How to Meditate Using Your Everyday Headphones

Meditation is one of the best and easiest ways to improve mental health. It does this by calming the nervous system. This allows the brain to think more rationally in a state of peace rather than in everyday chaos. Using headphones is a great starter tool for meditation beginners because it helps achieve the state of peace needed.

Listening to audio on headphones helps to block outside noise. Sounds of the outside world can distract your mind and make it hard to fall into a state of relaxation. Headphones give you the ability to listen to different audios that will enhance your meditation experience.

There are two options for your meditation journey guided and unguided. I personally recommend guided meditation for beginners. Guided meditation allows you to listen to audio of people leading a meditation session. Leading you through breathing and mind exercises.

Unguided meditation uses ambient meditation music and sound frequencies that help calm your state of mind. This lets you lead the meditation session. Although, this option is a little more advanced and all it requires is practice and is open for everyone to try!

Here is your step-by-step guide to getting you started on your meditation journey.

• The first step to meditation is to create a safe environment for yourself. Find a space alone where you can sit comfortably. This can be a bed, chair, or even the floor. I recommend using yoga mats and carpeted spaces if using the floor.

• Next, you will need a pair of headphones. I personally recommend Beats Solo3 Wireless. The most important aspect is the fine-tuned acoustics for clarity as well as noise cancelation. Not only this but they have a 40-hour listening time and are compatible with Apple and Androids. Without headphones, the meditation experience can be negatively affected by outside noise.

Photo by Beats by Dre

• Once you have your headphones set up you can find a meditation audio. Any music streaming service works such as Spotify, Apple Music, or Youtube. Whichever service you choose will have multiple guided meditations available, along with ambient meditation music.

The first route we will be taking is guided meditations. The following are some of my favorites available for free using Youtube.

• 10-Minute Meditation for Anxiety

• Daily Calm 10 Minute Mindfulness Meditation

• 15 Minute Guided Meditation Relaxed Body Relaxed Mind

Apple Music also has a great album of guided meditations called Guided Meditation Apple Music Wellbeing. Below are a couple of my personal favorites from this collection of mindfulness audios.

• Chakra Balance Guided Meditation for Positive Energy

• Higher Self Guided Meditation

If you are a Spotify user you also have access to a series of audios from the artist Guided Meditation.

• After looking through the audio options you want to choose the audio that feels the most calming. Do this by listening to the voice of the speaker along with the background. Many audios will click great with you, but if the voice feels unsettling or uncomfortable do not worry. Simply try new audio from a different meditation guide.

• Once you have found the right guided meditation for you it’s time to start. Simply sit down in the comfortable space you created earlier. Let yourself feel the way your body touches the ground below you. After this, you can press play on your guided meditation and let your mind take you into a state of relaxation.

• Once you have done a few guided meditations the mindfulness world opens up to you. Leaving you with the power and mindset for unguided meditation. There are multiple options for ambient meditation music across all music streaming sites. Simply search into your streaming service “meditation music” or “ambient music” and you will find an abundance of great options.