Procrastination Destination: Meditation

It’s time for a mental vacation for this month’s Procrastination Destination. Here’s your invitation to tune into a zen station. Want to join the Jedi nation? You must learn meditation.

Ok, I’ll stop with the rhyming, but seriously, give it a try. The worst that can happen is you close your eyes for five minutes and fantasize about what you’ll be having for your next meal (at least that’s what happens to me a lot. You can read about my journey in this other post.) Meditating is backed by thousands of years of cultural tradition and modern science as well. A new field called Health Neuroscience delves into how meditation creates positive neurobiological changes in your body and brain. What if I told you meditation can give you superpowers?

To be honest, meditation can be intimidating at first to get it “right.”

And that’s where technology can help. Nerd it up with cool apps like Insight Timer that can give you stats about your meditation practice, connections with people around the world meditating at the same time, and a TON of guided meditations, including geeky ones like The Company With Elves by The Honest Guys where you will get as close to being in a Tolkien novel as mentally possible.

Don’t use parenting as an excuse to not meditate. Have your children join you; it’s good for them too.

[A] study of more than 3,000 children in the San Francisco Unified School District found a dramatic improvement in math test scores and overall academic performance among students who practiced transcendental meditation, a form of mediation that promotes relaxation and “an awakening” of the mind. The study also found a decrease in student suspensions, expulsions, and dropout rates.

Travel into a fantasy story with your kids on this guided, gentle meditation called A Fairy and a Leprechaun (complete with lovely accent).

Or meditate as a family on meaningful quotes like a fellow GeekMom wrote about. Another past post has some more books and resources to check out on geeks meditating.

If you want more science links, information, and tips on meditating from a VERY nerdy point of view, check out Nerd Fitness.

But if you only have a few minutes to spare, this is the meditation you should try first. WARNING: parents wear earphones for this one!