🎯 Today’s Mission:
To successfully complete today’s mission:
- ✅ Meditate for 10 mins.
- ✅ [OPTIONAL] Share your experience with us, in the De-Stress Challenge Support Group.
- ✅ Complete the form at the bottom of the page when done.
💡 More Info:
❓How to complete today’s meditation
Today’s meditation technique is for everyone. Easy to do and you do not have to be a “highly enlightened being” or a monk to practice it. In fact we are going to combine a few techniques from your first few days to achieve it.
- Find a comfortable, quiet, private place.
- Sit or lie down, whatever will allow you to be most still. The position doesn’t matter as much as that you’re relaxed.
- Get your timer going. Set a timer for 10 minutes, and forget about counting down manually. That’s your timer’s job. It’ll take care of you.
- If you feel comfortable enough, close your eyes.
- Start with a quick 30-second “body scan”. As you scan down your body from head to toe, think about consciously relaxing each muscle. Let everything sink downward. In particular, let your face droop.
- Now, focus on your breathing. You don’t need to breathe in any special way. Just breathe and notice what it feels like. Observe how the air moves in and out.
- Count 10 breaths, observing each one. What does breathing feel like? Does it make any sound? Are you breathing from your belly or your chest? Is it deep or shallow?
- Let thoughts drift in and out, like lazy cats. Let them wander in and quietly out. They’ll be back. You don’t need to hold on to them.
- Observe only. Don’t judge. There is no “should”. If you think of something, …Hey, there’s a thought. OK, bye bye for now. Thanks for playing, thought. If you hear a noise, or have an itch, simply think, There’s a noise or I have an itch. Make a note of it, with reacting, then move on. Ideally, stay as still as possible, with as little movement as possible.
- Keep coming back to your breathing. The breath is an anchor the signal when your attention is back, and away from thought cycles.
- Repeat until your time is up. Open your eyes.
That’s all there is. If you loving it then next time try 15 then 20 mins.
Meditation is incredible stuff, with all kinds of de-stressing benefits.
Regular meditation can:
- lower blood pressure
- lower heart rate
- lower stress hormones
- lower inflammation
- boost the immune system
- improve focus, mental clarity and attention, even when not meditating
- improve mood
- improve sleep
Meditation can improve:
- neurogenesis: growth of new neural connections and brain cells
- emotional regulation: your ability to manage feelings and respond appropriately to stressful situations
- memory and recall
- development of the brain’s gray matter
- regulation of your body clock, so hormone systems operate stably and predictably
Best of all, meditation is free! You can’t beat that deal.
➕ Expand your practice
There are a number of meditations and techniques to explore to find your best fit.
There are also a number of free and paid apps that offer guided meditations if you are the type of person who likes to follow along. For many beginners guided mediation is probably the best place to start.
Many of the paid apps offer a reasonable amount of free content or trials.
- Insight Timer is an excellent Mediation app and offers loads of free content.
- Top meditation App Headspace offers a 10-day free introduction to meditation.
- If Sleep is a challenge for you then take a look at Calm.
If you want to explore more then the 2 resources below are valuable:
Want more?
Beyond that you can even search Youtube for guided meditations.
Other meditation styles to investigate:
- mindfulness meditation
- spiritual meditation
- focused meditation
- movement meditation
- mantra meditation
- transcendental meditation
- progressive relaxation
- loving-kindness meditation
- visualization meditation
Not all meditation styles are right for everyone. These practices require different skills and mindsets.
Click here to read about the 9 various methods of meditation should you wish to explore further.
✅ Mission Accomplished?
Fill in the form below once you’re done to keep track of your progress.
