Finding a moment of calm in a busy city can seem almost impossible. But it doesn't have to be.
Everyone's got a favorite place to unwind. It could be somewhere obvious like Central Park, or maybe a particular bench by the river. One New Yorker even told us his favorite place to get away from it all was the Staten Island Ferry (although not during rush hour!)
So we asked Emily Fletcher, founder of Ziva Meditation, to give us her top spot to find calm in NYC.
Her answer blew us away.
"As a meditation teacher in New York City, I’ve taught thousands of students to meditate in one of the world’s busiest, noisiest places. My graduates don’t need new age music or gongs or waterfall sounds, they meditate right in their seats on a subway car or in a crowded Starbucks. (You can see some of the amazing places they’ve stopped, dropped and meditated here.)
We don’t try to block out noise. Sure, quiet places are lovely – you may want to take a few minutes in a beautiful house of worship, a library, a garden bench – but don’t let the lack of a hushed environment keep you from giving yourself some much-needed recharge time. Anywhere you can think a thought is somewhere you can find bliss inside yourself.
Once you learn to meditate, all you need is a place to sit with your back supported and your head free and you can get your relaxation on. Why back supported? So you can fully relax and don’t fall over. Why head free? So you don’t fall asleep, because that's called napping, not meditating.
Two tips for meditating in public: wear sunglasses and pop some earbuds in – no music needed. Everyone will leave you perfectly alone.
Although it’s lovely to find a beautiful spot to meditate, in the end, happiness is an inside job. Anywhere you are alive and thinking your thoughts, you can find that beauty and calm, inside of you."
To start, enjoy Emily's free guided meditation audio we're giving away all week. And if that wasn't enough, once you've downloaded it we'll enter you into a competition to win an 8 day online meditation course worth $250.
Seize the chance to LiveRentFree
Or how about the ultimate calming influence: a month or year without paying rent? SpareRoom gives away a month's rent, every single month, to one lucky roommate. Not only that, we also give away a whole year's rent every year. What do you have to do to put your name in the running? Simple, click below.
