At this point, with everything that we know about the benefits of meditation, most people would probably agree that picking up this daily habit is a good idea. A clearer mind, more emotional stability, and a better attention span are all things that everyone can benefit from.

So why isn’t every single person who knows about these benefits actually meditating? The answer, in a majority of cases, is simple: Time.

Finding Time to Meditate

In today’s world, we are all busy. Most of us don’t have a lot of free time. On top of that, we are constantly focusing on something (or someone) that needs to be taken care of. Whenever we do have a free moment, it’s likely that we’re responding to a text message, reading an email, or checking something else off of our to-do lists. This is a natural instinct.

Our minds like to be engaged in something. When you’re waiting at a doctor’s office, commuting, or sitting on a plane, you’re often looking for something to do. So why not make that something meditation?

Waiting time may be your only free time. So use it for something beneficial that can help calm you down and aid you in accomplishing whatever is next in your day.

Related: The New Science Behind the Benefits of Meditation

How to Meditate While You Wait

When I suggest this idea of using any waiting time you have to mediate, people often point out that public environments aren’t exactly set up for quiet reflection. This is true. You might find yourself in a crowded, noisy, place with no room to sit. That’s okay—you can still meditate there.

There are two main ways to engage the mind: outwardly and inwardly. In order to focus the mind inward when there are a lot of distractions around, we use something called body point meditation. There are 27 body points from head to toe, and by working your way through them from bottom to top, you can practice a form of meditation that has real benefits without necessarily having to actually sit down and be completely still. You can even try it with your eyes open if you need to stay aware of your surroundings.

This type of meditation is very grounding, because it directly connects your mind to your body. In order to do that, you need to be present so that your body is with you, your mind is with you, the moment is with you.

You may even find that this type of meditation withdraws you from a noisy, distracting environment, so it’s a great way to help yourself focus when you’re feeling overstimulated. When you’re disconnected from all the activity around you, you’re almost numb to all external sounds and movements. Your mind is engaged into the movement on the points. It’s a shift of activity from outer to inner.

Related: Why You Need to Disconnect (Not Just from Tech)

Try Body Point Meditation Right Now

To practice body point meditation, simply bring your awareness to the sole of your left foot. Then to the sole of your right foot. Then your left shin, and your right shin. Next, move to your calves, then knees. Once you work your way through your legs, move on to your palms, hands, forearms, and upper arms. Then, work your way up your spine, taking notice of the lower, middle, and upper regions.

Continue on by slowly working your way to the top of your head, breathing deeply throughout. In this way, you engage all 27 points of your body and get the chance to truly check in with yourself.

Once you finish, you can reverse the order, and go from the top to the bottom. Another option is to focus on your breath and start counting backwards from 27 to 1. With something as simple as bringing your attention to your body and breath for a short period of time, you can still have a fruitful meditation practice, no matter how busy you are.

The post How to Meditate Anywhere (Even While Waiting in Line) appeared first on Sonima.

Sleep is your best chance to naturally detoxify the nervous and digestive systems and restore balance. Yet many of us wind up staring at the ceiling wide awake when we crawl into bed.

There are a number of reasons why you may be losing sleep, including asthma, allergies, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and more. While you should seek medical assistance to get to the root of the problem of insomnia, you can also apply three simple approaches, based on Ayurvedic medicine, to help you transition into that very necessary state of body relaxation and rejuvenation. Try one or all of the below and see how they help you optimize your sleep.

1. Clean the Scene

Eat light, not spicy before bedtime. A glass of warm milk and honey with a pinch of nutmeg and turmeric could help ease your body into relaxation mode. One hour before turning in, start dimming the lights in your environment and turn off electronics. Use your bed for sleeping not watching TV or checking e-mails. Take a whiff of lavender oil or use a diffuser in your bedroom to signal your brain that it’s time to shut down.

2. Give Yourself a Foot Massage

Use your fingers to trace a line down from between your second and third toes, one foot at a time, until you are about a third of the way down the foot. Gently rub this point for a minute or two while breathing deeply. Do both soles. For an even richer massage, warm some sesame oil and rub it into the feet, then slip on cotton socks to prevent staining your sheets.

3. Practice “So Hum” breathing.

So hum is a simple relaxing breathing technique that you can do anywhere, anytime for any duration. Don’t think of it as a phrase, but rather a pleasing sound—an easy way to slip into a rhythmic, meditative state. You might say the words “So” on the inhale and “Hum” on the exhale out loud, or silently in your own head in conjunction with your breathing pattern. After some practice you will want to inhale for a long, deep count of six and exhale for a long, deep count of six pausing ever so slightly at the top and bottom of each inhale and exhale.

While this is a simple technique, what it’s doing internally is very complex. It is activating a sophisticated set of impulses, soothing your autonomic nervous system, which controls the fight or flight response. It also engages the parasympathetic nervous system to give you a relaxed sense of well-being, perfect for entry into slumberland.

Related: A Natural Guide to Overcoming Sleep Issues

The short guided meditation below will help you learn so hum breathing so you can relax and slip into dreamland.

The post 3 Ayurvedic Approaches to Curing Sleeplessness appeared first on Sonima.

Congratulations on completing the first and second meditations in this beginner’s series! Remember, you can go back and do 5-minute and 10-minute meditations at any point to keep building your practice. There are no hard, fast rules that say you must meditate for a long time, but if you’re ready to dive deep, the reward of turning your focus inward is the ability to recognize the difference between positive and negative thoughts. Sounds simple, but the differences may not always be apparent.

Our mind field is, in a way, just like the roads we drive on. Traffic comes from all sides, in every direction, in many different types of vehicles. The quality of these vehicles vary, including small, big, fancy and old. These different vehicles are like your thoughts. If there are too many of them, it creates a traffic jam. When your mind gets jammed, it’s hard to focus or have any clarity. Meditation unclogs that traffic jam. It helps you cultivate a smooth flow of traffic on the roads of your mind.

Related: 15 Minutes Too Long? Start Meditating with 5

Imagine you’re standing at a crossroads and you’re watching the traffic. You have nothing to do with it, but you’re just standing there, letting it pass by. To treat your thoughts in this way is one of the goals of meditation. This process allows you to pick out which thoughts you want to cultivate, and which ones you want to let drive away. When you slow down your thoughts, you can easily spot the Ferrari over, say, the garbage truck. If your mind is jammed with thoughts, it’s a lot harder to pick them out individually and determine their quality.

When you practice meditation, your capability to evaluate the caliber of your thoughts increases through this process of slowing down. When that happens, you pay attention to the thoughts that serve you and make positive decisions. Through those positive thoughts and actions, you start a chain reaction, which creates a positive environment around you and results in positive manifestations in your life. This is how, in the simplest of terms, meditation can improve the quality of your thoughts, actions, and life.

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The post A 15-Minute Meditation to Start Building Your Practice appeared first on Sonima.