Tag: meditation

Headspace’s Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher Dora Kamau Shares Tips and Tactics to Fight the Sunday Scaries

August 23, 2021

Now more than ever before, it’s become critical that we address and support our mental health. It’s not always easy to practice self-care, but doing so can have a major positive impact on our well-being. And right now, one particularly challenging area for many young professionals is work. Workplace anxiety around starting a new work week has become so common that there’s a term for it: “Sunday scaries.”

This has not gone unnoticed by mental health professionals or mindfulness experts—and they want to help. After seeing the popularity and positive impact of their “Sunday scaries” content on social media, Headspace Studios, a global leader in mindfulness and meditation and longtime Spotify partner, has teamed up with us to produce a new microcast, or mini-podcast, called Sunday Scaries by Headspace. It’s hosted by Headspace’s popular Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher Dora Kamau.

“‘Sunday Scaries’ is an all-too-typical feeling,” Dora explained to For the Record. “Especially for those working from home, work life has crept more and more into home life over the last year, which makes [Sunday] that much scarier.”

Starting August 29, Dora will share her knowledge as a registered psychiatric nurse and self-care and wellness artist to help listeners reframe their anxiety and approach the week with a positive outlook. The seven- to nine-minute episodes will also include breathing exercises and mindfulness techniques and tactics. Sunday Scaries by Headspace fans can expect 12 mini-episodes total, released weekly exclusively on Spotify.

For the Record caught up with Dora to learn more about the show, understand the benefits of meditation, and address anxiety.

How can meditation help listeners understand and manage anxiety? What are the benefits of doing so?

Anxiety is an experience that can have a severe impact on our well-being, especially when it’s not understood and is left unaddressed. When we can learn to understand anxiety and familiarize ourselves with its cause and the certain thoughts and emotions that come along with it, we can actually start to change our relationship with anxiety.

Meditation shows us that we aren’t our thoughts and most of our thoughts aren’t real (or as real as they may seem). With enough practice, we can learn to sit with and be at peace with our anxious thoughts and emotions, and even learn to live with anxiety as an everyday part of life instead of treating it like something scary! 

What comes with understanding is empowerment. I think when young people start to understand and address anxiety, it will empower them to take care of their own well-being. This turns into a ripple effect inspiring other young people around them to do the same. 

Can meditation newbies listen to the show? Do you have any advice for people new to or even intimidated by meditation?

Yes, definitely! I think a big misconception with meditation is that we have to be good at it when we first try it, and that’s far from the truth. The practice of meditation is something that we continue to cultivate and strengthen over time, just like a muscle. It’s not that we’re getting rid of every single thought in our mind, but we’re learning how to relate to those thoughts and feelings differently and respond to them in a healthier way. I like to advise people who are new to meditation to start small and stay consistent. So, start practicing for three to five minutes a day until you feel comfortable increasing the time.

And check out the Basics course that we have on the Headspace app! This course is great for beginners and goes over the fundamental practices and principles of meditation.

What is your favorite self-care exercise or tactic Sunday Scaries will share with listeners?

A favourite self-care exercise that I shared with listeners was mindful walking. It’s a practice that is still quite new for me, but something I’m definitely making more time for.

Oftentimes when we walk, we do so on autopilot, and our mind is elsewhere thinking about a million different things. It’s amazing how much something like walking can be turned into a restorative practice, especially when we are fully present with ourselves and our surroundings. With mindful walking, we can try a few things to sync our minds and bodies as we move: observing the body as we walk, noticing what’s going on around us—the cars, people, trees, etc.—listening to sounds close by or farther away, or simply just feeling the soles of our feet touch the ground. 

Burnout is another mental health issue on everyone’s minds. Do you have any tactics you can share for people experiencing burnout?

One of the reasons why I love meditation is the way it invites us to listen to our minds and bodies. Burnout is not just a mind thing and it’s not just a body thing; burnout impacts every aspect of our lives. Even if you’re new to meditation, a simple three minutes of noting your breathing can be beneficial. Why? Because it provides us with the opportunity to pause, reflect, and slow down. Not only that, but we can begin to become aware and understand the different cues of the body that are telling us to slow down as well. 

