You can be eating the healthiest foods, using the cleanest beauty products and moving your body regularly, but if you’re not caring for your mind it is hard to consider yourself truly healthy.
Less stress, heightened focus and better sleep are just a few of the benefits associated with a regular meditation practice. Think of meditation as exercise for your brain, working to rewire your thinking to enhance the positive traits like focus and decision-making, while diminishing the negative traits like stress, anxiety and brain fog. Meditating every now and then is a great step and you’re sure to notice small changes after each practice, however a regular meditation practice is the key to experiencing the full spectrum of benefits.
We asked some #ContentApproved brand founders why and how they meditate to achieve the most out of life. Read on for their meditation tips & tricks to inspire you in your own practice.
Meditation Tips from Brand Founders
Zoë Lind van’t Hof, Wunder Workshop
I start my morning with ‘Breath of Fire’ and Sat Nam mantra. Both are rooted in Kundalini Yoga. I find these meditation practices invigorating and they allow me to bring all my attention to the ‘here and now’ before I start a busy day.
I love using the Third Ear App or Insight Timer when I am at home or traveling. There are also several teachers that I love – Guru Jagat, Emily Lacy, Palma Michel and Eleanor Phelan from Sen Wellness.
Tata Harper
I absolutely have a regular meditation practice! I’ve been practicing meditation for about five years. I find it so grounding, particularly with my hectic schedule.
Depending on the amount of time I have, I’ll do different things and use different techniques. If I’m alone and walking between meetings I’ll sometimes do active meditation. When I have more time, like when I’m on planes, I’ll do chakra balancing meditation. I also practice visual meditation, usually before bed but especially when traveling in different time zones. In the morning, I like to do breathing exercises to start my day feeling more centred.
Annee de Mamiel
I tend to do a morning sitting meditation that usually lasts around 30 minutes. It is quite varied from a visual or guided meditation. More often at the moment I will read a passage (for a while it has been the Tao te Ching) and reflect on this to see where it sits in my body. In the evening, my mediation sits more in my routine of breathing and cleansing in order to begin switching off and slowing down the parasympathetic nervous system – although it is not traditional, it is a mindful and conscious practice.
The wonderful thing about mediation is that you can do it in many ways. It is not always about sitting still and trying to stop all thoughts, but for me is a mix of a lot of things to achieve a space and gap in my thoughts. I spent some wonderful time with an incredible teacher, Chris Connors, who taught different techniques to help me go deeper and explore further. He has an amazing project called BeBox with an immersive space doing 20 minute sessions mixing sound, art and technology to give an incredible meditation experience.
Michele Scott-Lynch, Boucleme
I have meditated on and off for 5 years. I find that when I hit times of feeling overwhelmed with all the things I need to do, bizarrely it tends to impact on my regular practice and I stop creating time for it when I need it most. It’s like self sabotage. Right now, this is where I am…
My favourite time to meditate is first thing in the morning when it’s really quiet and no one is up, it sets me up for the rest of the day. I sit in my living room by the window where the sun streams in and sometimes hold crystals in my hand. I have done a mindfulness course which was great for helping bring attention to the way I breathe during the day, however I tend to use my Headspace app for guided meditations.
Jillian Lavender, London Meditation Centre
I practise Vedic Meditation everyday and I’ve been doing this for over 20 years now. Twice a day I sit down and close the eyes for 20 minutes. I start my day with meditation and then I do my second meditation in the late afternoon/early evening. The great thing is that it’s flexible – you don’t have to meditate at the same time each day, and it’s portable – you can do it anywhere. I can fit it in while I’m on the move. Yesterday I meditated on the train on my way to a meeting.
I especially love meditating early in the morning before my daughter wakes up. The house feels quiet and peaceful and taking that time to close my eyes and de-excite sets me up for my day in a great way. I also love meditating on planes. Vedic Meditation is the ultimate jetlag buster. I know this first-hand – I’ve always travelled a lot for my work and meditation has been a saviour. I don’t get drained by long-haul flights in the way that I used to. When you learn Vedic Meditation, you’re self-sufficient. You don’t need to be guided through each session. You don’t need an app. You have a natural, easy and powerful tool to rest deeply, rebalance and expand your awareness.
Aum Aromatherapy Meditation Tips for Beginners
- Sit comfortably, perhaps on a meditation chair or cushion.
- Close your eyes…
- Make no effort to control the breath, simply breathe naturally.
- Focus your attention on the breath and on how the body moves with each inhalation and exhalation.
- Now you can start counting to 4 on your next inhalation and count to 6 at your exhalation.
- You can sit for 10-20 minutes.
Shop All Moon & Meditation Products | Read More: Our 5 Favourite Mindfulness & Meditation Apps
