GH Challenge 1: Meditation Club

GH Challenge 1: Growing Happy Meditation Club

10 minutes a day for 10 days - let our expert teachers provide the ultimate framework. Try More. Give More. Grow More.

A rational, robust approach to improving your mental and physical health. It's about information and then action. Growing Happy, in partnership with the expert that is Venerable Lobsang Chunzom, will give you a definitive framework, alongside the support needed to make meditation a habit. TRY OUR MEDITATION NOW.

Rising anxiety and a focus on mental health

The Mental Health Foundation now estimate that 1 in 6 people will have suffered from some form of mental health problem in the last week. Roughly 7.8% of us will experience some form of anxiety or depression in our lifetime and the number of suicides each year continues to increase. Mental health problems and anxiety at work are not going away and we need to find new and better solutions. Meditation is not going to magically solve every problem and it is certainly not suitable for a whole host of mental health concerns, but it may well be an important part of our modern day toolkit.

Robust Scientific Endorsement

The benefits of meditation are now well documented; from Sam Harris’ brilliant and highly scientific rational/neuroscientific approach in Waking Up to John Kabat-Zinn’s mindfulness-based stress reduction and Daniel Goleman's Mindful project, the range of studies and results from research are compelling. Whether to reduce anxiety and cortisol levels (commonly known as the stress hormone), lower blood pressure, increase concentration or just aid relaxation, meditation may have an answer for you.

From celebrities and successful entrepreneurs to Buddhists and religious leaders everyone seems to be endorsing the power of meditation. I’ve experienced this power; the increased calm, reduced anxiety, clarity of thought, heightened focus and at times ecstasy that meditation can bring. It is my belief that mastery comes from commitment in daily action, a concentration on regular, deep, immersive practice and the desire to try again after failure. It's not easy, but we want to create a supportive community that helps everyone meditate well every day.

Growing Happy’s Meditation Club gives people access to simple, classic meditation techniques and allows you to become fluent in unique practices that improve your mental and physical health.

Beautiful photography from the incredibly talented Kieran Hodges

It's no picnic, but the benefits are there to be enjoyed

Meditation can be tough, yet ultimately incredibly rewarding; I’ve been frustrated, I’ve been confused, there have been disappointments and failures, along with great satisfaction, clarity and an urgent ambition to go deeper and succeed more over the last few years. I’ve tried many forms of meditation from Zazen and Vipassana to more recently mindfulness and loving kindness meditation, but it’s still hard and I keep looking for additional breakthroughs.

I’ve tried meditating sitting naked in a field (luckily not too many people around), lying on the floor, perched cross-legged on a cushion, being guided in a class and sitting at my kitchen table staring at a candle. Family, friends and colleagues have often thought me eccentric, if not completely bonkers (they may have a point); but they have often been persuaded and started to see the benefits themselves. My commitment has often deserted me, but my desire to develop a rich meditation practice continues to grow.

This is why I want to share an Ultimate Meditation Framework that has worked for me and create a community that will share breakthroughs and reinforce accountability together. I want you to experience the benefits and incorporate these routines into your daily life.

Growing Happy was created to help people talk openly about mental health; not just the bad stuff, but all of it - the good, the not so good and the damn right ugly. But it is also about working together to find better ways of living, alongside different, rational approaches to improving our mental health. With your involvement, our Growing Happy Meditation Club will support your journey in developing a useful and rewarding meditation practice that starts to quiet the amygdala, reduce anxiety and improve overall wellbeing.

Let’s start practicing and meditating together every day

Growing Happy will be here every step of the way, enriching your progress and offering additional knowledge and encouragement, until you start building the discipline and seeing the positive changes that convince you to make this a practice for life.

Enough talk let’s get moving and start practicing together

1. Sign up by posting your email address below or join the facebook group here. Join in at anytime and don’t worry if you miss a day

2. Commit now to making 10 minutes available every morning or evening to meditate

3. During your 10 day challenge we will answer questions, while posting recommendations and tips to support you in your daily practice

4. Follow along with the team and commit to our specially created guided meditation or choose a meditation of your choice

5. Keep us all updated with your progress below and tag friends or colleagues who may benefit from giving meditation a try

6. Share your meditation success and failures below to be automatically entered into our meditation prize draw

A simple starting Framework:

• Commit to a time every morning or evening when you are going to meditate for the next 10 days. Post it to the group in the chat below to improve accountability.

• Commit to doing the meditation in the same place every day for 10 days. Find a place that is conducive for meditation, a cushion on the floor, the sofa or a seat at the kitchen table – being comfortable is important, and for 10 days do it in one place until you create your meditation space.

• Set a reminder in your calendar for the same time every day

Do it - Meditate

“If it weren’t for my mind, my meditation would be excellent” – Pema Chodron.