It’s not the most exciting part of our day, is it? Getting from point A to point B. It’s the part where we get lost in thought and start to wonder in the dreamland. And why wouldn’t our minds be in a state like that? We know every turn, stop, and building on the way and let our autopilot mode take over.

I used to be like that myself. I couldn’t go out for a walk without putting on the headphones so that I could listen to music or an audiobook. It felt as if I couldn’t be alone with my thoughts. I always needed something to shut out the “noise” of constant thinking and worrying about all the things.

But here’s what I discovered after meditating on a regular basis: this boring route we take every day can turn into a simple and powerful walking meditation practice. It also saves us time if we have a busy schedule. So even if we feel rushed in the morning and skip sitting meditation, we have the opportunity to make up for it. We can practice walking meditation wherever we go: office, supermarket, coffee shop, restaurant. Every step becomes an opportunity to be mindful.

Every path, every street in the world is your walking meditation path. — Thich Nhat Hanh

How to Practice Walking Meditation

Just like in breathing mediation we’ll need a point of concentration to keep us grounded in the present moment. For this purpose, we can use the sensation produced by the soles of our feet touching the ground. We should come back to it whenever we notice our minds have wandered off.

But we don’t have to exclude everything else. On the contrary, we need to pay attention to our surroundings by following the steps below. We also need to remember to walk naturally, but at a slightly slower pace than usual.

Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet. — Thich Nhat Hanh

Step #1

As you walk, begin by directing your attention into the body.

Notice the way you move, how you put one foot in front of the other, how your hands swing at your side. Feel the weight of your body as you walk.

Are there any areas of tension or discomfort?

Pay attention to the pace and rhythm just like you do with your breath during sitting meditation.

Observe the way you look around or prefer to keep your head down as you walk. Can you explain why do one or the other? These habitual patterns can reveal your state of mind.

Smile, breathe and go slowly. — Thich Nhat Hanh

Step #2

Now make a conscious effort to notice surrounding objects.

Look in intense awareness at everything around you and try to perceive it with fresh eyes.

You’ve got so accustomed to your route that all you see is mental labels devoid of life and depth.

For a few minutes, try to drop the labels and imagine you see the world for the first time.

When you make this simple shift, you may notice that people and things around you seem different.

You’ll start to notice subtle nuances never seen before, and your route will become fresh and new.

For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them. — Thich Nhat Hanh

Step #3

Then turn your attention to the sounds around you. Listen to people talking, cars passing by or the sound of your feet touching the ground.

Likewise, pay attention to smells. It could be an aroma of ground up beans from a nearby coffee shop, the sweet scent of flowers, or the smell of freshly baked bread. Notice how these smells make you feel.

Do any of these experiences evoke certain memories from your past or hopes for a distant future?

As always, use this part to notice your habitual thought patterns and reactions.

Use your senses fully and let the alert stillness within you be the perceiver, rather than your mind. — Eckhart Tolle

Step #4

The next step is to turn your attention to any physical sensations and how they make you feel.

Notice a fresh breeze sweeping over you as you walk down the street and the warm sunshine on your skin.

Pay attention to the way you walk, how your feet touch the ground, and the rhythm of your steps.

Are you moving fast or strolling while enjoying everything around you?

When you notice any pleasant or unpleasant physical sensations, don’t think about them. Just acknowledge them and let them be.

The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms. — Thich Nhat Hanh

Making Walking Meditation a Natural Part of Our Routine

At some point, we’ve lost the ability to be aware while taking familiar paths of everyday life. The time spent going from one place to another is seen as meaningless and unproductive. It’s something we have to do. We always feel the need to be somewhere else, get to the destination quicker no matter what.

Why not stop this unhealthy tendency and practice walking meditation whenever we can? We should make a conscious choice to take off our headphones for 10 minutes and practice the steps described above. This practice will complement our daily sitting meditation and help us make faster progress towards a more mindful and stress-free life. As a supplement, I made a free worksheet available through the link below.

Even if we find some time in our busy schedule to sit down and meditate, it can be hard to concentrate. We may try to relax and follow our breath but instead find ourselves trying to control it. In addition to that, our minds refuse to stay quiet and act like noisy little kids. After sitting like that for a few minutes we may also notice that our bodies start acting out too by letting us know that our backs hurt or legs about to go numb. And then the timer goes off and we’re not sure if we meditated at all. “What was that all about?” we ask ourselves.

