Welcome to May, which is National Meditation Month. This month is dedicated to focusing on your body, mind, and soul through the practice of meditation.

In honor of the month, Blue Yonder hosted a webinar for its associates with Headspace, one of the many benefits afforded to associates. If you are not familiar with Headspace they offer science-based mindfulness and meditation tools. Their mission: to improve the health and happiness of the world.

A few of the key takeaways our DIVE In team took from the webinar includes:

  • Change can give rise to anxiety. Anytime we face change in our lives, whether at work or at home, it can cause anxiety. As change unfolds, it can stir anxiety, because our brains perceive such change as a potential threat. This reaction stems from our inherent fear of the unknown, an instinctive response designed for our survival. This is where meditation and mindfulness can help alleviate that stress and allow you to deal with whatever might be thrown your way.
  • Mindfulness and meditation are often used interchangeably but they are not the same thing. Mindfulness is less about practice time and more about a continuous awareness throughout the day; it is the ability to be present with an open, curious, and kind mind. Meditation is the practice – and the training ground for mindfulness!
  • We spend 47% of our waking hours lost in thought! That’s a lot of wasted time. Mindfulness can help you learn how to center your thoughts and action those positive changes you have been wanting to make in your life.
  • We need to learn to interrupt the cycle of anxiety. By noticing the connections between our thoughts, feelings and behaviors we can start to break free from what causes anxiety. Mindfulness is a great way to do this as it teaches us to be present in the moment and with our feelings.
  • Mindfulness is a lifetime practice. Mindfulness is about being fully present and engaged in the current moment without judgement. We need to train the mind over and over again to feel the benefits in the long term. It doesn’t happen over night but you can become an expert at it with small steps. You can then build up over time. Start with a couple of minutes, a few times a week and work your way up.

Interested in starting a mindfulness practice? Headspace has lots of great articles on their website.