is a lot of peer and performance pressure. Meditation can calm their nerves before an exam, boost their immunity, make them more patient and help them to sleep better at night.

Here are five meditation apps that can help them process their emotions better. Read on.

Smiling Mind

This app offers many mindfulness activities for children of all ages. Besides breathing meditations, the app also has sensory exercises like listening to music. The app keeps track of when kids meditate, too. Smiling Mind was created by a nonprofit with the mission of improving mental health in Australia. So the app uses voices with Australian accents. It is available to Android, iOS users for free.

Breathe, Think, Do With Sesame

This free app is for kids ages 4 and up. Breathe, Think, Do With Sesame helps them to learn skills like problem-solving, self-control, planning and task persistence through interactive activities. Your kids can also Breathe With the Monster to practice taking deep breaths whenever they need to calm down.

Mindful Family

Mindful Family can help parents raise kids with the right tools for processing emotions. It has both free and paid versions, and there is something for every family members needs.

Three Good Things: A Happiness Journal

This app helps build mindfulness. Kids have to write down three good things that happen to them every day, which make them feel happier. The app is easy to use. Kids can use it to set a reminder to write each day, and they can also look over their past journal entries. It is available for free for iOS users.

Wellbeyond Meditation For Kids

This app is built for kids aged 4 and up. It offers five free guided meditations to help with sleep, relaxation, focus, concentration, managing feelings, and more. There are also nine additional meditations available as in-app purchases.

Meditation is the need of the hour today, and this is a good time to initiate this practice in your kids.

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Five meditation apps that can help your child to relax - The Indian Express

As you probably know, meditation and yoga are very popular forms of spiritual practice which also have real scientific benefits to them. Many people across the world are recognizing that the ancient practices have significant health benefits such as relaxation, stress management, muscle and joint health as well as general peace of mind.

Uneedum is an online store which specializes in all things spiritual, and as such they of course offer products related to meditation and yoga. While these practices can be done without any form of equipment, sometimes it is better to supplement your practice with accessories to get all the benefits you can out of the sessions.

While it is not necessary to have meditiation stones during your practice, it can of course help when getting into the mood and mindsrt for your session. Meditation is all about being able to sit still and not think, and sometimes you need external accessories to help you do this, and what better than natural stones used for meditation? The stones also have a symbolic meaning and representation in meditation circles.

A meditation cushion chair is definitely a good practical idea for functionality in your sessions. When you meditate, you need to be comfortable to get into the right mindset. While some people may argue that you need to sit on a cushion to be traditional, modernized meditation has comfortable accessories that come with it.

A reversable yoga mat is of course required for yoga sessions. You need something to put down so you can comfortably do the poses, and a yoga mate is an absolute necessity when it comes to these sessions. A reversable yoga mate comes in different colours and designs, and is also slip resistant, which makes it safe too.

A compression workout set is a must for any ladies out there. Yoga requires you to put your body into awkward positions, and to do so you must be nimble and comfortable in your clothes. A compression workout set will help to allow your body to stretch comfortably, as well as look good while you do it.

A meditation Buddha set may not be necessary to the actual practice of meditation, however it can add an aesthetic to your chosen meditation spot. It can help you to get into the mindset for meditation, and it can also help to spice up your dcor at the same time! A nice addition for a peaceful environment.

These are the 5 best meditation and yoga gear from Uneedum. These are all helpful items which can help to improve your sessions and ensure you reap all the benefits of the ancient practices of meditation and yoga.

Cameron Dickerson is a seasoned journalist with nearly 10 years experience. While studying journalism at the University of Missouri, Cameron found a passion for finding engaging stories. As a contributor to Kevs Best, Cameron mostly covers state and national developments.

