Get Started! 7 Meditations for Mental Health
Mindfulness is a practice that helps develop awareness to navigate the difficulties of life and foster compassion and acceptance for oneself and others. Here are 7 eclectic meditations to get you started on cultivating your practice to maintain your mental health.
1. Meditation on Mindful Eating – Gwen Morgan MSW RSW
Mindfulness meditation makes you more fully aware of your “hunger” experience. Guiding you through the entire process of eating mindfully, this practice will lead you to notice the food in front of you in a different way. Improving your relationship with eating may have benefits to your mental and physical health.
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2. Meditation on the Breath – Jeremy Finkelstein RP
This breath meditation offers an anchor to be with oneself, offering a home to witness what is arising in each moment. Using this meditation can be helpful in dealing with difficulty by allowing one to be open and receptive to what the difficulty is, just as it is. The anchor breath can offer a space needed to better take care of one’s mental well-being.
3. Meditation on the Body – Melissa Nigrini M.Ed RP
The body meditation can help us be more open and receptive to what our body is telling us. Bringing us into the present moment with the body allows us to see where stress and anxiety physically show up, this can be valuable information on what’s happening with us mentally. The wisdom of the body is something we often take for granted, tapping into it may offer a new way of being.
4. Meditation on Hearing and Here-ing – Patricia Rockman MD
A sound meditation can help us be more open and receptive to our body, thoughts, environment, and communication with others. Hearing sounds from moment-to-moment is often an easier way to maintain our attention. This practice gives us an easily accessible focal point to be here, in the moment, by hearing what is in us and around us.
5. Meditation on Earth and the Environment – Laurie Arron
This mindfulness meditation practice connects the self with the earth to give a sense of grounded-ness and stability for one’s mental health. Working with the earth to support you in dealing with difficulty, use this meditation to become more in tune with your being and surroundings for more resilience to daily stresses.
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6. Meditation on Gratitude and Appreciation – Evan Collins MD
Gratitude and appreciation meditation focuses on working with the negative thoughts and low self-esteem that shows up from mental illness through the cultivation of gratitude and appreciation. Take a moment of your day to bring awareness to something that can be helpful for your mental well-being.
7. Meditation on Community and Compassion – Leysa Cerswell Kielburger MA
Community meditation cultivates a connection to others and community through acts of compassion and kindness for ourselves and those around us. With engaging in this practice, we invite togetherness, known in the Philippines as Kapwa, the idea that the self ias not separate from the other. Connection with one another and our community can be protective of our mental health and well-being.