With the Caldera 20-Minute renewal blog, we help inspire people...

With the Caldera 20-Minute renewal blog, we help inspire people to realize the value of taking 20 minutes to renew, re-connect, relax and destress. How do we do this? By providing resources and tips on the small things you can do each day to improve self-care, such as meditation.

Why is meditation good for us?

Meditation can help manage stress and reduce blood pressure, improve your focus, help with sleep, and help you learn to live more in the moment. According to prominent wellness expert and blogger Dr. Andrew Weil, “meditation for healing is about establishing a different relationship with your thoughts, just for a little while. Instead of attention being drawn off by whatever thought happens to present itself, in meditation, you watch your thoughts from a different, more stabilized perspective.”

Is there an app to help you meditate?

Many of us are more connected than ever in terms of technology and social media. For the hyper-connected crowd, there’s actually now an app to help you meditate so you don’t have to unplug. It’s called Headspace and here’s how it works:…

What is the Headspace meditation app?

Headspace is a meditation app, designed to be a “gym membership for your mind.”

You can sign up for free, and use the “take 10 program” to learn the basics of meditation in just 10 minutes a day.
If you don’t have 10 minutes a day to spare, you can also work with shorter sessions, depending on your schedule.
With your mobile device you can listen to sessions and meditate anywhere, and even download sessions if you’re going to be offline.
With a subscription, you can gain access to guided meditation tied into topics like addiction, relationships, creativity and more, based on your moods and lifestyle.
Your Headspace profile can map your journey, show and track progress, you can get rewards, and work with friends using the app so you can motivate each other along the way.
Headspace has other great resources as well. A good starting point is learning about the science of meditation, where you can learn about how meditation techniques can help with stress, creativity, focus, anxiety, and relationships with cool and fun little animations and videos.
The Orange Dot is Headspace’s blog offering a myriad selection of posts on topics including meditation, mind, body, relationships, skillful living, and birth and death.
Radio Headspace offers podcasts from experts discussing meditation and Headspace related topics.

The appeal of Headspace seems to be that it makes these concepts and techniques convenient, and easily accessible, but also takes some of the concepts out of meditation that could scare people away. David Pierson of the L.A. Times says the app help makes the benefits of meditation readily accessible for the average person.

We feel the same way about hot tubs. Hot tubs make the benefits of meditation accessible to you by giving you a private space for daily self-reflection. Additionally, one of the basic techniques of meditation, and one of the easiest ways to relax is to simply breathe, in or out of your hot tub. If you need to relax, simply take a deep breath, or several!

Resources

Want more information on meditation? Check out these blogs:

About Meditation Blog (http://bit.ly/1ZTPGqq)

Meditation.com (http://bit.ly/1XcqImQ )

WildMind Blog (http://bit.ly/1XcqRGT)

The Wheel Blog by Shambhala Publications (http://bit.ly/1XcqBb6)

Mindful.org Blog (http://bit.ly/1ZTPS8W)

Tiny Buddha (http://bit.ly/1XcqCMd )

Transcendental Meditation Blog (http://bit.ly/1ZTPLKD)

Art of Dharma (http://bit.ly/1XcqMD9)

Zen Habits (http://bit.ly/1ZTPSWB)

The Wisdom Blog (http://bit.ly/1XcqL23)