If that sounds familiar, then I can relate. I remember my first meditation like it was yesterday. At first, it was easy to follow the breath, but then something went wrong. Suddenly, I found myself thinking about all the things I had to do that day. What’s worse, I forgot what to do next: was I supposed to notice the rhythm of my breath or areas of tension in my body? It all got mixed up. In this post I would like to share four steps of breathing meditation that might help you improve concentration and make the whole process a little bit easier.

Before You Begin

Before starting any formal sitting meditation, it’s important to take 1-2 minutes to sit down and relax a bit.

Set your timer for 10-15 minutes: the first interval of 1-2 minutes and next four intervals of 3-4 minutes (for steps 1-4). For this purpose, I recommend using the app called Enso.

Take a few deep breaths and close your eyes.

Get in touch with your body: notice any areas of tension by doing a very brief body scan. Move your attention slowly from head to toe. Pay attention to your eyes, jaw, tongue, shoulders, lower back, hands, and legs.

Now activate your senses. Pay attention to the sounds all around you, notice any subtle smells in the room, feel the taste in your mouth.

Once you feel calm, you’re ready for the first stage of breathing meditation.

How to Practice Breathing Meditation

The principle behind breathing meditation is very simple: we use breath as an object of concentration.

The name comes from the Pali word anapanasati, meaning mindfulness (sati) of breathing (anapana).

The popular western version of this meditation is based on the ancient text The Path of Purification by 5th-century Indian scholar Buddhaghoṣa and practiced in 4 steps.

Step #1

After you’ve taken a few minutes to get in touch with your body and calm down, you should point your attention to the breath.

Feel the natural flow of the air coming in and out of your nose. Do not try to alter the breath in any way.

Notice the rhythm of the breath: is it quick and shallow or deep and slow? Notice the subtle movements of the body as you breathe.

Next, mark each breath with a count. In the first stage, we do this at the out-breath and count from 1 to 10. Repeat this cycle of counting for 3 or 4 minutes (the first interval in your timer app).

Schematically it looks like this: breath in – breathe out – count “1,”
breath in – breath out – count “2, ” (…) breath in – breath out – count “10.” Repeat.

Whenever you get distracted by random thoughts, gently bring your attention back to the breath.

“By repeatedly bringing your attention back to the breath each time it wanders off, concentration builds and deepens, much as muscles develop by repetitively lifting weights.” ― Jon Kabat-Zinn

Step #2

Start counting just before each in-breath.

This subtle shift will change your experience considerably.

First of all, you’ll notice that you are more focused because anticipation of each breath gives you a more active role.

You’ll also feel that this type of counting makes you feel more energized because you give more attention to the in-breath. Just like in the first stage count from 1 to 10 and repeat the cycle for 3 or 4 minutes.

Schematically it looks like this: count “1” – breathe in – breathe out,
count “2” – breathe in – breathe out, (…) count “10” – breathe in – breathe out. Repeat.

Keep bringing your attention back to the breath each time you lose concentration. While doing that it’s important not to analyze distracting thoughts, just let them come and go.

“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

Step #3

As you reach this stage, you should feel fully aligned with your natural breathing. You’ll also notice that your concentration level has increased.

It’s time to stop counting and follow the natural flow of your breathing as you inhale and exhale.

Feel the air filling your lungs, subtle movements of your shoulders going up and down or your belly expanding and contracting.

The key to this stage is to notice the turning point between each in-breath and out-breath. This slight change will help you maintain your concentration without counting. Continue doing this for 3 or 4 minutes.

Schematically it looks like this: breathe in – (notice) – breathe out –
(notice) – breath in – (notice) – breathe out – (notice).

“As you breathe in, cherish yourself. As you breathe out, cherish all Beings.” —Dalai Lama

Step #4

During this final stage, you’ll be focusing on the point where air enters and leaves your body.

Usually, it’s the area around your nostrils. If you have difficulty breathing through the nose, it could be your mouth or the area further in towards your throat.

As you feel your breath passing that point, try to notice how cool it is flowing in and warm as it flows out.

Remain with the soft brushing sensation of your breathing as continuously as you can. Be receptive to it rather than trying to force your attention on it.