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5 Best Meditation and Yoga Gear You Can Buy From Uneedum - Kev's Best

One's faith in the sastras forms the basis of spiritual sadana. Sadana is primarily a disciplined practice. It can be seen as tapas, or penance, that is, leading an austere way of life. This is possible when one cultivates viveka or the sense of discrimination about the permanent values which really matter, and vairagya, renunciation towards all that is worldly and material. Without the spirit of renunciation there can be no spiritual attainment, say the sastras.

Brahma reiterates this to Narada in the Devi Bhagavata Purana when the latter is keen to dispel his own false perceptions, mithya jnana, and wishes to gain true jnana, pointed out Sri K.Srinivasan in a discourse. Narada wishes to have a clear perception of the role of Shakti in creation. Brahma explains that the Supreme Formless Self is able to manifest the quality of Absolute Supremacy only when engaged in creation of the Jagat with the help of Maya Shakti. Creation of jagat along with the jivas of varying types is to enable each of them to undergo the effects of their papa and punya. Ishwara can exercise and establish His Supremacy only when there is jagat srishti. Ishwara along with the subtle power of Shakti confers the karma phala to every jiva without any mistake.

The role of Shakti being far subtler, it cannot be explained in words and has to be realised when one engages in meditation. Meditation is a mental process and is significant in spiritual sadana. Sastras explain that many esoteric truths are not to be explained verbally. The Brighu Valli in the Taittiriya Upanishad illustrates how the guru insists that the disciple repeat the effort of meditation until he finally understands what he has been seeking. Meditation alone helps the spiritual aspirant to reach the state of realisation. Brahman has to be realised by each one in the inner self and cannot be explained.

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Meditation, the highest sadana - The Hindu

I cant relax.

Its not just me. Everyone is having a tough time relaxing, sleeping, and getting any sort of emotional relief from this endless pandemic. COVID-19, youve kicked the worlds butt.

Thats where meditation comes in. Mindfulness, chanting, being in the moment whatever you call it, the meditative state is supposed to bring some solace to the situation.

The literature, what there is of it, would tend to agree. A 2016 meta-analysis found that mindfulness-based meditation worked very well in combating stress among college students. A mindfulness app, then, primed to poke and prod the reluctant practitioner into daily practice, might be a good plan. But what are the best meditation apps in 2021?

I decided to try out two different (and newer) apps, one free and one with a paywall. I also investigated a free app thats supposed to control bedtime doom scrolling (guilty). Keep in mind, you have to use these apps for them to work.

[EDITORS NOTE: The writer was given free access to the apps mentioned in the Best Meditation Apps for 2021 article but that did not influence her opinions. Other apps she reviewed did not make the list.]

Waking Up is a relatively new app that grew out of meditation expert Sam Harriss writings and practices. Harris is quite famous, indeed almost a guru, and has celebrity followers aplenty. The app itself is designed as a subscription; if you opt for the free version, you wont have access to much. And Waking Up has loads to offer, from everyday prompts with Harriss 30-second observations and advice, to a 28-day introductory course.

Theres also a ton of theoretical information here. In fact, it might be overkill for many. In most households, carving out five minutes locked in the bathroom for a fast meditation might be all thats possible; an hour-long lecture is a laughable luxury (and also competes with, say, an hour of Netflix). Guess what wins?

According to Scott Hannan, Head of Growth, Marketing and Partnerships for Waking Up, the informative approach still works even for busy people.

If one is willing to invest 10 minutes every other day in a mindfulness practice, wouldnt they want to get everything possible from that time? We understand that not everyone is looking for that more in-depth understanding of how their minds work. For those who are, or realize they are during the introductory experience, the payoff of combining some theory with the same amount of practice time they would spend in another app can be profound, Hannan tells Parentology.

One thing Harris makes clear in the introduction to the app: You shouldnt meditate just because it changes the brain. His point is that lots of things, from what you had for breakfast to the CBD gummy you chewed last night, change the brain. Instead, Hannan suggests measuring it through eventual outcomes.

