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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:
Hi! Welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. So, question for you: 'Have you ever been so worried or anxious about something that you feel like you're losing your mind?' So, this happens, this feeling happens because the part of your brain that controls your ability to reason and think clearly, can get hijacked when strong emotions like fear or anxiety, trigger the brain's fight or flight response. So, early humans were exposed to the constant threat of being harmed or killed by wild animals or other tribes. So, to improve the chances of survival, the fight or flight response evolved. It's an automatic response to physical danger that it allows you to react really quickly, without thinking.
So, when you feel threatened or afraid, a part of the brain, called the amygdala, automatically activates this fight or flight response, by sending out signals to release stress hormones that prepare your body to fight or run away. The amygdala can also disable the brain's frontal lobes, the more evolved and what some people refer to as the smart part of our brain. When that happens, you can't think clearly or make rational decisions or control your responses. Control has been hijacked by the amygdala. So, of course, the fight or flight happens in response to direct threats, but it can also be triggered by psychological threats, so, when we're thinking worrying or anxious thoughts.
But there is a powerful way that we can train in calming the amygdala down and bringing the frontal lobes back online. We do this by mentally naming what we're experiencing, or a psychologist, Dan Siegel, likes to say, 'we can name it to tame it'. So research shows that by mentally noting or labeling difficult emotions, you can experience up to a 50% reduction in the intensity of the emotion. That applies to anxiety as well as other emotions too. So, not only that, but it brings the brain's frontal lobes back online so that we become less reactive and able to think more clearly again.
So it's a really useful thing to be able to apply this, not only in meditation, but in daily life too. And especially when anxiety arises. So by labeling emotion in this way, what we're doing here is we're creating a little bit of mental space. Usually, we get so caught up in an identified with an emotion that we kind of lose it perspective. By recognizing anxiety when it arises and naming it, we create a space where we can step back from the emotion and observe it in a different way.
So in today's meditation, we're going to practice this technique of mentally labeling or naming our experience to strengthen our capacity, to be non-reactive and anchored in a deeper place within ourselves. A place of coldness, calm and ease.
Name It to Tame It
Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:
Duration
Your default time is based on your progress and is changed automatically as you practice.
Hi! Welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. So, question for you: 'Have you ever been so worried or anxious about something that you feel like you're losing your mind?' So, this happens, this feeling happens because the part of your brain that controls your ability to reason and think clearly, can get hijacked when strong emotions like fear or anxiety, trigger the brain's fight or flight response. So, early humans were exposed to the constant threat of being harmed or killed by wild animals or other tribes. So, to improve the chances of survival, the fight or flight response evolved. It's an automatic response to physical danger that it allows you to react really quickly, without thinking.
So, when you feel threatened or afraid, a part of the brain, called the amygdala, automatically activates this fight or flight response, by sending out signals to release stress hormones that prepare your body to fight or run away. The amygdala can also disable the brain's frontal lobes, the more evolved and what some people refer to as the smart part of our brain. When that happens, you can't think clearly or make rational decisions or control your responses. Control has been hijacked by the amygdala. So, of course, the fight or flight happens in response to direct threats, but it can also be triggered by psychological threats, so, when we're thinking worrying or anxious thoughts.
But there is a powerful way that we can train in calming the amygdala down and bringing the frontal lobes back online. We do this by mentally naming what we're experiencing, or a psychologist, Dan Siegel, likes to say, 'we can name it to tame it'. So research shows that by mentally noting or labeling difficult emotions, you can experience up to a 50% reduction in the intensity of the emotion. That applies to anxiety as well as other emotions too. So, not only that, but it brings the brain's frontal lobes back online so that we become less reactive and able to think more clearly again.
So it's a really useful thing to be able to apply this, not only in meditation, but in daily life too. And especially when anxiety arises. So by labeling emotion in this way, what we're doing here is we're creating a little bit of mental space. Usually, we get so caught up in an identified with an emotion that we kind of lose it perspective. By recognizing anxiety when it arises and naming it, we create a space where we can step back from the emotion and observe it in a different way.
So in today's meditation, we're going to practice this technique of mentally labeling or naming our experience to strengthen our capacity, to be non-reactive and anchored in a deeper place within ourselves. A place of coldness, calm and ease.
