During self-isolation, many people have been wondering what they can do to keep sane. Purge the house (done it), re-organize kitchen cabinets (done it), paint the in-laws house (done it), remove popcorn ceiling (in progress), but you don’t necessarily have to be doing physical labour to keep your brain happy. You can totally go ahead and take the time to read if you’ve been putting it off or brush up on your DIY skills since Homesense is temporarily closed (I’ve been thinking about them every day). But what about doing something to settle your mind during times of stress, or for a moment of self-growth by listening to your brain?
I’m talking about meditation. I started to meditate on and off for the last 4 years, but only recently I dedicated to meditate for 5-10 minutes every day. I was introduced to meditation when I was around 8 years old when my mother had some instructional CD’s and would lay in bed with pillows bolstered to ensure a supported body, and that’s it. I never asked, but I was curious so I’d do the same, but ended up falling asleep because I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. The music was very space-y and other-worldly and quite frankly, I listened to it while playing with my Barbies. So since I had no idea what I was doing while listening to it, was this time spent ‘meditating’ actually beneficial? Well sure, I fell asleep! (and bonus for my parents!)
Now as an adult, with mental health awareness becoming significantly more prevalent, I want to help you start giving your brain some peace and to start paying it some attention.
There is a free meditation app that I use, called M– USE, that has a list of soft-spoken guided meditations to help teach the basics of how to sit comfortably, dealing with distractions, and breathing. Once you get the hang of it with practice, you can meditate with no guidance and you just have to choose your soundscape.
An amazing addition M– USE has that is unique to all other meditation apps, is a headband. It’s a powerful, compact electroencephalography (EEG) system device that you wear that consists of sensors that provides real-time brainwave feedback during any activity, but it’s meant for meditation and I’ll explain why in a moment. I have the original M– USE Headband, but the M– USE 2 and S have more specs such as playback of your heart rate, or you can even use it to prepare your mindset for sleep.
The biggest help with using the M– USE Headband, is that it translates your brain activity with the sound of weather chosen of your preferred soundscape (desert is my current favourite). If you’re distracted, it will be loud and stormy, but if you’re calm and focused on your breathing, it will be peaceful. My favourite detail is if you’re in a state of calm, you’ll hear light bird chirping (it’s not annoying, trust me), and the longer you’re in that state, the more soft chirping you’ll hear (I promise it’s not annoying!). This live feedback is an unspoken reminder to either make an adjustment to achieve that state of calm, or keep doing what you’re doing, because it’s working for you.
After your session, you can fill out a journal within the app, and take a look at your stats. It’s phenomenal to see where your brain activity spiked and comes down to rest.
It uses a Bluetooth connection, is rechargeable, and one headband can be divided between multiple users, so this is a great device for personal, family, or business use. You can set the length of duration, weekly goals or complete challenges for yourself for small victories for added positivity. M– USE does have an optional subscription for $12.99 per month or $124.99 per year, with access to their full catalogue of meditation content, and the latter includes monthly meditation releases.
M– USE is currently involved in multiple research projects with papers you can take a look at, on their website www.choosemuse.com/muse-research/ , because neuroscience is so vast and we have still so much to learn.
If you’re interested in purchasing either the subscription service or want to invest in a M– USE Headband for your brain health, use my discount code https://mbsy.co/NgSwG for $30 off towards any purchase! It will show up on your order after you click ‘Checkout’. Only 10 people can use it, so make sure to take advantage! And just so you know, using this discount code will give me a $30 credit on my account, because honesty is the best policy!
Give The Honesty Policy a follow on Facebook at @thehonestypolicyca and on Instagram at @thehonestypolicyca . Here you can watch my tutorials and read condensed versions of my blog posts, and you’ll find my meditation session of the day!
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