We’ve all heard of Daily Calm and the app store phenomenon that is known around the world as Headspace, a meditation-based app which has amassed over 11 million downloads worldwide. With this in mind, it’s safe to say that meditation apps have massively helped to bring meditation into the mainstream society.

Personally, I believe this is a good thing. I used apps to help me get into meditation, through guided courses and now I will meditate with and without, depending on how I feel at the time. However, a new mindfulness app has hit the stores.

Say hello to Aura.

The Aura app has been designed by top practitioners and instructors in the field of science and mindfulness. There are four women in total that have banded together to create this app and is it beautiful. It’s also available on both iOS and Android devices.

I loved the user interface that the Calm app had, even though I made my way over to Insight Timer for the sheer diversity of what was on offer.

What makes the app special is the fact that it focuses on only sharing 3-minute long meditations, instead of varied times. This helps to make meditation far more accessible to people, especially people who are new to the practice and don’t feel like they have the time to sit for 10/20/30 or more minutes in their days.

Special Features

Additionally, the app has been created with an intelligent AI feature. This means you can choose your mood at the time that you want to meditate, and the app will choose the practice it thinks you should use.

Over time, the more it gets to know you, the better its recommendations will be. For me personally, I sit for hours in front of a computer typing away. I try to have little breaks when I can and sometimes meditate for 20 odd minutes.

However, using Aura, it’s a great way to motivate yourself to have little three-minute mindfulness breaks which have done huge positive changes in my productivity levels.

The app also comes with natural background sounds you can use to create an atmosphere in any room or physical setting, you can track your mood in real-time, and there’s even 30-second mindfulness breathing features.

In all, this app focuses around doing things little and often, so you can build up your confidence in meditation before moving onto longer sessions. This is also great for starting out or for people who have busy lives and looking for a little break!

Give it a go and see how you feel! Be sure to share your experience with us!

If you’ve never started meditation before, the thought of sitting with your eyes closed for 20 minutes while your mind enters a ‘new realm of consciousness’ can be scary, to say the least.

However, this isn’t what meditation is all about, and it’s actually one of the most beneficial things you can do for your mind and body. If you’re looking for ways to reduce your stress and anxiety, this is definitely for you.

But, like most thing, word of mouth has a funny way of changing things and very soon you have myths flying around which make it even more difficult to differentiate fact from fiction.

To help you get started, here are three of the most common meditation myths that could be holding you back from unlocking complete peace and virtue in your life.

Myth – Meditation is for Spiritual People Only

This is by far the most common, most believed and most incorrect myth around. There’s no test that allows you start meditating where you get up at the crack of dawn and start waving around burning herbs while the sun rises. This just doesn’t happen.

As long as you’re between the ages of 0-150, boy or a girl, CEO of a global company or a student and everything in between, you can meditate. Of course, spiritual people do meditate, and some even have it as part of their religious culture, but it’s not a strictly religious practice.

Myth – It’s All About Clearing Your Mind

Many people believe that they won’t be able to meditate, simply because they won’t be able to clear their minds. They know themselves, and their overactive minds, far too well. However, this is a common misconception.

Meditation isn’t about clearing your mind, so you’re sitting there thinking about nothing. It’s about becoming mindful of the present situation and the thoughts that your mind has.

I’ve spent countless hours meditating where my mind kept wandering off from my breathing pattern, and that’s fine. I’m not going to judge myself. I just take note of what these thoughts are, whether they are financial burdens or even relationship problems.

This can then help you to deal with these problems throughout your day to day life as you know exactly what they are and can deal with them. This is instead of getting anxious and stressed over them.

Myths – Meditate Only When You’re Stressed

When you want to run a marathon, you don’t just run a marathon. You’ve got to practice for months and months beforehand, and you’ve got to build up your body, so you can perform. The same goes for meditating.

It takes practice to get into a good mindset where you can practice effectively. It’s like exercise for your brain. This means not just meditating when you feel stressed, but meditating when you feel at your best.

Imagine how meditating will make you feel when you meditate when you’re not stressed.

It’s amazing!

The New Year is a wonderful time where we come together with friends and family and celebrate the year that’s gone and the year that’s soon to be. For most of us, as that clock strikes midnight, it signals the start of a new beginning where all the changes we wanted to make within ourselves last year come to fruition.

