WBW: Clear Sky Meditation

My offering for you today is short and sweet: a 5 minute meditation 🧘. This is adapted from Stephanie Keach of Asheville Yoga Center, where I completed a 500 hour teacher training. There is a wealth of research supporting the benefits of meditation, including:

• Reduced anxiety, depression and insomnia (NCCIH)

• Improved concentration and attention (APS)

• A reduction in pain scores (PMC)

• Research suggests increased grey matter volume in long-term meditators compared to non-meditators

• General feeling of calm and happiness (a self study 🙂)

Meditation can be a difficult practice to start and maintain, for myself included. Here are a few tips:

• Start small - 5 minutes a day is perfect

• Have something/someone to keep you accountable - a weekly class with a meditation teacher or even an app

• There are so many different techniques to try - breathing exercises, Yoga Nidra, visualization (see below), mantras, vipassana meditation - see what resonates with you

• Meditate at the same time each day to form a regular habit

• If you have room, a dedicated space just for your practice

To get started, try this 5 minute visualization I created just for you, find it here!