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Stream our free guided meditations to help you with your meditation practice. These free guided meditations are specifically geared for our Koru students, but will help anyone who is looking for guided help in their meditation practice.

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That's why I'm always trying to think of ways that I can adequately explain to people the benefits of meditation. Very often, when I say that I meditate for 20 minutes every day, I see people switch off a bit. Maybe they're imagining people sitting cross legged under a waterfall among mist-covered mountains. Or maybe they're thinking, "why would I just sit there making weird noises while my to-do list gets longer and nothing is being done about it?" That's missing the point. Meditation is not simply a thing you do to get relaxed, or to experience a pleasant mental state (though sometimes that happens and it's pretty cool). To me, meditation is the place where I learn the skill of mindfulness. Mindfulness is what I'm after because a number of good things follow in its wake: being able to see my thoughts and feelings for what they are and then choose my reaction to them. People underestimate how trainable minds are. My experiences prove to me that many mental abilities, attitudes, and outlooks are, in fact, skills-if you practice them, you can build them.

In professional canoeing, we spend a lot of time trying to learn new skills with the aim of eventually delivering those skills to win major races like the Olympics. First, we learn the skill on very gentle water, where there is less to think about and your mind can focus on the components of the skill. It can take many hours of experimentation to even manage to produce one repetition of a new skill. Once you get the hang of it, you take it onto more powerful whitewater, scaling up the challenge. Then you practice putting it down in mock competitions. Eventually, it's time to bring it out in front of a crowd on your big day. You get the idea: you have to develop the skill in very easy conditions before delivering it when the pressure is on. That's where meditation comes in.

When I meditate, I am actually practicing the skill of awareness-and it's difficult to have that awareness when you're a beginner or when there is a lot going on. Even after a long time, I'm not perfect at it and I sometimes struggle when I am under strain, when I'm tired or hungry, or when people have upset me. Meditation is a calm and easy place that I create in order to 'go through my moves' before taking them out into the real world, where things are more unpredictable, tougher and perhaps less forgiving. Having practiced them, I feel like I've got a better chance of deploying that skill when I need it the most. Essentially, I think a good way of using Headspace is to improve your mindfulness skills. It's just not realistic to be able to deliver your skills at the Olympics unless you've practiced plenty on a gentle stream beforehand. It's the same here. Just sitting there watching your thoughts and feelings come and go trains you in that calm power. Bit by bit you can gain the ability to choose your reaction when the currents of life are turbulent in the extreme. For me, that ability is well worth practicing for.

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What's the point of meditating? An Olympian explains. - Headspace

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Jimi Hendrix - The Wind Cries Mary(live in Stockholm 1967)

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Susan Gillis Chapman helps us appreciate the music of everyday life.

The most common instruction for mindfulness meditation is to pay attention to your breath. But the breath is not the only thing you can notice when you sit down to meditate. Whether you use a small gong or an app on your phone, ringing a bell is a good way to start and end a meditation session. The sound is not just a timer. It reminds us that mindfulness is about creating space for silence and for listening. By letting go of our usual distractions, we make room to appreciate the sounds around us.

Here are three types of sounds to appreciate as you sit in "silence."

1. Background sounds

One of the first things you will notice once the sound of the opening bell fades away is background sounds: traffic noise, the whirring of a ceiling fan, murmuring voices in the hallway. As you notice each one, let go of the habit of naming and judging it and dive into the pure sensation of hearing. In this way, everything you hear is treated as equal-beyond being pleasant or unpleasant.

2. Melodic sounds

Sounds that form a melody tend to arouse emotions, which is what we love about music. When we sit quietly, we will inevitably notice melodic sounds. A chorus of birds greets the dawn. A siren wails in the distance. A pitter-patter of rain softly taps the windowpane. Listening to the rise and fall of these sounds can arouse feelings that don't need to be named or clung to. Melodies can make us feel sadness, joy, or both. Try to find the dividing line between the sound and your emotional response. It's challenging, but listen loosely. If something melodious moves you, stay with it and notice how it affects your body.

3. Abrupt sounds

Sudden, shocking sounds that interrupt us can also bring us back to awareness. Someone sneezes-achoo!-and we're back to the now. The sudden arising of a sound can wake you up to the present moment when you've been lulled into habitual thought patterns. When sitting quietly, we're not trying to fall into a trance. Relaxed awareness is the thing, like a deer on the alert for something new.

When the closing bell rings at the end of your session, let the sound relax you. Rest in it for a moment. As the reverberation fades away, let it help you transition into everyday activity. Every moment there are sounds inviting us to listen. Being open to them is just another way to appreciate the world around us and appreciate one another. All the conversations in our life begin here.

Read an excerpt from Susan Gillis Chapman's book, The Five Keys to Mindful Communication.

This article also appeared in the August 2013 issue of Mindful magazine.

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Practice Mindfulness With Everyday Sounds

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Susan Gillis Chapman helps us appreciate the music of everyday life. The most common instruction for mindfulness meditation is to pay attention to your breath. But the breath is not the only thing you can notice when you sit down to meditate.

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Lesson 3 : Mindful Movement, Sports & Senses

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Lesson 3 : Mindful Movement, Sports & Senses