A Q&A with Jack Kornfield about giving feedback at work, using social media wisely, and the poetry in his teachings.

Learn how the technique of mental noting unwinds anxiety, reduces our reactivity and anchors us in our calm center.

Pelo, you don’t need anything to meditate, although it can be helpful to use an app, especially when you’re starting out. Some apps also have timers or other prompts reminding you to meditate, which can help you make it a daily routine.

A Q&A with Jack Kornfield about giving feedback at work, using social media wisely, and the poetry in his teachings.

Find a comfortable seated position. Sit so you feel supported and alert and in a way that you can stay comfortably for a while. It can help to have your knees slightly lower than your hips, to allow your spine to maintain its conterraneo slight curve.

Meditation does seem to improve mental health—but it’s not necessarily more effective than other steps you can take. Early research suggested that mindfulness meditation had a dramatic impact on our mental health. But as the number of studies has grown, so has scientific skepticism about these relaxing sounds initial claims. For example, a 2014 meta-analysis published in JAMA Internal Medicine

Life is sometimes difficult, stressful, and challenging. We can’t control what happens, but we do have the potential to guided meditation change the way we relate to those things.

Find “micro-moments” of mindfulness throughout the day to reset your focus and sense of purpose.

This basic meditation technique uses an anchor, such as the breath or a sound, to help steady our attention and allow our awareness to come more fully into the present moment.

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Meditation creates the conditions for us to see things more clearly, feel calmer and content, and be kind to ourselves and others pelo matter what’s happening in our lives.

It might also be easier for beginners to make meditation a habit if we can remember there’s pelo pressure to “get it right.” As long as we show up to take time for ourselves, we’re doing great.

In that spirit, here’s a rundown of questions that seem fairly settled, for the time being, and questions researchers are still exploring.

A short meditation can be five minutes or less. If we feel like that’s not enough, a 10-minute meditation is great for beginners. Once we have a consistent practice, we can slowly increase our time.