I think I have found the perfect holiday gift for myself and all my stressed out friends. The Muse Meditation brain-sensing headband. It’s going to blow your mind, in the best way.
My life is stressful. My life around the holidays is like watching the Texas Chain Saw Massacre, while juggling torches and eating swords, tied to the train tracks as the distant train horn blows and the alien mothership descends.
Ok. Maybe not that stressful. But I tend to be competitive. So I wanted to make a point.
Thanks to Muse for sending me a unit to test out. All opinions and mental health winning scores are my own.
What I like about the muse brain-sensing headband is that it turns my natural competitiveness into a plus which is not really something I expected to put together with meditation practice. I mean, competitive yoga I can imagine, just barely. But competitive meditation. What?
I’ve been meditating since I was a kid and I am actually not that bad at it. I find it helps me control anxiety a lot in situations, like every damn time I’m taking off in a plane, or whenever my spouse insists he cannot find something in the fridge that is right on the shelf in front of his face. Plus I have four kids and don’t like to use drugs. Knowing how to close my eyes and breathe is a survival skill.
Did you know that meditation has been scientifically shown to reduce symptoms associated with stress, depression and anxiety, as well as improve overall well-being? The many health benefits of meditation have been well covered in recent years.
But Muse Meditation has come along with this handy brain wave measuring headband that senses your brainwaves and gives you feedback in real time. It’s ridiculously simple to use. You just put it on and start a session in the app. Focus on your breathing and clear your mind (easier said than done). When you are calm, the sounds of the environment will be calm. If you are super calm, you will hear birds chirping. If your mind wanders and you start to stress about those invoices you need to do, the sounds will get a little less peaceful and you will hear thunder on the horizon. Your only job is to keep the birdies chirping.
At the end of your session you get a readout of how you did. Go gamification for the mental health win!
I don’t want to brag or anything but I got a lotta birds on my first try. I can’t wait to see how my husband does. And I can’t wait to see how much I can improve over time.
And…there’s that competitive thing.
If being competitive can help keep me calm and not make me a crazy miserable perfectionist for once this holiday season, sign me up! Juggling torches and swallowing swords is exhausting, even when the inlaws aren’t involved.
Muse would make a great gift for any of your Type A competitive pals and family members. Even better than adult coloring books! Just tell them how you heard a whole rainforest full of birds when you tried yours and watch them calm the f down over the next few months.
I’ve got your back. Gift peaceful and Happy Thanksgiving!
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