Meditation is the practice of deliberately paying attention, usually to your breath, your body, or your surroundings, without trying to change what you notice. A widely cited review in JAMA Internal Medicine found moderate, durable evidence that mindfulness programmes improve anxiety, depression, and pain.
Meditation tends to work best as a regular practice rather than a one-off fix, and the benefit is usually gradual rather than immediate. If you are in acute distress right now, a grounding exercise or a breathing technique will likely help you faster. Meditation is not a substitute for counselling, particularly for ongoing anxiety, trauma, or depression.
A short, practical meditation for work or family moments that need a level head.
A short meditation for the moments spent waiting in a car, outside a school or before going in somewhere.
Written for South Africans living abroad, and anyone missing somewhere they cannot easily get back to.
For when your mind has jumped ahead to worst case scenarios and you need to come back to now.
A short body scan to help you transition from work mode to home, rather than carrying the day with you.
References
Goyal, M., Singh, S., Sibinga, E.M.S., et al. (2014). Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Internal Medicine, 174(3), 357-368.
