If you’re an average American, your day might go something like this: An alarm on your phone, or clock, or both, wakes you up; you immediately get on your smart phone or your laptop to check your email and check in on your social networks; you then go into the kitchen and flip on the TV while you make yourself a cup of coffee; then you get in your car and head off to work where you will sit at a computer for the rest of your day; and throughout all of it you were receiving texts, phone calls, notifications, and alerts to no end. When you list it all out like that, it’s not hard to see why we’re a stressed out bunch of people.

A lot of people have their own methods for unwinding at the end of the day. Maybe they watch some TV; maybe they have a glass of wine while they take a bath; or maybe they even exercise. But what do you do when that’s just not cutting it? What do you do when you really need to unplug from everything? Meditation may be the solution you’re looking for.

Here’s what I suggest:

1. Find a quiet place where know one can bother you, and you won’t find yourself distracted by your surroundings.
2. Get yourself in a comfortable position — you don’t have to sit on the floor cross-legged; any position is fine.
3. Close your eyes and begin to notice your breath. Think about breathing. Pay attention to the air flowing in and out of your lungs. Any time a thought pops into your head, push it out and continue to focus on your breathing.

What you just learned is called focused breathing. It’s a mindfulness meditation technique. As you can see, it is very easy to do. It doesn’t take years of practice; it just takes the will to do it. This is just one of many meditative techniques you can use to de-stress and unplug yourself from our technologically saturated world.

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