Meditation, mindfulness or mindfulness are practices that help us wake up to our life and feel fully present in every moment . Thanks to its practice, we are able to deactivate the automatic pilot with which we do everything lately and we learn how to react calmly and serenity to people and everyday events.

Meditating is not synonymous with disconnecting from the world for 30 minutes and finding an enhanced reality upon waking up. On the contrary, meditation will help you connect with your life and become fully aware of your day to day with greater clarity and a more positive and calm attitude.

Mindfulness is about keeping your awareness in the present, while calmly acknowledging and accepting your feelings, thoughts, and sensations.

Benefits of meditating

Mindfulness meditation has multiple benefits for those who practice it, these are just a few:

• Increase productivity.
• Increase creativity.
• It increases the ability to concentrate.
• Increase deep thinking.
• Increase empathy.
• Increase energy.
• Improves attention span. You can also try these 7 hobbies to prevent Alzheimer's and improve memory.
• It enhances sleep quality.
• Improve personal relationships.
• Improves cardiovascular and respiratory health.
• It stimulates the immune system.
• Regulates appetite.
• It can reduce chronic pain.
• Lowers cortisol levels.
• It reduces stress. You can also try these 25 Quick Stress Relief Tricks.
• Decrease anxiety.
• Lowers blood pressure.
• Improve problem solving skills.
• It leads to more rational thinking and better decisions.

How to meditate: where to start

No complicated postures, no blank mind, no forced breaths. Incorporating meditation into your daily habits is easier than you think.

• When to meditate. Ideally, you should choose a place and time to meditate for a few minutes each day. The best time to meditate is in the morning as your mind is clear and prepares you to face the day with optimism. There are many people who prefer to meditate in the calm of the night, the important thing is that you find a moment for yourself and connect with yourself.
• Where to meditate. Find a quiet place where you cannot be interrupted. Sit comfortably with your eyes closed and with your back straight. Place your hands on your knees or lap and prepare to meditate.
• How long to meditate. Half an hour of meditation a day is usually recommended, but if you are starting it is better to start with short sessions of a few minutes and gradually increase the duration of the meditations at your own pace: 5 minutes, 10 minutes … until you reach 30 minutes. It is better to practice a little time each day than half an hour from time to time.
• Breathing when meditating. Breathe easy and pay attention as the air moves in and out of your lungs. Recreate yourself by seeing how your belly swells when you take in air and how it deflates when you release it. Also pay attention to the rhythm of your breathing, it is not necessary to look for an artificial rhythm, respect and become aware of the rhythm in which you breathe. If thoughts come to mind (it is the most normal thing) become aware of it and let it go to reconnect with your breathing.
• The body when meditating. Once you have controlled the subject of breathing, you can also focus on your body. The idea is to become aware of every sensation you notice in your body and realize what is happening in it. Observe each sensation as it is without judging it or trying to change it.
• Distractions It is normal that a thousand different distractions try to steal the center of your attention, do not get discouraged and try to refocus on your breathing. Breathe in, breathe out, and focus your attention, re-become aware of the moment you are living.

How to meditate in 10 steps

Step 1: become aware

Before starting, as a simple training exercise, try the following: when you go to perform any action, no matter how small, try to be aware that you are going to start it. For example, when the phone rings, before picking up the hook, inspire and bring your attention to that call, instead of answering it while doing something else. Give your full attention to the caller. This will help you focus on the now and avoid mechanical gestures.

Step 2: park tasks

Both at home and at work or other areas of your life, avoid whenever you can enter the "multitasking mode". Jumping from one thing to another disperses us and in the end we are not at all. For example, spend one day a week sorting invoices. Or answer the whatsapps once or twice a day and not as soon as they arrive . Ignore and postpone what is not essential to do at that time.

Step 3: start taking small breaks in your daily life

Ideally, do about 30 minutes of meditation a day. At first it can be difficult, so we suggest you start doing small meditations taking advantage of your daily activities. For example, when you get up, do you do it by jumping out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off? Well, think that the way you start the day determines how you will feel the rest of the day. It better be a relaxed awakening, with a quiet, pleasant melody on the alarm clock. Breath deeply. Stretch your arms and legs and pay attention to how your body, your senses, wake up little by little. And I got out of bed calmly, with slow movements.

Step 4: the shower is "your" moment

You have surely turned it into a mechanical act. We suggest that tomorrow you focus on the sensations that the shower gives you: how the water flows through your body, the temperature it has, the touch with your skin … It loves your body.

Step 5: take “exotic” routes

Take advantage of the daily commutes to focus attention on what is happening around you . Leave your mobile in your bag, forget about mentally reviewing the lists of things to do and various concerns and connect with the moment by going through all the details of your journey.

Step 6: take a moment

If you are concentrated at work or immersed in a task that requires time, try to take breaks at least every hour, for a few minutes. Take advantage of this moment to connect with your body, stretch and breathe consciously .

Step 7: eat with all your senses

Eating is a pleasure for your five senses. Enjoy that moment. Give it to yourself. Leave the things you have to do in "pause mode" and each time your attention goes to the "before" or "after" eating, it returns to the food, its flavors, smells, colors, textures …

Step 8: stroll contemplating

Have you ever been unable to remember the path you have traveled because you were immersed in your thoughts? This time focus your attention on the places you pass by, on the people … And become aware of the movement of your body .

Step 9: check yourself in line

From the supermarket, the bakery … Become aware of your body posture and your facial expression: correct your back if it is not aligned, relax your frown … Pay attention to how you feel, if your feet or your back hurt … . Listen to your body will help you do something to take care of : applying heat in that area of the back, put your feet up …

Step 10: prepare to rest

Before going to bed, take care of the details that will help you have a good rest. Put on music that relaxes you, set a time to disconnect mobile phones … Practice gratitude by valuing the things that made you happy that day and you will conciliate a much more pleasant sleep.

And finally: put problems away

Be careful with that "consulting with the pillow." If it is about putting distance from what you are worried about tomorrow to see it from another point of view , okay. But if you're going to toss and turn, put it out of your mind and relax remembering those good things that happened to you. Visualizing a baby sleeping is also very effective. Or write your worries on a piece of paper to put them away until the next day.

Apps for meditation

It is true that technology and, specifically, the mobile phone is one of the main reasons for distraction, but if you know how and when to use it it can become a great ally for meditation. Some of the most popular apps to do this are:

• Calm: is one of the most popular apps for meditating and improving the quality of sleep through guided meditations, breathing programs and relaxing music.
• Mindulness and meditation: guided meditations of 5 minutes a day in Spanish.
• Mediotopia: more than 150 meditations to reduce stress, sleep well, love and find peace.
• Bambu App: is a meditation and mindfulness application with which you can start practicing thanks to its intuitive interactive guide.
• Headspace: app to escape stress and relax with guided meditations and mindfulness techniques, it is one of the pioneers, but it is in English.

Meditation books

The bookstores are full of books on meditation and mindfulness, these are some of our favorites:

• Calm. Relax your mind, change the world by Michael Actom Smith.
• My Catherine Barry Meditation Journal .
• Ichigo-ichie by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles.
• Why mindulness is better than chocolate by David Michie.
• Sarah Jane Arnold Creative Mindfulness Journal .

Cover photo Brooke Cagle via Unsplash