Meditation can be paradoxical in the sense that our minds are already free, but we have to work to understand that. By connecting this work to outcomes, we can reach more people. For example, helping people understand that with each practice, lesson, or guest conversation, they can accrue knowledge. They would find an antidote to distraction. They would be able to end their identification with every thought that flew into their head. They would be able to truly experience paying attention to what matters in the moment, be that their family, their friendships, their work everything that they have already decided is worth their time but havent understood how to actually be there to reap the rewards of the investment, Hannan says.

So, if you desire lots of educational opportunities, a ton of metaphysics, and a daily five to ten minute automatic meditation session waiting for you on the app, Waking Up is for you. Just keep in mind that youll have to pay for it, and its about $100 per year.

Its one thing to have a free mind. Its quite another to have a free mindfulness app that actually gives you choices. The very new Healthy Minds app is that very rare bird.

Healthy Minds Marketing VP Jocelyn Harmon explains that, since the company is a non-profit, (connected to The Center for Healthy Minds at University of Wisconsin) its able to offer more for an (optional) donation. It is a very busy space with a lot of exceptional offerings. We believe we offer something a little different that has the ability to democratize emotional well-being, Harmon says to Parentology.

The app combines an appreciation for the science (again, such as it is), with utility. Its based around four pillars the center deemed necessary for a healthy mind: awareness, connection, insight and purpose. Its modules are very easy to follow and blessedly brief. One six-minute mini-lecture on mindful awareness, for example, is then teamed with a 5-20 minute (your choice) meditation session. Its arranged in a checklist fashion, which gave me a satisfying sense of accomplishing something, even if the goal was to actually transform into nothingness.

Its also not as insistent in tone. Sure, the thing would like you to meditate every day, but its polite about it. And the instructors voices are soothing and friendly. Theres also a large selection of specific meditations, like dealing with holidays, getting to sleep, and even micro meditations that last for only a minute or two. All this variety is useful for the novice and veteran alike; again, the fact that its free is a bit staggering.

First of all, give yourself some compassion because this is a very challenging time for everyone. Supporting your own well-being is an incredible gift to give yourself, but dont make it another stressor. We always recommend starting small, with manageable goals to help form a habit. For example, can you listen to an active meditation every weekday morning while taking a shower? Make it 5 minutes. Thats all five minutes a day, Harmon said.

Its just too easy to start scrolling through social media and news while in bed. And even though I have those dubious blue light-blocking glasses, I still get all rattled. The result is crummy sleep, leading to crabby days.

Scrollaby is a bedtime scrolling app. Its not precisely meditation, although it offers some sessions. As I scrolled, I found white noise, peaceful images, meditation sections, sleepy stories, and other calming offerings. And each time I launched it, there were new things to lull me to sleep.

Scrollaby is soothing (the psychedelic occasional visuals aside; try it and youll see what I mean), peaceful, and sort of boring. Not bad boring, just more like sleep looks pretty good next to it. I mean, when choices are sounds from Toms Pond (all hail Tom and his merry band of frogs), a sleepy history story with a female narrator who already sounds halfway to dreamland, or a forgiveness meditation, it gets soporific pretty quickly.

If you find something you like, its easy to save it to favorites. There are no messages or reminders, no demands on your time. And, best of all, Scrollaby is free.

There are plenty of other, older meditation apps out there: Calm, 10% Happier, Headspace, Insight Timer, etc. All of them will probably garner good results if you use them on a regular basis. Some are free, some arent. All in all, the Healthy Minds app seems like the best value. Its completely free and offers plenty of sessions and decent advice. And, if youre not forced to do it (its not your job, for instance), odds are itll help you get through these challenging times.

So, peace out and namaste. Now, whats on Netflix?

Waking Up Healthy Minds Innovations Scrollaby Science Direct

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Taking the Edge Off Best Meditation Apps for 2021 - Parentology

I only made it to number 16 when counting down from 18 before my focus faded and a dream state settled in.

