Learn to Meditate at Home, Even When It's Chaotic

Stressed out, at your wit’s end, trying to balance work and, if you have kids, your child's e-learning, and that's when it happened: You realized you were finally ready to learn how to meditate at home. The only problem, of course, is that home isn't exactly the quietest place on earth at the moment. Now that a reported one in four Americans are sheltering-in-place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, home is more than just a home: it's a classroom, an office, a playground, and a restaurant. But before you give up and forget the whole thing, know that there are more than a few ways to meditate at home and practice mindfulness in the midst of so much uncertainty and chaos.

“Meditation can help reduce stress, anxiety, and it can help us deal with the uncertainty,” Neda Gould, Ph.D., a psychologist and associate director at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Anxiety Disorders Clinic, and who teaches Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, tells Woman's Day. (Gould is currently hosting free daily 30-minute mindfulness classes on Zoom.)

Although our brains have the ability to linger in the past or stress about the future, “meditation is basically bringing your attention to the present moment,” she says. The present moment, Gould explains, is what you're experiencing through your physical senses, instead of the feelings that are caused by any lingering existential dread.

Practicing meditation and mindfulness can take time, to be sure, but the benefits make this investment in your mental health and overall wellbeing more than worth it. Here’s how to meditate at home, starting now.