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MEDITATE FOR TWO
MINUTES EVERY DAYStarting a new meditation rou-
tine can seem daunting, but
Mindset Brain Gym’s Sean Fin-
nell has a mindfulness exercise that can
be done on the subway or at the office—
anywhere you can go internal for at
least a couple of minutes.- Close your eyes and bring your full
attention to the sensation of your
breath going in and out of your nose. - When you find you’re thinking about
something other than your breath—
which happens to even the most vet-
eran meditators—don’t try to ignore it.
Instead, just notice the thought. “With
meditation, we realize that we are not
our thoughts, we are just observing our
thoughts. So instead of ‘I am anxious
right now,’ it’s ‘anxiety is coming up
right now,’” explains Finnell. - Label your thoughts. “Give the
thought a category, like a hashtag:
that’s work, that’s family.” - Return your attention to your breath
to bring yourself back to the present
moment. Repeat until your time is up.
practise meditation have more
density in areas related to mem-
ory, sense of self and empathy.
And their amygdalae are less
dense, too. “Mindfulness medita-
tion reduces not only the stress in
the moment, but the threshold of
what stresses you out in general,”
says Sean Finnell, co-founder of
Toronto’s Mindset Brain Gym.Meditation isn’t the only way
to calm the mind, of course.
“There are a lot of different roads
to this,” says Daniel Levitin, a
neuroscientist and the author of
Successful Aging. He says people
who socialize more, nurture their
hobbies and participate in activi-
ties that are meaningful to them,
like volunteering, are all less
likely to be stressed. For those
with chronic anxiety, therapy
can be useful as well.
Overall, spending more
time in a relaxed state can help
“rewire the brain for a slower
pace and a more focused
energy,” says Levitin.23 %
of Canadians
over 15 find most
days stressfulrd.ca 35