I caught myself and tried again: 18, 17, 16 ... and off my mind meandered once more. Not to grocery lists or work assignments, but to the type of strange and colorful story threads the mind can only conjure on the edge of sleep.

Could it be working?

I wasn't undergoing anesthesia or hypnosis, but rather a practice called "yoga nidra," a refreshingly accessible alternative to meditation also known as yogic sleep. Philadelphia-based yoga instructor Jake Panasevich told me it's like "verbal acupuncture," and yoga teacher Autumn Adams wrote her husband has dubbed it "advanced napping."

Read more: A sleep expert explains why you're having such vivid dreams during the coronavirus pandemic

Whatever you call it, the practice is linked with loads of mental and physical benefits, and may be especially appealing during the pandemic, as it's a fail-proof way to destress, improve sleep, and ease pain without leaving home.

"It's the easiest thing in the world," yoga nidra teacher Hilary Jackendoff told me, "and it does all of things you hope meditation will provide you with," even, as I someone who neither does yoga nor meditates experienced, on the first try.

Yoga nidra simply involves lying down (or in yoga terms, in shavasana) and letting an instructor live, online, or via a recording guide you through mental exercises designed to move you "from a state of thinking and doing to a state of being and feeling," Panasevich said.

In my case, the exercises, led virtually by Jackendoff who graciously gave me a complementary 45-minute session, included paying attention to the sounds around me (especially those between the car horns and radiator clanking), a body scan, the countdown, and perhaps other techniques that escaped my conscious recollection.

Unlike many forms of meditation, which encourage you to attune your focus to your belly rising and falling, for instance, or to the soles of your feet connecting with the earth yoga nidra invites you to lose focus and sink into deep mental, physical, and emotional relaxation.

"In deep sleep, there's no awareness. We don't know how much money we have or who our partner is," Jackendoff told me. "In yoga nidra, we're moving to that deep state of sleep, and that's a very freeing experience."

It's also freeing to know you can't really do it wrong. You can do it for five minutes or an hour, daily or whenever you need a reset.If you remain mindful and don't fall into the zone between sleeping and waking, "there are tons of benefits to be gained," Jackendoff said. If the opposite happens and you fall asleep, that's a good thing as well.

These days, "we are fundamentally exhausted and if people are tired, they need to sleep," said Jackendoff, adding that when she offered in-person yoga nidra classes, it wasn't uncommon for people to snore.

Often, though, people don't go to the either extreme and rather "slide between different states of awareness," she said.

That was true for me. At the start, my mind was quite awake, wondering for instance how I'd write about my yoga nidra experience if I couldn't remember it. Since in fact I don't recall it all, I may have fallen asleep at some point. But I do know the body scan drew me into that semi-conscious sweet spot, and left me feeling zen hours after the session closed.

Research has linked yoga nidra with reduced stress and anxiety, with one study, for instance, showing its anxiety-reduction benefits among college professors were superior to those of seated meditation.

Another showed it improved heart rate variability, essentially teaching the body to turn off the fight-or-flight stress response and settle into the "rest and digest" response of the parasympathetic nervous system.

Read more: 12 ways to cope with coronavirus anxiety, according to psychologists

The list goes on: It seems to help improve sleep by prepping your brain to fall into it, make up for lost sleep by maximizing time in the brain's most restorative state, prompt creativity and deeper self-discovery, heal trauma, reduce chronic pain, and may even help control blood sugar in people with diabetes.

But for Panasevich, who's largely substituted his meditation practice with yoga nidra during the pandemic, one of the biggest perks is simply the chance to lie down and be told what to do.

"Our whole culture is based on focus and getting more done, and 'you're not doing enough,'" he said. "For me, it's permission to deliberately disengage."

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Written by Cindy Nelson, Utah State University Extension associate professor

January 30, 2021

Young woman meditating in lounge chair at home

It can be a challenge to make the time to rest our minds, relax and find peace. But it is definitely worth the effort.