After 3 or 4 minutes gently open your eyes.

“Be aware of your breathing. Notice how this takes attention away from your thinking and creates space.” — Eckhart Tolle

Start Meditating Today

It might seem strange in the beginning but every time we meditate we gain a little glimpse of what it’s like to be completely still and present. If only for a brief moment, we start to notice a tiny space between us and the mental noise in our heads. In other words, we become an awareness in the background of our thoughts. And with each meditation session, that awareness grows little by little. Until one day we can see clearly how a thought tries to sweep us away and provoke a negative reaction. At that moment we will be ready, we will not give in. To help, I’ve made this free worksheet that you can download by clicking the button below.

Even if we have a detailed plan and a lot of motivation to get things done we might find it hard to concentrate when we suddenly get a text message from a friend, an urgent work-related email, or a Facebook notification. One click leads to another, and before we know it we completely lose track of time.

This happened to me a lot when I started this blog and had to juggle ten or more tasks at the same time. I jumped back and forth between replying to emails, searching for new information, thinking about promotion strategies and in the midst of it all had to find some time to write. At the end of the day I would end up with a dozen of half-finished tasks, not a single one fo them done the proper way. In this post I would like to share some tips that helped me to overcome distractions and focus on a few important tasks.

1. Set clear priorities. The first thing we should do is to ask ourselves, “Why am I doing this?” We have to consider what importance does this task have to our overall goals in life. Sometimes we have tasks on our lists just because we put it there automatically, without giving it a second thought. This results in long, disorganized lists that never really get done.

2. Choose the most important tasks for the day. We should identify key pieces of the puzzle and apply the question from the first rule to all items in the list. How do they measure to our current top priority? Can these pieces fit together and help us move forward? We should be able to see clearly which do and which don’t. So putting irrelevant tasks aside we end up with three or five most important tasks for the day that we write down and put somewhere visible so they always remind us of what we should do.

3. Break down each task into its basic components. This is a necessary step that will allow us to take one small step at a time. This simple change will ground us in the present moment and we will stop thinking about the outcome. Each tiny leap forward will be seem light and natural.

4. Design your environment for maximum efficiency. We need to eliminate such distractions as email notifications, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so on. We need to be wary of even such simple things as several browser tabs that we habitually keep open at the same time to access links, articles, and forums. By getting rid of all these things we create a breathing room for clear thinking, focus, and productive work.

5. Be accountable. Sometimes it can be hard to do everything on our own, so involving others can be a great help and motivator to get things done. For example, we can share with someone our intention to get something done in a certain amount of time. It can be our family member, a partner, or best friend. Sharing our intention creates accountability that can help us keep our focus and get through even the most challenging tasks.

6. Be aware of the impulse to switch tasks right in the middle of the process. Something else may seem more urgent and demand our immediate attention. At that moment, it’s important not to fight that feeling. Just acknowledge it, stay with it for a while, and continue with our current task.

7. Reward yourself for the job well done. Just as it’s important to finish the task, it’s equally important to acknowledge the effort we put into getting everything done. We should refrain from rushing to the next thing and let the feeling of accomplishment flow through our bodies and let it energize us from within.

We spend our days controlled by our schedule and unending tasks, projects, work meetings, personal arrangements, and deadlines. It’s time to stop letting outer circumstances affect our well-being and take a conscious pause, step back, and concentrate on what’s really important in our lives. Once we do that, every action we take will flow naturally from our inner state of presence and clear perspective. As a supplement I created a free worksheet available from the link below.

If you ever considered using an app to learn meditation then you might find yourself in quite a predicament when trying to find a good one from the ocean of choices that are currently available in different app stores. Here are some features that you might want to consider: an introductory program for beginners, duration, variety, voices, free content, paid content, additional features, the subscription cost. I’ve seen quite a few questions about choosing the right mediation app that I decided to test a few of them myself and make a list for anyone who is interested in trying them out to jumpstart their meditation practice.

#1 Breethe

When you download Breethe (formerly OMG. I Can Meditate!), it will prompt you to take free 7-Day Meditation Challenge for beginners.
Each session is 12 to 18 minutes long. The longer duration will offer you more periods of silence.

