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AdviceMotivation

Motivation

Some people know exactly why they’re meditating. Others, not so much.

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Better mental health starts with Headspace

There is no one thing that defines our experience of Headspace more than our motivation or our intention. For some people, they might come to Headspace already knowing very clearly why they wanna train the mind in this way. For others, not so sure, it's just kind of know that doesn't quite feel right in the body and the mind or wanna experience a little more calm or clarity. But either way, our motivation is not a fixed thing, it's something that evolves and changes over time. In fact, some of my favorite kind of Headspace stories as I think back now, even the people who've come to Headspace with a very particular motivation, perhaps performing at an elite level in sport, you know, so they've come because they wanna develop focus and endurance and this kind of thing, how to deal with pain better for example, when I've spoken to them kind of later on, down the line, they say, "Well, that's why I started, but actually now it's because I see that the relationships in my life are just so much better than they used to be. You know, I'm more patient, I'm able to listen more to people and it's just changed." And so it's not that it's suddenly stopped helping them focus in their sport in this instance, is just the overtime they've realized that it's not really about one thing. And this brings us onto a really kind of interesting point. So there were two kind of main approaches I would say, or intentions. One is that we are chasing after something specific for ourself. Now it's kind of natural that when we first come to Headspace, that's usually where we kind of all are. You know, we just wanna experience a common mind, a more relaxed body, whatever it might be. But the problem is, in setting out our intention, our motivation in that way, it's almost like we put the mind in a box. There's no real kind of sense of spaciousness and ease. We've focused so intently on one self that there's no real kind of room for the mind to move. So it often struggles to relax in that situation. The other kind of approach, which is something that we always try to encourage at Headspace, is to consider that when we sit, there's a little more to it than that. It's not only ourselves that get the benefit, but it's also those around us. It impacts our relationships, everybody in our life. It might just simply be that we're more as a consequences sitting, that we're more aware in our everyday life, perhaps we hold open a door in a shop rather than letting it slam in someone else's face, immediately it's impacted that person's life even if we don't know them even if we don't know anything about it. So by pausing at the beginning of each session, and just reminding yourself that okay, so of course we want...

Details

TypeAdvice
Duration5 min

About your teachers

  • A former Buddhist monk, Andy has guided people in meditation and mindfulness for 20 years. In his mission to make these practices accessible to all, he co-created the Headspace app in 2010.

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  • Eve is a mindfulness teacher, overseeing Headspace’s meditation curriculum. She is passionate about sharing meditation to help others feel less stressed and experience more compassion in their lives.

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  • As a meditation teacher, Dora encourages others to live, breathe, and be with the fullness of their experiences. She loves meditation’s power to create community and bring clarity to people’s minds.

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  • Kessonga has been an acupuncturists, therapist, and meditation teacher, working to bring mindfulness to the diverse populations of the world.

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  • Rosie Acosta has studied yoga and mindfulness for more than 20 years and taught for over a decade. Rosie’s mission is to help others overcome adversity and experience radical love.

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