According to a study reported at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint Johns University (csbsju.edu/chp/counseling/self-care/relax-meditate), chronic stress may be linked to many physical illnesses and can negatively affect our mental health. The study showed that:

* 43% of adults experienced adverse health effects from stress.

* 75-90% of visits to a physicians office are for stress-related conditions and complaints.

* Stress has been linked to the six leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver and suicide. Developing the ability to relax is essential to effectively mitigating the impacts of stress and anxiety.

How can we learn to relax and enjoy lifes simple moments with all our duties and responsibilities? Meditation may be the answer. Consider this information.

Meditation has been used for years as a way to increase calmness and help with physical relaxation. Meditation is a combination of the mind and body working together to calm the mind and help us find peace. According to the National Center of Complementary and Integrative Health, there are numerous types of meditation, but most have four common elements:

There are numerous benefits to meditation. It calms, restores, reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, frees our mind from worries, helps us focus on happiness, creates a more stable mood and increases our feelings of control over lifes situations. It also decreases muscle tension, helps with weight loss, enhances energy levels, improves memory, promotes greater tolerance, gives deeper spirituality, slows the aging process and helps us put things into perspective.

Learning to relax through meditation is a skill that takes time and practice. There are many online resources and apps available. Take time to explore different methods and find what works best. Dedicate 10 minutes each day for meditation, and learn ways to relax and reflect on the positive things in life.

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Ask an Expert Relax and de-stress with meditation - Cache Valley Daily

Grappling with the coronavirus pandemic on top of life's everyday stressors hasn't been easy for anyone even for model and activist Hunter McGrady, who has been a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model since 2017, has more than 700,000 followers on Instagram, and is the founder of the inclusive QVC clothing line All Worthy, which offers sizes ranging from XXS-5X, (0-36). McGrady has been a fierce advocate for body acceptance and body diversity in media and fashion, and her line proves that style and comfort shouldn't have a size limit.

As for how she has been taking care of her mental health during the pandemic, McGrady has found solace in meditation. She uses the Breethe meditation and sleep app every morning, and told POPSUGAR via email that it has been helping to keep her "sane" and "feeling great." She added, "My favorite one is the gratitude meditation because it really puts so much in perspective!"

In addition to meditating, she's been relieving stress with podcasts and hour-long walks. She also likes moving her body during virtual workouts with her trainer Megan Roup, either from her Instagram Live or her app The Sculpt Society. McGrady said Roup preaches that even if you can only get up and move five minutes a day, that is successful. "I think that's an excellent approach," McGrady said. "It really makes working out enjoyable whether you're doing 5 minutes or 50 minutes."

She's also a partner with Mirror, the smart mirror that streams thousands of workout classes from trainers and lets you check your form. "Today, I could only do a 15 min workout and for that I am proud," she wrote in an Instagram caption on Dec. 27. She also noted in the caption that while she started 2020 as an advanced fitness person, she finds herself back at beginner, which, she said, is "perfectly ok" and that "it is always ok to begin again."

Still, with all the pressure people face to not gain weight during the pandemic, it can be easy for that negative self-talk to creep in. "Affirmations are everything!" she said. "I'm finding a lot of negative self-talk regarding our bodies and weight gain from quarantine, but you really have to give yourself some grace and be kind to yourself. Your body is getting you through this and keeping you healthy and that is what you have to appreciate and focus on."

As the title of McGrady's clothing line reminds us, we are all worthy and now, more than ever, it's important to remind ourselves of this.

Continued here:

Hunter McGrady on How She's Taking Care of Her Mental Health During the Pandemic - POPSUGAR

Courtesy of Netflix (YouTube)

This weekend's Netflix release,The Dig, is ostensibly a retelling of the excavation of Sutton Hoo. But much like the Anglo-Saxon burial ship discovered there, the film quickly revealsitself to be a vessel for the past, with all its strange, sweet, sadreminders of the fragility of life, and the ways it lingers on.

