Meditation

I want to share a personal story with you, in 2006 when I was pregnant with my daughter, Jenna,  I had premature labor contractions, I was hospitalized with treatment, and was terrified whenever I felt the tiniest contraction. I remember my sister visiting me and giving me a book about meditation with a CD (yes back then we had CDs) of guided meditation. It changed my life! it was an easy, guided meditation that I was able to follow and it has not only calmed me down but also noticed that the meditation was powerful to calm my contractions! since then, meditation has become my best friend.

here is my take on meditation:

• We include time in our daily routine to cleanse ourselves physically, we owe it to ourselves to incorporate meditation into our routine for a mental and emotional cleanse.
• Start with a 5-10 minute mediation per day, it is like exercise, a 10-minute walk daily is better than a strenuous one-hour workout once in a while, consistency is the key!
• When we go through a rough, stressful situation, meditation can definitely calm us down. However, if we do mediation daily, we will be calmer and more clear-headed when we face a stressful situation.

You might argue, yeah G we know all those benefits but how can we start? or commit?

here are a few ways to meditate, I will list them from easier meditations to more advanced ones that I have tried.

Angry Octopus

Duration:14 min

This is a kids’ meditation, my children, when they were younger, loved doing it, it is so easy to do, and whenever they felt stressed they would lay down on their beds and play it on their i-pads, I enjoyed doing it with them and I would recommend it for adults that are newbies to meditation. you can also add it to your apple music list so it is with you wherever you go. it is also nice to do it with your kids.

Apps

Duration: around 10 min

Calm and Headspace are great self-meditation apps, I have tried the app Calm myself and love the variety they offer, meditations for stress, sleep, and anxiety. start with the beginners’ tab, and slowly explore through the app and see which you prefer.

Unplug

Duration: 30-45 min

Live guided meditation, whether in class (Los Angeles), or virtual. What I love about Unplug is not only the variety of guided meditations they offer but also being part of the class and having it live is just another level of meditation, you feel the energy around you and you leave the class like you had a 2-hour nap.

Ziva

Duration (20 min, twice a day)

I love Ziva because Emily, the founder, teaches you how to do your meditation yourself (without listening to audio), and anywhere, regardless of what noises are around you! I felt it was kind of freeing to be able to do that. Last year, when I was on a subway in New York, I was doing Ziva while waiting for my stop, I arrived at my destination feeling refreshed and happy. She also has one made for trips, and they really helped me on my flight to feel more energetic and refreshed when I landed. I would recommend Ziva once you are comfortable with guided meditations, and want to move forward.

Dr. Joe Dispenza

Duration: 1 hour

Life-changing! I mean it, literally, Joe Dispenza explains how our subconscious brain works and why we behave and have certain emotions automatically without even being aware of them, he explains the science behind this, in his book, then helps us meditate in a way to release those negative emotions and hence we have space to create positive ones instead. This meditation helped my anxiety drastically, however, I must say it is a lot of work, and committing one hour daily is not that easy (but worth it!).

Hit reply to this email and ask me any questions. I would love to connect with you! or tag me a picture of your favorite meditation on insta here

Stay happy & healthy,

G

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