Those of you who have followed agebuzz for a while know that the evidence to support meditation and mindfulness is clear and compelling: For stress reduction, cognitive and emotional health, and a myriad of physical ailments, the ability to focus one’s mind and heighten one’s attention to the moment can be a supportive and simple strategy for maintaining one’s health and well-being. And now even more evidence to support the practice of meditation as a way to lower cardiovascular risks has just been published. While the study is observational and more research needs to be conducted, the lead researcher concluded, “I believe that any kind of meditation would have benefits for cardiovascular disease risk reduction.” For older adults, in particular, Dr. Ed Schneider, professor of gerontology, medicine, and biological sciences of The USC School of Gerontology, has emphatically stated, “I think there’s no question there are health benefits for meditation — if you do it on a regular basis.”

So then the question becomes, how do you integrate a meditative practice into your daily routine? Well, if you’ve followed our advice and taken up walking during this time, you may find that walking meditation is the solution to many of your problems. Walking meditation involves a heightened awareness of your body and physical sensations as you move through an environment. It focuses on the physical experience of walking and the sensation of your feet, rather than the more typical focus on your breath (as occurs with sitting meditation). There’s a conscious specificity to your focus during walking meditation and a deliberate way of moving one foot and then the other, perhaps using an imaginary line to focus your feet and mind. For some additional guidance on how to take up this practice, turn your attention here and here.

But for those of you who’d rather sit than walk, and are looking for some handholding to guide you through a meditative process, you may be interested in a new upcoming series on HBO Max entitled “A World of Calm,” a collaboration between HBO, The Calm App, and National Geographic’s Nutopia. With breathtaking cinematography and soothing narration from such celebrities as Idris Alba and Keanu Reeves, this series of 10 half-hour sessions is hoping to become the calming part of your daily routine that you’ve been longing for. To find out more, get comfortable and read here.