The Dig, directed by Simon Stone, written byMoira Buffini, and shot by Mike Eley, stars all the heavy-hitting British actorsyou could hope for: top-billed Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, Johnny Flynn, Ken Stott, Ben Chaplain. For all their collective star power, however, there are no Oscar-hopeful speeches, no dramatic transformations. (You may read about Ralph Fiennes's acting as suchit is instead subtle and honest.)Each actor isbeautifully, graciously, carefullyin service of the story and atmosphere. Every element of the film is, in fact.

From the script to the cinematography, The Digis a gentle, hazy meditation on death and how we live with it. Director Simon Stonesaid, "I loved the challenge of how to make this an unconventional period thriller, to ask, what's going to happen?" and what will they discover? and is the war coming? and at the same time to make it an elegiac, poetic, longing film, tinged in sadness."

To achieve that, Buffini's script, bolstered by Stone's bold direction, confidently ignores the typical beats of manyin its genre, those well-meaningbased-on-a-true-story stories. The classic story arc is in there somewhere, with itsstops and sputterswrenches thrown in the gears of the excavation and the lives of our characters. ButThe Dig, with its almost montage-like pacing and its consistent and unusual use of vaguelyextratemporal voiceover, moves past them with grace. Scenes shift and bleed into one another like the morning Suffolk mist, "trying," as Johnny Flynn's character says, "to fix things as they go past." And while on occasion I would have liked to sit in a scene, it is mostly for the best thatThe Digshifts and flowsas it does. Even as I was watching, this film already felt like a memorylandscapes and faces out a car window somewhere in our collective past.

The Digis a memento morian objet d'artthatpoints with patiencetowards The End. It is a true story that has all the hallmarks of deliberate, calculatedfiction:a young widowdiscovers an Anglo-Saxon burial ship just as she isgrappling with the advent of WWII, her husband's passing, her ownfailing health,what comes after death, and who and what shewill leave behind? Really? Truth, it turns out, is more pointed than fiction. But this adaptation, for all its imagined additions, faithfully and fittingly serves the themes of the true story.As Lily James' and Johnny Flynn's characters musein a thousand years, what will be left of them? Metal camera parts, perhaps a shard of a mug. Of Edith Pretty and Basil Brown: agentle, misty meditation oneternity.

Let us know if this is your type of genre, and if so, tell us in the comments what you think about The Dig after watching it.

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Review: 'The Dig' Is a Gentle, Hazy Meditation on the Fragility of Life and the Ways It Lingers On - ourcommunitynow.com

For many, coffee is the first step in their morning. Enjoying your cup of hot or iced caffeine can be a much welcomed moment of quiet before you jump into the rest of your day. Starbucks wants to make that part of your daily routine even more special by teaming up with Headspace to create a culture of mindfulness around enjoying your coffee.

Headspace is a company that focuses on offering guided meditations to its users on a subscription basis and Starbucks wants to give you exclusive access for free. Through this partnership, Starbucks will "offer customers a series of new meditations to transform their coffee routine into a mindful experience centered around the coffee ritual, along with a free 60-day Headspace Plus trial," according to the company's press release.

The guided meditations will turn your morning coffee or mid-day caffeine break into a moment that allows you to reflect on your day, feel gratitude, and refresh yourself for what's to come. The curated series of meditations will be narrated by Headspace's Director of Meditation, Eve Lewis, and will focus on acknowledging your senseslike smellwhen drinking your beverage or call on you to take a screen break during your work day to enjoy your drink.

To get this perk for yourself you'll have to be a Starbucks Rewards member and should download the mobile app on your phone. Your account will get a personalized code that will allow you to access Headspace, and you can find this information in the "Mindful Moments" cards part of the app. You can also visit Headspace's Starbucks landing page to learn more about the promotion.

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Starbucks Is Offering Rewards Members Free Meditations To Pair With Their Coffee Break - Delish