The ancient practice of meditation—which, in basic terms, is about being focused in the present—has been credited with helping to reduce stress, improve sleep and lower blood pressure, among other health benefits.
Khajak Keledjian is living proof.
During the great recession of 2008, Keledjian—then the CEO of fashion retailer Intermix—was under enormous professional pressure. So a friend in the hedge fund business recommended meditation to him.
“Before I started, I didn’t even know what meditation was,” says Keledjian, who’s since made meditation a part of his daily routine. “I thought you had to be a monk or someone in the Himalayas to be able to meditate.”
Fast-forward to 2016, when Keledjian, who’d sold Intermix to Gap, launched Inscape, which is centered around—you guessed it—meditation. Both the company space in New York City and its app merge various ancient techniques of meditation with carefully calibrated music and sounds to help people of all skill levels meditate.
His desire to spread the word about meditation also led to Inscape’s current collaboration with Listerine®. As Keledjian notes, both brands are focused on self-care routines that can help contribute to a healthy, empowered life.
That’s right—meditation can be empowering, too.
That’s why Listerine and Inscape have teamed up to show you just how by creating a series of downloadable Be Bold guided meditations, with a focus on boosting your daily confidence levels, through the Inscape app.
The three 15-minute guided meditations each embody a different signature Inscape meditation technique—mindfulness, focus and mantra—enabling you to choose the meditation style that appeals to you in the moment.
Intrigued? Here’s a sneak peek at the Be Bold meditations.
1.
The Mindfulness Meditation
The Goal: To help you move beyond self-doubts and fears, giving you the confidence to take more risks.
How It Works: Mindfulness techniques help teach you how to have awareness in the present moment, without judgment. The object of your awareness can include the five senses, body sensations, feelings or, as with this meditation, thoughts.
By practicing mindfulness meditation with a specific goal—such as wanting to have the confidence to take more risks—you can gain insight into what you really want to achieve and better understand the psychological blocks that may be keeping you from going for it.
A Sampling From the Meditation:
During this meditation, we are going to practice staying present and observing our thoughts without judging them. With gentle attention, bring your focus inward. Stay alert and aware. When any thoughts begin to occupy your mind, just notice them and make it OK that your mind is active. Just let your thoughts show up and then let them roll away.
To experience the entire 15-minute meditation, go to the Inscape app.
2.
The Focus Meditation
The Goal: To help you focus and center yourself, so you can direct all your brain power toward achieving your objectives—with confidence.
How It Works: Often, our thoughts ricochet all over the place—there’s so much going on that we can’t seem to stay in the moment. Focus techniques help you filter out all that distracting external noise, so you can concentrate on what’s truly important.
Bottom line: If you can learn to zone completely in on a single goal without distractions, it’s astounding what you can accomplish.
So this practice places attention on a single thing—your breath, a body part, even a candle flame—and trains the brain to focus on it.
Bottom line: If you can learn to zone completely in on a single goal without distractions, it’s astounding what you can accomplish.
A Sampling From the Meditation:
We are going to practice focusing our attention on a single point and holding our awareness there. Focusing on the point where your breath touches your nose, begin to breathe through your nose and feel the touch of your breath on your skin as your body connects with the air. Let your breath be natural, breathing in and out of your nose with ease, deeply or gently, keeping it effortless and flowing, long or short.
To experience the entire 15-minute meditation, go to the Inscape app.
3.
The Mantra Meditation
The Goal: To help foster more confidence by creating inner calm and keeping negative thoughts from becoming obstacles to your daily goals.
How It Works: We’ve all had moments when we’re feeling happy and optimistic about the world only to have that mood abruptly disappear when the latest news bulletin pops up on your smartphone or a work emergency arises.
By using a mantra meditation, you focus on a specific phrase, helping clear your head of everything that’s tugging at you, so you feel centered, strong and able to tackle whatever challenges come your way.
A Sampling From the Meditation:
Begin by silently repeating the mantra So Hum: So… Hum. So… Hum. So Hum is the sound of our breath. “So” is the sound of our inhales and “Hum” is the sound of our exhales. When we repeat So Hum silently, we are using the sound as a neutral anchor to keep our minds from wandering. Stay with the practice of silently repeating the mantra throughout the meditation. Allow the words to roll freely through your mind.
To experience the entire 15-minute meditation, go to the Inscape app.
