On Meditation: An Awesome App

You might remember ages ago when I asked the question: Do you meditate? I had heard of a book and watched a TED talk and the seed was planted. I even added it to my 101 in 1001 list to meditate 10 minutes a day for a month. However, most seeds I plant in my head take a while to bloom. Like strawberries. Did you know you're not even supposed to pick fruit from strawberry plants until year two? The patience exhibited by everyone except me is astounding.

So, the idea seed of "maybe I should meditate" was "watered" by a couple more events before I actually tried mediation. First, as I've mentioned almost to exhaustion, I did a bunch of yoga in January. The mental benefits exceeded the physical ones. It was only while missing the constant yoga in February that I realized I missed the mental, calming aspects the most.

Also in January, I went to a luncheon in Madison where Dr. Richard Davidson spoke. Dr. Davidson is a psychology and psychiatry professor who actually knows the Dali Lama! He is using science and research to prove what eastern cultures have known for centuries: Meditation has huge health benefits. He founded the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds which is doing amazing work in the Madison area towards fostering mindfulness, starting in schools.

So between the yoga and the luncheon (and glancing at my incomplete 101 in list), I decided to start mediating. But how? Fortunately: I found the Headspace Meditation App, founded by Andy Puddicombe (former Buddhist monk, and guy from the TED talk I watched). 

I am currently using their "Take 10" offer -- 10 minutes of meditation for 10 days, for free. After that, there is a membership fee. So far, I am so impressed with the app that I'm really considering getting a membership after my 10 days are up. It has adorable animated videos to introduce you to the goals of meditation. It's like a gym membership for your mind! I'm obviously new to this, but I'm so impressed with the app so far I had to share. 

Have you used it? Would you set aside 10 minutes a day for meditation?