Guided Meditation
Develop your practice with an extended session—and you get to choose the duration, setting a time from anywhere between 5 mins and 2 hours. This is an opportunity to unwind the mind for longer while focusing on the breath and letting go of thoughts as they come and go.
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So as you just take a, a moment or two to get comfortable. Just setting up the exercise with the eyes open. Without moving the eyes, make sure you can see the space around you, either side, above, below. And just maintaining that very soft focus, just beginning with some big, deep breaths, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. And as you breath out this time, just closing the eyes, allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm. Beginning to feel the weight of the body pressing down, the different points of contact, just settling into that space. And beginning to notice different sounds around you, just allowing those sounds to come and go. And bringing the attention back to the body now. Noticing any sense of heaviness or lightness in the body. Noticing if the body feels at all restless or perhaps particularly still right now. And then starting at the top of the head, just scanning down through the body, all the way down from head to toe. And as you become more aware of the body in general, starting to notice the breath, the movement of breath. To begin with, just in a very general way, noticing which parts of the body move, that rising and falling sensation. And continuing to follow that movement, beginning to notice each and every breath. Noticing if the breath's long or short. Following each in-breath and each out-breath. And as you continue to follow each breath, just to help maintain that focus, just counting the breaths as they pass. Realizing when the mind's wandered, each time just returning to that sensation. So just realizing when the mind's wandered off. The moment you realize, letting go of that thought and just coming back to the breath. So as soon as you realize the mind's wandered, just gently coming back to the breath each time. So just staying with that movement of the breath, noticing when the mind wanders, and then gently coming back again. And now letting go of that focus, just for a moment allowing the mind to be free. And as you bring the attention back to the body now, just coming back to that feeling of weight, of contact. Coming back to the space around you, the sounds, the smells, just becoming more familiar, that space, the way you feel, posture. And then when you're ready in your own time, you can just gently open the eyes again....
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About your teachers
- More about Andy
A former Buddhist monk, Andy has guided people in meditation and mindfulness for 20 years. In his mission to make these practices accessible to all, he co-created the Headspace app in 2010.
- More about Eve
Eve is a mindfulness teacher, overseeing Headspace’s meditation curriculum. She is passionate about sharing meditation to help others feel less stressed and experience more compassion in their lives.
- More about Dora
As a meditation teacher, Dora encourages others to live, breathe, and be with the fullness of their experiences. She loves meditation’s power to create community and bring clarity to people’s minds.
- More about Kessonga
Kessonga has been an acupuncturists, therapist, and meditation teacher, working to bring mindfulness to the diverse populations of the world.
- More about Rosie
Rosie Acosta has studied yoga and mindfulness for more than 20 years and taught for over a decade. Rosie’s mission is to help others overcome adversity and experience radical love.
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Frequently asked questions
A guided meditation is led by a teacher, guiding you through the exercise step by step, breath by breath. We offer guided meditations of various durations, from five minutes to two hours. It’s always useful to have a teacher accompany you through an exercise, explaining what to do, what to expect, and what techniques to use. When meditating, this guidance can be invaluable in helping you to understand the behaviors and subtleties of the human mind. When you become more proficient at meditating, you can move onto Headspace’s semi-guided meditation, which is designed to be a halfway house between guidance and silence.
Through guided meditation, you get to fundamentally shift the way you relate to thoughts and feelings, allowing you to dial down the intensity of emotions and thought-patterns. With practice, you come to understand your mind and, therefore, the patterns of thinking that can drive certain actions, reactions, and behaviors. More than 40 scientific studies show that guided meditations in the Headspace app improve mental, emotional, and social health, with marked improvements around stress, focus, resilience, to name but a few of the benefits.
Creating a regular, consistent practice unlocks the benefits of guided meditation. We always advise a “little and often” approach, starting with just 10 minutes a day. The beauty of Headspace’s meditations is that you can change the duration to shorter or longer, depending on your schedule and preference. All you have to do is download the Headspace app, find a quiet and comfortable spot to sit where you won’t be disturbed, and relax into the guided meditation.
Mindfulness is a state of mind — an awareness that means you are present, fully engaged, with your attention focused on the project, person, or task in front of you. Guided meditation is how you cultivate this state of mind, using the breath as the object of focus. View meditation as the practice ground for mindfulness.
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