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- The 6 Best People to Follow on Social for Guided Meditations
The 6 Best People to Follow on Social for Guided Meditations
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We all know when it comes to looking after our health, it’s not just about hitting the pavement or having a balanced diet. Looking after our mental health is equally as important for our overall wellbeing and ensuring we’re the best version (or sometimes just the least grumpy one) of ourselves, especially after 2020 when it probably took a bit of a beating.
Many of us have different methods for managing our mental health because there is no one-size-fits all approach when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle. But there are scientifically-backed methods that have been proven to help in addition to our own personal rituals.
Enter: guided meditation. Guided meditation is exactly what it sounds like, mediation that is done through guidance by a teacher. Taking time out of your day and away from our phones to meditate has been proven to reduce stress, control anxiety, promote emotional health, enhance self-awareness and improve sleep, to name a few. Sounds pretty great, right?
Whether you’re a meditation newbie, keen to suss out the benefits or a bit of a pro, who has already been converted, there are lots of experts you can follow to help you along the way and give you new tools to utilise. Here are the six best people to follow on social media if you’re keen to give guided meditations a go:
Guided Meditation Intros, Basics, and Philosophy
Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra was born in New Delhi, India, prior to moving to the US in the 70s. He is a doctor as well as a world-renowned self-help guru who has written over 85 books. That’s no small feat… In addition to his books he also has a podcast, a meditation app, creates videos and regularly holds events both in person and online.
Chopra has partnered with Fitbit which has seen him produce ‘Mindful Method’, an integrative health and well-being portal to strengthen your body and mind through exclusive sessions for mindfulness, sleep, stress, mental wellness and more that is available to Fitbit premium members.
Chopra offers daily guided meditations on YouTube tailored to different areas you might like to focus on such as self-awareness, inner peace, self-healing, managing anxiety, positive energy, restful sleep, healing the body and mind and much more. He’s also teamed up with Oprah on a free 21-day meditation experience called ‘Manifesting Grace Through Attitude’.
Alan Watts
Alan Watts was a British-born author, speaker and philosopher. He is famous for bringing Buddhism to the US in the 60s where he began interpreting Eastern wisdom for a Western audience.
His works are comprised of a number of collections including aptly named The Works, Essential Lectures, Extended Seminars and Eastern Wisdom where he focuses on Zen and meditation. Watts wrote 25 books related to philosophy, the psychology of religion, and mystical experiences during his lifetime with all of his content being accessible on his website.
Daily Meditations
Tara Brach
Tara Brach is an American author, psychologist and teacher of Buddhist meditation for over three decades. Brach blends Western psychology and Eastern spiritual practices in her work and founded one of the largest meditation centres in the US.
She also delivers presentations, teaches classes, offers workshops and leads silent meditation retreats. Brach has quite the following with her podcast being downloaded more than three million times a month. She has a large library of videos in her collection of ‘Tara Talks’ dealing with more in depth theory as well as basic guided meditations for beginners.
Gabby Bernstein
Gabby Bernstein is an American international speaker, spiritual leader, podcast host and #1 New York Times Bestselling author. She is a self-professed ‘spirit junkie’ having used meditation to help her overcome addiction and now leads a life of sobriety.
Bernstein was the co-host of Deepak Chopra’s Guinness World Record for the largest group meditation. Impressive. Her goal is to make meditation easy and accessible to everyone, teaching others to use it as a source of peace, serenity and health. Bernstein’s guided meditations are short, simple and easy to practice while on a quick walk.
Guided Meditation for Sleep and Relaxation
Lauren Ostrowski Fenton
Lauren Ostrowski Fenton is an Australian life coach, speaker and meditation teacher of many years. She uses her own personal experiences of loss, childhood bullying, relationship challenges, and the ups and downs of being a single mum to guide and help her audience.
Fenton has a popular YouTube channel and Spotify podcast where she creates quiet guided meditation, sleep meditation, sleep therapy, sleep music and relaxing music. Her aim is to assist with sleep apnoea, insomnia, deprivation and problems by providing soothing relaxation that helps to achieve a deeper sleep.
The Honest Guys
The Honest Guys are a duo made up of Rick Clarke who is the calming voice in their guided meditations and Kevin Brown who is the producer looking after all of the behind the scenes work on their YouTube channel. They are assisted by Siân Lloyd-Pennell who script writes for the pair.
The Honest Guys provide guided meditations with the aim of helping people by kindly providing their content for free on YouTube. They cater for the different needs of their audience such as sleep, relaxation, relief from anxiety, and healing, as well as a need for general relaxation through their guided fantasy relaxation stories.
If you want to start tracking your overall health and improve your meditation practice, the new Fitbit Luxe might be perfect for you. The Luxe comes with a six month free trial of Fitbit Premium which unlocks a host of mindfulness tips and tools to help you achieve your health and wellness goals.