Meditation is chic!
We started meditating over four years ago. We learned the "Vedic" system (yes, the one David Lynch does) which is 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon/evening. You have your very own divined mantra that a trained and gifted teacher gives just to you, not to be shared. Our teacher was Christian Bevacqua of Green Tree Meditation in Venice.
Over the years our meditation practice has changed a bit. We were recently taught a new meditation that is ten minutes long-- hand held over heart, focusing on your breath and heartbeat with no mantra. There are recordings you can listen to-- our friend Anna uses Gamma Meditation recordings - the purpose of which is to drop you from the Alpha and Beta brain frequency that most of us coast along on all the time, and drop you to a deeper, more connected and calmer frequency- the Gamma frequency. This is our laywoman's take on it all, mind you!! We've also had friends do "Angel Meditations" where they connect with God, a Higher Power and/or angels by repeating the mantra "Hallelujah," for example.
Seriously, there a millions of ways to meditate, you can begin simply by after getting out of bed, and sitting quietly and comfortably with your eyes closed and just focus on your breathing for 10 minutes. When thoughts pop into your mind, just let them float by-- and don't judge yourself for the thoughts coming-- just allow them to pass. Give it a try for a month (our friend and a chic guru Sara Avant Stover says that you can form a habit in just 30 days!) and see. It's also great to do whenever you feel yourself getting stressed or anxious or angry- steal away for 10 minutes to focus on your breath and imagine with every exhale the stress/anger/upset leaving your body. We've found ourselves to be so much calmer, more open and happier since meditating! Give it a shot!