However, we all know as well as each other than the typical new year’s resolution sometimes doesn’t last longer than a few weeks while some might not even last until the end of the day. This discipline and willpower can be so much rewarding if you give it a chance and the determination.

Here to help you gain this level of motivation and willpower to achieve what you want to do is everything you need to know about meditation that can help you become exactly who you want to be.

Define Your Goals

Firstly, you’ll want to set your goals, so they are so clear in your head. The more detail you can put into these goals, the more beneficial they’ll be and the more that you’ll be able to achieve. For example, don’t set your new year’s resolution that you want to lose weight, be precise with it.

For example, say I want to lose two stone by July. This gives you an exact goal to aim for which means you’re far more likely to achieve it.

Think Positively

More often than not, the reason we fail our new year’s resolutions is that we’re trying so hard to force them on ourselves and we’re not going to do anything that we don’t want to do. However, to overcome this boundary, you need to remember that we’re trying to change our lives and our lifestyles for the better.

With changes to our diet, our lifestyle, our habits or whatever the resolution may be, this will positively affect our lives, making us happier, more confident and just feel overall better about ourselves. This doesn’t have to be forced; this should be something that you want to do.

Becoming Present

One of the most important aspects to remember when trying to achieve your New Year’s Resolutions is to be present. If you’re too busy thinking about the future and becoming anxious, the chances are that you’ll forget to carry out your resolution.

For example, you might be trying to change to a healthier diet, but if you’re too anxious, it’s far too likely that you’ll start comfort eating. Likewise, if you’re stressed out about something that happened in the past, and you’re trying to quit smoking, you’ll probably end up smoking again.

As you can see, being present is such a key thing to remember when it comes to achieving your resolutions, which is why meditating can be such a big part of lifestyle change.

Even if you’re starting with just ten minutes a day, this can make a huge difference in your life and can help proactively achieve your goals.

Recently, we covered how you can use meditation to help you achieve your goals of losing weight. Since the new year has come and gone, many of us have set a new resolution to eat healthier and hit the gym with the ultimate goal of reaching a weight where we’re confident in ourselves and living a healthy lifestyle.

With this in mind, we aim to take you back to the benefits that meditation can provide when trying to achieve these goals to live the life you want to live.

Coming into the Present Moment

One of the main aspirations of meditation is getting your mind into the present moment. When meditating, you’re proactively practising getting your mind into the present moment. Consider how many times in your life you’re doing something, whether you’re eating, working out or even just watching TV, and your mind wanders onto another train of thought.

When it comes to fully optimising your workouts or diet, being present is essential. Let’s say you’re eating a meal. Instead of eating while browsing social media on your phone or watching the TV, trying just focusing on what you’re eating.

You’d be pleasantly surprised at how much more you enjoy your food and how much fuller you feel after eating a meal. This because you’re eating without distractions, focusing on how your body feels, ultimately leading to you having a healthy diet.

Reducing Your Stress Levels

How often do you get stressed and treat it with comfort food? A typical go to is food like ice cream, chocolate or fast food which will have obvious effects on your weight and health. Through meditation, you can enjoy the proven benefits of reducing your stress levels. Less stress, less comfort food, better lifestyle.

Improving Your Sleep Patterns

When you’re trying to lose weight, your sleeping pattern and levels of sleep deprivation place a crucial role. This is because lack of sleep increases your cortisol hormone levels, the stress hormone, which in turn increases your appetite (see above).

You can resolve many sleeping issues through meditation. Whether you’re making your mind at peace, or using a guided sleep induction session, improving your sleep can have dramatic effects on your weight.

Managing Your Basal Metabolic Rate

More commonly referred to as BMR, this is a term that refers to how many calories you use when you’re resting. The lower your BMR, the more kilos you’ll be able to shed. Through meditation, you can proactively lower your BMR, meaning that your body will need fewer calories when resting, resulting in you losing weight.

Remember, it’s so important to lose weight in a healthy way. If you’re tempted to skip meals or vigorously exercise without building up your stamina, this can have detrimental effects on your body. If you need more advice, please contact your local healthcare professional for advice on what route you should take.