Introducing your Family to Meditation with Muse: The Brain Sensing Headband

by: Karissa Becker

Often when we meditate, it's immediately noticeable how tricky it is to settle our thoughts, calm our minds, and release the chaos of worries and possible doubts that tend to build up throughout our day. We sit and close our eyes, breathe and hope that we are becoming still and cleansing our thoughts. 

But what if we could have help in honing our focus? What if we could receive real time feedback of the activity in our minds, translated into the sound of raging wind and stormy weather or quiet waves lapping at the shore? Sounds surreal, doesn't it?

That's exactly what Muse: The Brain Sensing Headband from Gaiam can do for you (or your children)! This game-changing device offers such a unique meditative experience, as you settle in and turn on your session you can immediately hear how active your brain is by how calm or raging the weather sounds in your ear buds. It sounds like it could be distracting, but I promise it's quite exciting— and while it takes a session or two to get used to the feedback you're receiving, slowly but surely you'll start noticing that you can calm the weather by relaxing your face, relaxing your jaw, and breathing deeply. As you begin to find stillness, you start to hear birds joining you, singing happily about how calm and focused your mind has become. 

I was so excited about my first session with Muse I shared it with my whole family. You can easily set up multiple accounts on one phone and Muse will track your ability to focus during each session and how often you are able to find stillness. 

My kids were thrilled with the space-age feel of wearing a headband that could sense their brain activity! It takes a moment to get the headband and the app to connect, and initially my kids' wiggles would cause the session to pause, but with a little loving guidance from their mama, they were able to straighten their spines, breathe consciously and listen to the invitations of the guided meditation as well as the sounds created by the activity in their brains.

My daughter, Lilith was so delighted by the changing weather and the birds chirping, she would smile when they came to visit. In the middle of her session, I paused to kiss her cheek and asked if she was enjoying it and she whispered "yes, shhhh, don't move." And that’s I knew she was getting into it. 

Muse is brilliant for all ages because it can be incredibly daunting to begin a meditation practice, to sit in a puddle of our thoughts, unsure if we are focusing or if we are actually worrying about our to-do list we haven't finished yet. Instead, with the help of Muse we can be lulled back to our center with sounds that are not only soothing, but also self-validating as we are given glimpses of our own stillness. I hope you try it with your own family! View my video of me meditating with Lilith using Muse. 

 Karissa Becker, also known as @thegivingmom is a happily married mother of two, advocating mindful living and conscious parenting on Instagram. She also shares Kundalini Yoga classes on YouTube to inspire and encourage others to fulfill their purpose and live their dreams.