Another way to address burnout is by identifying your boundaries. Establish terms and standards for the way you show up in the world. Oftentimes, we don’t know our capacities and limitations when it comes to exerting ourselves, and this is what can cause burnout. By setting boundaries surrounding our work-life balance, we can create a more balanced approach to how we work and live our lives. 

Lastly, practicing self-compassion. Practice being kind and gentle with yourself as you navigate this experience. It can be so easy to be hard on ourselves for not being able to do and be more, but that won’t help us feel any better. Befriend your burnout, as silly as that sounds; this allows us to approach burnout in a curious and compassionate way. The same way we would check in and ask a friend how they’re doing, we can look at our experience with burnout in the same way. Get to know it and understand it a bit better so you can relate to it with more compassion.

Ready to relax? Connect your Spotify and Headspace accounts, then mark your calendar for the first mini-episode, which premieres Sunday, August 29. And until then, tune into Radio Headspace now:

Meditation, Mindfulness, and Ukulele: Niall Breslin’s Podcast Brings Meaning to Life Through Music

July 27, 2020

There’s a myriad of ways to take care of your mental health, whether that’s listening to a favorite band, getting outside, or taking time out every day to meditate. But with so much going on, sometimes a calm voice or gentle push is what you need to get started. 

Let podcast host Niall Breslin be your guide. In June, the musician ,mindfulness expert, and mental health advocate started recording the award-winning 52-episode series Where Is My Mind? to examine different coping skills for the challenging world we live in. Winner of the Creativity award at this year’s British Podcast Awards, Where Is My Mind? listeners can learn how to get off autopilot, navigate constant distraction, and explore what brings meaning to their lives.

Where Is My Mind? acknowledges how people have been feeling over the past few months of social distancing and works to address these emotions in informative and enlightening ways. Early episodes of the podcast detail the basics of meditation, mindfulness, and communication; the second season has progressed to cover topics like using nature, comedy, and exercise to help improve our well-being.

The role of music in mental health has always been near and dear to Niall’s heart. To bring this to life, as well as to give listeners the tools they need to create music of their own, he bought 400 ukuleles and gifted them to individuals currently addressing their own mental health.

Upon receiving their ukuleles, the budding musicians set off to hone their new skill. Specifically, they worked hard to learn the song “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. After a few weeks of practice, the ukulele players came together—albeit at a distance—for a chance to record themselves on a brand-new track and special music video set to coincide with a Where Is My Mind? episode on the topic of music and mental health.

The recording features 400 budding Irish ukulele players; professional musicians; choir singers; Niall’s band, The Blizzards; and some special Irish guest artists. Embrace the healing power of music by checking out the exclusive music video above and tuning into the new single, only on Spotify.

Looking for more mental health resources? Stream the latest episode of Where Is My Mind? below. Or, head to Irish Mental Health Charity A Lust for Life. 

Get Your Fill of Guided Meditation, Audiobooks, Short Stories, and Poetry on Spotify

February 19, 2019

Books and poems aren’t just for reading. They’re also rich, lyrical works ripe for streaming. Scroll through the genres under Browse on Spotify, and sure enough, you’ll find Word, a category home to recordings of everything from poetry to guided meditation, audiobooks, and short stories. If you’re searching for a track full of rhythm and tone—minus the music—Word is the place to find it.

The Word genre, under Genres & Moods after selecting Browse, contains a diverse catalogue with written works from throughout history. Need a refresher on why Odysseus spent so much time at sea? Start with Mythologies. Craving something a little more modern? Try poetry by and from the Beat poets. Looking to learn a new language? We have audio courses in Spanish, Italian, French, and Chinese. And if you’re searching for something to sink your teeth into, try Sofia Ek’s audiovisual book, The Minefield Girl.  

Or, maybe you just need to chill out. If so, you’re not alone. Word listeners stream tracks on guided meditation most of all. According to our data, people can’t get enough of this mindfulness practice—similarly to how yoga was a growing fitness genre on Spotify last year. Top-streamed meditation pieces include The Honest Guys’ “Guided Meditation: Deep Relaxation,” Mark Williams’s “Guided Body Scan Meditation,” and Erica Rayner-Horn’s “Guided Meditation I – Breathing Calming Body & Mind.”

