Get Some Headspace: 10 minutes can make all the difference Read Online Free

that much more feasible. More than that, it shows you how to be OK with the way you are right now and how you feel. But put it to the test. Don’t simply believe it works because that’s what the scientists say. As valuable and fascinating as that research is, it will mean nothing if you don’t directly experience the benefits yourself. So use the instructions, refer back to them, give it time, be patient, and see what 10 minutes a day can do for you.
    The Headspace website
    Although this book contains everything you need to know to get started with meditation, you’ll find the Headspace website at www.getsomeheadspace.com to be an invaluable tool and companion. To download your audio-guided meditations and animations visit www.getsomeheadspace.com/headspace-book/get-some-headspace
    Audio downloads
    Many find it easier to learn how to meditate when they are guided through the exercise by a teacher’s voice. Make sure you visit www.getsomeheadspace.com/headspace-book/get-some-headspace to access the content for all the meditation and mindfulness techniques presented in this book. These downloads will give you the flexibility to meditate wherever you are. You’ll be prompted to enter a simple password. Please remember not to listen to the audio downloads whilst driving.
    The techniques
    Throughout this book you’ll find specific exercises designed to get you started and keep you going with your meditation practice. It may be a short two-minute exercise, introducing a particular aspect of meditation, or the full ten-minute version, known as Take10 in The Practice section. Or it might be a mindfulness exercise, designed to bring awareness to everyday activities such as eating, walking and exercise. There’s even an exercise to help you get a good night’s rest. But remember, it’s when you put the book down and close your eyes to meditate that you’ll feel the real benefit of these techniques.
    The stories
    Meditation instructions always used to be given in the form of a story and this is a tradition I’ve continued in writing this book. Stories make difficult concepts easy to grasp, and forgettable instructions easy to remember. Many of the stories presented here involve my own misunderstandings and struggles with meditation along the way. Sure, it would be easy to write about the times when I felt relaxed, calm and even blissful during meditation, and also about the radical, positive change that meditation has made to my life. But the real value is in looking back at the mistakes that I’ve made and sharing those with you, because that’s where the learning took place and it’s from those very same experiences that I can help you to get some headspace.
    The science
    In recent years the advancement of MRI technology, together with sophisticated brain-mapping software, has meant that neuroscientists are now able to observe the brain in a whole new way. This means that they’ve been able to discover exactly what happens to the brain when we’re learning to meditate, and also some of the effects of long-term practice. At first it was assumed that it was simply the activity of the brain that changed during meditation, but multiple studies have shown that the structure of the brain itself can change, in a process known as neuroplasticity. So, in the same way that training the body can make a particular muscle thicker and stronger, so training the mind with meditation can make the area of the brain associated with happiness and wellbeing thicker and stronger.
    For many people this new research can be motivating, inspiring and help to build confidence – especially in the early days of learning meditation. It’s for this reason that I’ve included a handful of these research findings at the end of The Approach, The Practice and The Integration. They relate specifically to the information in those chapters, but have a much broader relevance too. But if you’d like to find out more about the research into meditation