You also get 1 free meditation from the premium category Life Situations:

• Wake Up with Intention
• 5-Minute Meditation
• Balance Breath
• Blanket of Love
• Dealing with Pressure
• Sweet Dreams

What sets this app apart is 25 free meditations for kids. They are broken up into 4 categories: Kids 6-9, Tweens 10-13, Teens 14-17, and Family.

You should try this app if you like to meditate for longer periods of time (up to 18 minutes) and would like to teach your kids to do the same.

For the curious: how losing mother, child, and husband helped Lynn Goldberg, the founder of the app, to discover the power of meditation.
Watch her interview with HuffPost on YouTube. Interesting moments: 02:18, 14:55, 27:20, 32:35

Download for free on iTunes, premium $12.5/month.

#2 Calm

Calm will guide you through a free 7-Day beginner program that will teach you the basics of meditation. Each session is 10 minutes long, non-adjustable.

You also get 1 free meditation from premium categories such as

• Stress
• Focus
• Anxiety
• Sleep
• Happiness
• Gratitude
• Self-Esteem.

What sets this app apart is Sleep Stories. Yes, the stories for adults. When you download the app you have access to 4 of them: Blue Gold narrated by Stephen Fry, The Lavender Valley, The Secret Lagoon, and The Waterfall.

This app is perfect for those who are comfortable with meditating for 10 minutes straight and have trouble falling asleep.

Download for free on iTunes, premium $12.99/month.

#3 Headspace

Headspace is one of the most popular meditation apps out there. It has free 10-Day Basics program designed to help total beginners start meditating from day one. You also get great flexibility in terms of meditation duration: each session is 3, 5, or 10 minutes long.

When done with the Basics program, you can try 1 free meditation from the following categories:

• Anxiety
• Regret
• Self-Esteem
• Productivity
• Motivation.

The notable feature of this app is funny animations between sessions that explain different aspects of meditation.

This app is perfect for all beginners.

For the curious: How Andy Puddicombe became a Buddhist monk and founded the Headspace app. Watch his famous TED talk about meditation on YouTube.

Download for free on iTunes, premium $12.99/month.

#4 The Mindfulness App

The first thing you need to do is go through free 5-day Get Started program. All sessions are 5-minute long and give you meditation tips and instructions on how to use the app optimally.

After that, you can play around with

• Timed Meditations
• 5-Minute Body Scan
• Personalized meditation.

What sets this app apart is the flexibility of a Personalized Meditation Timer which allows you to set duration (1-95 minutes) and intervals of bells, turn on the guided intro and background music.

Please note that you might find the voice in the 5-day program a bit distracting, but it gets better in Timed Meditation.

Download for free on iTunes, premium $9.99/month.

#5 Smiling Mind

The basic 3-part program will provide you with a short and informative introduction to mindfulness meditation.

Created by Australian non-profit organization Smiling Mind is completely free and you can listen to all of their meditation programs in these categories:

• Kids
• Adults
• School
• Sport

Smiling Mind has partnered with psychologists and health professionals to make the app accessible to everyone, regardless of their location. They also aim to see mindfulness on the Australian National Curriculum by 2020.

Smiling Mind is a totally free app that can be used by everyone.

Download for free on iTunes.

#6 10% Happier

This app has free 8-Day Beginner course called One Minute Counts. Each session can be adjusted to be 1, 5, 10 long. Each day you listen to a new teacher who has a unique way of guiding you through meditation.

Once you’re done with the basic course you can listen to 1 free meditation from the premium content:

• Open Awareness
• Seeing Thoughts Clearly
• Getting Out of Your Head
• Mindfulness Meditation
• Attending to Awareness with Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Working with Anxiety
• Falling Asleep
• Walking with Awareness
• Commuting
• Scattered

The notable feature of the app is a personal meditation coach who can answer your questions in a special chat room inside the app. Pretty cool!

This app is perfect for super busy people who have very little time to meditate during the day.

For the curious: learn how Dan Harris of Good Morning America discovered the power of meditation after he had a panic attack on national television. Watch his story on YouTube.

Download for free in iTunes, premium $9.99 month.

Choose Your Meditation App

Now that you know more about these great meditation apps, choose the one you like and try it out yourself.

Still not sure? Then download my app comparison chart below, it shows you all of the features on one page so you can compare all 6 apps and make a better decision.