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Meditation can be hard. But – as your friends, colleagues, and even your therapist may remind you – there are many benefits to the practice. “Meditation can help create more peace and ease,” says Marvin Belzer, PhD, associate associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and associate director at the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. “It can help deal with pain and difficult emotions. It can help us with negative thought patterns.”
One way to get started is by downloading one of the The best meditation apps your phone has to offer. They provide access to guided sessions and resources that can help you make meditation a habit. dr Belzer says that anyone can get into meditation, and that the practice can help you make space in your mind for “more clarity about how you want to live.”
Rachel Webb, director and head teacher at New York City-based yoga studio Three Jewels, says a key to successful meditation is recognizing which practice appeals to you and how your mind is functioning. (In other words, if you find that your first meditation session isn’t working for you, try a different style of meditation, such as one that focuses on visualization or one that involves sharpening your senses.) Sure, on where to start, Webb recommends going to a meditation teacher for advice.
Meditation apps offer a variety of meditation styles and if you’ve always wanted to download one, we’d argue that now is a good time to start. Ahead, we’ve expertly curated the apps to keep you cool and composed.