But the age-old art of storytelling holds strong as well. The other top-played spoken-word recordings include Fairy Tales for Kids’ “Beauty and the Beast,” Bart Wolffe’s “The Invisible Man – Part One,” and a reading of “Just So Stories: How the Whale Got His Throat,” by Rudyard Kipling. As for who’s listening to the spoken word on Spotify, it’s primarily people aged 55 and up who speak English, with users from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, and Ireland taking the top five slots.

Stories, books, and poetry as we know them largely started as oral traditions—something to keep communities warm and together through the long nights. From Grimms’ fairy tales or Leonard Bernstein’s classical music lectures, the flame of the spoken word is alive on Spotify.

Looking for something versatile enough to play before bed or during a long road trip? Try our collection of audiobooks.

Kendrick, Halsey, Post Malone and Other Surprising Artists on Yoga Playlists Around the World

June 20, 2018

Yoga might be an ancient art, but the 5,000-year-old practice remains as essential to modern life as ever. Yogis throughout the world enjoy both the physical and emotional benefits from yoga, which is thought to be calming and restorative. But that doesn’t mean the soundtrack to accompany it has to be.

While soothing, ambient sounds—like Tibetan singing bowls and chimes, and the serene tones of nature—tend to comprise the traditional yoga soundtrack, some 21st-century practitioners have begun to think outside the box. In fact, when we dug into common unexpected genres found on yoga playlists, we found that pop, hip-hop, rock, R&B, and reggae are being used to inspire yoga practices. For some, yoga is no longer just about mastering asanas (postures), but taking the opportunity to get creative and expressive with the right beats to match.

“There is a growing interest globally on the impact certain music has on performance,” says Dr. Amanda Krause, a psychologist and Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne, Australia, who specializes in the social and applied psychology of music. “We refer to it in the industry as ‘musical fit,’ where the type of music you feel ‘fits’ an activity creates an impact on the way you physically react.”

“A person’s judgement of musical fit relates to their listening preferences, environment, and goal for certain practices,” Amanda explains. “For example, with yoga, the variety of music is chosen with regard to how it helps timing, focus, and motivation, which in turn enhances your overall performance.”

People aren’t just enjoying the unexpected and non-traditional music when practicing yoga, they’re potentially getting performance benefits from it, too. And more than ever—there’s been an 11% increase in yoga playlist streams year-over-year—they’re turning to one of Spotify’s 2.4 million user-generated, yoga-inspired playlists to stream while in downward dog.

“While music has always been a huge part of our lives, the advent of streaming has made it even more so, to the point that nowadays we even shape our yoga practice around it,” says Julie Stevanja, Stylerunner CEO.

“This evolution of using music as the base of our practice has almost become a yoga style of its own. It’s all about tapping into our subconscious, which music allows us to do more freely. Upbeat songs make poses stronger and more dynamic, while relaxing tunes can help us feel more grounded in our resting poses.”

If you’re looking to spice up your own yoga playlist, look no farther than some of the top streamed songs on yoga playlists around the world—from Toronto to Bali—and as you can see from this list, music of all types is being played in the yoga studio.

1. Kendrick Lamar – LOVE. FEAT. ZACARI.

2. Halsey – Now Or Never

3. Post Malone – I Fall Apart

4. Khalid – Location

5. Bob Marley and The Wailers – Is This Love

6. Justin Timberlake and Chris Stapleton – Say Something

7. Future ft. Rihanna – Selfish

8. The xx – Intro

9. Coldplay – Fix You

10. José González – Heartbeats

11. Sia – Breathe Me

12. ODESZA – Kusanagi

13. Leon Bridges – River

14. Rae Sremmurd – Do Yoga

15. Florence and the Machine – Shake It Out

16. Van Morrison – Into The Mystic

17. Ryan Adams – Wonderwall

18. Andra Day – Rise Up

19. Pearl Jam – Just Breathe

20. The Lumineers – Stubborn Love

“Handstand with Splits”
Image credit: Stylerunner

 

If you’re looking for some more traditional, curated yoga playlists, look no further than one of our many yoga or meditation options.

For many modern yogis, music is fun and motivating; for others, silence is still golden. No matter your preference or style, it’s clear that traditional yoga music is now anything but.