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Melli has a beautiful way of guiding and reminding us of the stillness within.
- Adrienne James
I have been on a journey of healing and learning self-love. Amidst the work, I have been using the mindfulness app for the gentle reminders, guides to the moment (especially the difficult ones).
Kelly Boys offers a fresh and illuminating take on how to step out of lifelong patterns that keep snagging us.
- Tara Brach, PhD
Truly life changing. This isn't solely meditation and mindfulness...this is about striving to be the best the versions of ourselves.
- Marisa, Plus+ Member
Relaxing and assuring beyond description... thank you, Cory.
- Babs312
This is the app I turn to when I want to feel calm and loved.
- Abby
Melli has a beautiful way of guiding and reminding us of the stillness within.
- Adrienne James
I have been on a journey of healing and learning self-love. Amidst the work, I have been using the mindfulness app for the gentle reminders, guides to the moment (especially the difficult ones).
Kelly Boys offers a fresh and illuminating take on how to step out of lifelong patterns that keep snagging us.
- Tara Brach, PhD
Truly life changing. This isn't solely meditation and mindfulness...this is about striving to be the best the versions of ourselves.
- Marisa, Plus+ Member
Relaxing and assuring beyond description... thank you, Cory.
- Babs312
This is the app I turn to when I want to feel calm and loved.
- Abby
Melli has a beautiful way of guiding and reminding us of the stillness within.
- Adrienne James
I have been on a journey of healing and learning self-love. Amidst the work, I have been using the mindfulness app for the gentle reminders, guides to the moment (especially the difficult ones).
Kelly Boys offers a fresh and illuminating take on how to step out of lifelong patterns that keep snagging us.
- Tara Brach, PhD
Truly life changing. This isn't solely meditation and mindfulness...this is about striving to be the best the versions of ourselves.
- Marisa, Plus+ Member
Relaxing and assuring beyond description... thank you, Cory.
- Babs312
Shamash's guidance is a gift of wisdom to help us in our busy and stressful lives.
- Paul Gilbert, PhD, FBPsS, OBE, Centre for Compassion Research and Training, University of Derby, United Kingdom
Excellent! Cory gently guides you into internal peace.
- Steve Ericson
A necessary tool for those who feel lost.
- Piper
Just want to say a big thankyou to all involved as this has had a positive impact in my daily life 🙏 Valuable teachings that have allowed me to have a better relationship not only with those around me, but with myself. Heal ourselves and we heal the world 💫✨🌍
- Marty
I start every day with Cory or Melli for my daily practice. Including this app into my practice helps me continue to build more mental focus and understanding of my thought processes. What a welcome and powerful gift.
- Oku
Shamash's guidance is a gift of wisdom to help us in our busy and stressful lives.
- Paul Gilbert, PhD, FBPsS, OBE, Centre for Compassion Research and Training, University of Derby, United Kingdom
Excellent! Cory gently guides you into internal peace.
- Steve Ericson
A necessary tool for those who feel lost.
- Piper
Just want to say a big thankyou to all involved as this has had a positive impact in my daily life 🙏 Valuable teachings that have allowed me to have a better relationship not only with those around me, but with myself. Heal ourselves and we heal the world 💫✨🌍
- Marty
I start every day with Cory or Melli for my daily practice. Including this app into my practice helps me continue to build more mental focus and understanding of my thought processes. What a welcome and powerful gift.
- Oku
Shamash's guidance is a gift of wisdom to help us in our busy and stressful lives.
- Paul Gilbert, PhD, FBPsS, OBE, Centre for Compassion Research and Training, University of Derby, United Kingdom
Excellent! Cory gently guides you into internal peace.
- Steve Ericson
A necessary tool for those who feel lost.
- Piper
Just want to say a big thankyou to all involved as this has had a positive impact in my daily life 🙏 Valuable teachings that have allowed me to have a better relationship not only with those around me, but with myself. Heal ourselves and we heal the world 💫✨🌍
- Marty
I start every day with Cory or Melli for my daily practice. Including this app into my practice helps me continue to build more mental focus and understanding of my thought processes. What a welcome and powerful gift.
- Oku
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