Meditating can be one of those annoying things that you already know they should do, but never get around to doing, like flossing, or changing your oil. But since you’re a Performance Menu reader, you are of above average intelligence, and likely already take great care of your teeth and car. Add some meditation to the mix and you’ll be all set. After all, even your annoyingly well-adjusted friend is doing it.
 
Meditating activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which has a bazillion benefits. It can slow down your heart rate, lower your blood pressure, and help your nervous system, endocrine system, immune system, digestive system, neuropeptide network, etc. work optimally. Some research indicates that meditation can reduce chronic neck pain, improve retention during lectures, promote creative thinking, reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, and much more. If being calm and relaxed, having a better attention span, and improving your overall health and well-being isn’t enough of a bonus, realize that it can improve digestion and metabolism as well, not to mention recovery. It might even improve your focus and performance in high stress conditions, so the benefits could transfer to your athletic performance.
 
Luckily, you don’t have to go on a 10-day silent Vipassana retreat or live in a cave in the Himalayas or pay a million dollars for a top-secret personalized mantra to start meditating. You can just sit and breathe in the comfort of your own home. That said, there are a lot of options to look at, so let’s get to it.
 
Take a seat
 
Old school meditators are all about sitting on the floor in lotus position, or at least with your legs crossed and back straight. Keeping your hips higher than your knees will help you keep your spine straight and should take some pressure off your knees. You can buy all sorts of meditation cushions, pillows, bolsters, and even benches (which are way more comfortable than they look) to help with this, or just fold up a blanket. If you need back support, just sit against a wall.
 
If sitting on the floor is really uncomfortable, you can always sit on a chair with your legs uncrossed and both feet on the floor. (You can sit on a couch, too, it’s just harder to keep your back straight).
 
There are all sorts of hand and finger positions you can try, but the easiest one is probably to rest your hands on your knees.
 
Since it’s winter, make sure you’re well-dressed before you start meditating. I always put socks on. You can also wrap yourself up in a blanket. (There’s a huge market for meditation shawls as well.)
 
If sitting meditation isn’t your thing, there are a lot of meditations you can do laying down (in which case the weird hand positions really do help you stay awake). Some people even do walking meditations or try to perform everyday tasks (such as washing dishes) mindfully. Whatever it takes.
 
What To Do
 
There are a lot of different ways to meditate.
 
Some people inhale through the nose and then exhale through the mouth, counting their breath, up to the count of 10 and then starting over.
Some people focus on a specific word or mantra.
 
Some people prefer guided meditations—there are a million apps, and I’ll share a few of my favorites in a bit.
 
Some people just do body scans, where you pay attention to what you’re feeling in each part of your body, from your head down to your toes, observing sensations without reacting. Or you can try to breathe into areas that are tight or tense. You can also purposely tense and then relax each part of your body.
 
Monkey Mind
 
Warning: You may also find your mind drifting. One of the challenges of meditation is to avoid judging yourself for “doing it wrong” when you find yourself not focusing on your breath but instead thinking about what’s for dinner and that jerk that cut you off and almost killed you on the highway and how dumb you feel because you weren’t looking and almost ran right into someone who was sprinting at the gym. Instead of adding to the noise by critiquing your own thoughts, try to just go back to the breath.
 
If you’re counting your breaths, it’s ridiculously easy to lose count, so once you realize you’re at 17, just start over. If you notice that you’re no longer repeating a word, or you somehow stopped scanning your body and trying to remember whether you locked your car door, just get back to it. 
 
Some days, your brain will be noisier than others, but if you practice regularly, you’ll get better at controlling your mind.
 
Apps and Tools
 
Depending on where you live, it shouldn’t be too hard to find meditation groups on Meetup or through a Google search. There are all sorts of places where people meditate together, which can be helpful if you’re trying to commit to a specific time each day. A lot of the places also teach meditation and answer questions. Some are more secular than others. (The Shambhala Center offers introductory meditation instruction that is fairly secular, despite being a Buddhist organization… but there are other places that pretend to be non-religious and yet everyone bows at the TV after viewing videotaped recordings of their guru.) If you religion is your thing, there may be a type of meditation in your religious tradition or specific tools (such as rosary beads) that you could consider using.
In any case, if you think it’d be helpful to get live instruction, it’s definitely out there.
 
But maybe you’re really not all that into it or interested in that level of commitment. Listening to guided meditation audio can be helpful, and it’s all over the web. If you’re a smartphone addict like me, there are a lot of apps you can use as well. Here are a few of my favorites. Note that this is not a comprehensive list.
 
Buddhify
 
This is a paid app for iOS and Android. It costs $4.99 for iOS or $2.99 for Android, which is a one-time fee, and doesn’t require a subscription. What I like about it: It has meditations for a wide variety of circumstances, ranging from feeling stressed to having difficulty sleeping to eating, or traveling. The guided meditations introduce different techniques that can be particularly helpful for different circumstances. Most guided meditations range from five to 12 minutes, and you can see how long they are when making a selection. There are multiple voices, and none of them annoyed me. The only downside is that longer sessions are limited, though there is a solo feature where you can meditate on your own for as long as you want.
 
Headspace
 
Headspace is expensive at $12.95/month, but there’s a free 10-day course anyone can take, with a short meditation each day. All of the meditations are written and read by former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe, and he’s got a very soothing voice and a lovely British accent. Since I never subscribed, I can’t say whether it’s worth shelling out $155 a year for it, but I’d definitely recommend the free starter course.
 
Muse
 
If you think Headspace is expensive, you definitely won’t like Muse—it’s actually a brain-sensing headband that costs $249, and I wouldn’t be writing about it if they hadn’t loaned me a tester. Supposedly the headband sensors pick up your brain signals and can tell when you’re calmer, and give you feedback to help you improve. You download the app, sync your phone with the headband, and select the soundscape you want (rainforest, beach, etc.). If you’re calm, the environment and sounds will be quieter—you can even hear birds. If you’re not calm, the weather intensifies, which is supposed to guide you back to calmness, but can actually create a negative feedback loop, depending on your personality. There are metrics of the percentage time of your meditation that’s calm, your “recoveries” (when you get back from active to neutral, recovering from distractions), and birds, which “land” when you’re calm for a long time.  If you’re really into metrics and have money to spare, Muse is an option, but for some people, just meditating without granule tracking what’s happening is a better choice.
 
Other apps I’ve heard great things about but never used myself are Stop, Breath, & Think (which is free for shorter meditations), the Mindfulness II app (which has some free meditations on iOS and some you pay for, and costs $1.99 for Android), and the Pranamaya Universal Breathing app ($4.99 on both iOS and Android). But really, there are a million apps to try, images to sync your breath to, and calm music or nature sounds that could be a good backdrop for meditation.
 
Getting Started
 
If you’re new to meditation, jumping into 60-minute sessions twice a day may be a bit too intense. It’s like any skill or sport. Better to ease into it with 10-minute, five-minute, or even three-minute sessions and establish consistency rather than going all-out and quitting after a week. Over time, you may want to increase the amount of time you meditate as you get more comfortable with it. Eventually, you’ll be able to tell what amount of time works best for you and your circumstances, even as they change.
 
In closing, I wanted to say “Om Shanti Om.” (Just kidding, guys.)