I look into Gwyneth Paltrow’s eyes as she tells me to take a deep breath.
According to the actress, this is her preferred way to start all her meditations. I am not a regular meditator so I am following her lead. Then she follows her instructions and closes her eyes and takes another breath.
“Open your eyes and observe all the objects around you,” she says. i will do it. “Now notice the empty space around those objects. Notice how this space holds the objects and allows everything to exist within it. Far away from you. Notice the space and the space immediately around you, the space you are holding.” You. “
I’m trying to follow that. As I look at my computer screen, Paltrow appears on Zoom, leading me and others through an exclusive three-minute meditation as part of an announced partnership with meditation app Moments of Space. . As of March 13, users can now access guided meditations like this one led by the actress on the app.
I look at the rest of the things on my desk. I see a jar with post-its, a stapler, and a pen. Was Nirvana under my desktop monitor this whole time?
Paltrow takes slow, deliberate breaks between each sentence. Each hiatus feels like a lifetime, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
“Now, bring your awareness to your entire self and feel the space around you,” she says. “And as you become aware of this all-encompassing space that exists everywhere and allows everything in the outside world, you realize that there is a similar sense of space within you, a space that allows everything in your inner world. Notice whether you are aware of “being in the space of your own consciousness. Don’t try to grasp it. Just be in that space, in that moment.”
Um…what? she lost me The only space I feel is in my stomach craving coffee. Obviously, I have a long way to go before I reach Paltrow-level serenity. The CEO’s calm, unfazed demeanor has become as much a hallmark of her brand as her company, Goop,’s quirky (and expensive) wellness products.
Unfortunately, I’m no Paltrow. I get irritated easily. I’m always running through a to-do list in my head. I get anxious if I don’t get stimulation for a few minutes. My characteristic is that I think too much.
But according to Paltrow and Kim Little, founder of Moments of Space, who will be joining the webinar, this is exactly what people like me need: open your eyes and meditate. It is said that even a little goes a long way.
“When I was learning to meditate, my meditation teacher said, ‘Even if you’re shallow diving, you’ll get wet,'” Paltrow says. “That’s why it always strikes me that it’s worth doing. It’s worth sitting down. It doesn’t have to be a monk-level, two-hour revelatory thing. It’s worth sitting down and trying. Just the act of doing it. You’re going to benefit from it. ”
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Why do we meditate with our eyes open?
When most people think of meditation, they picture a person sitting quietly on a mat, legs crossed and eyes closed.
That’s one way, but it’s not the only way. Murray Hidary, a meditation expert and founder of the experiential music company MindTravel, says variations on keeping your eyes open have been around as long as meditation itself.
Benefits of meditating with your eyes open include a heightened awareness of yourself in relation to your surroundings, Hidary says, which allows you to connect with your environment in a way that is not easily achieved with other forms of meditation. He added that it creates a sense of connection.
“You don’t just close your eyes and isolate yourself in your inner world,” he says. “You’re actually engaging and interacting with the world around you, so you can really try out how consciousness arises within yourself.”
It also makes meditation less difficult for beginners like me who worry about getting easily distracted and not being able to meditate “properly.”
Paltrow, an Oscar-winning actress, mother, and CEO, calls eye-opening meditation a “game changer” for her busy life and allows her to find “wholeness” in the midst of chaos.
“You can steal a few minutes here and there every day,” she says. “You can meditate while sitting at your desk, walking down the hall, or even on Zoom (no offense intended). And that’s what really deepens the benefits of meditation. I realized that.”
How to meditate:Start a daily mindfulness practice that will help you feel zen.
Have I transcended like Gwyneth Paltrow?
By the end of Paltrow’s three-minute meditation sampler, I can’t say I found a sense of wholeness, but I did feel calmer. Her heart rate slowed and her breathing seemed to deepen. She felt relaxed and energized at the same time.
Of course, this could all just be in my head. But if the placebo effect makes you feel better, what’s the problem with that? It’s my first time, but I’ll accept it.
Paltrow says regular meditation can have profound results. She learned meditation 12 years ago, and for the past four years it has become her morning ritual. She says it helped her see life in a different light.
“This is all kind of an illusion, and we’re so wrapped up in atoms and molecules and materiality,” Paltrow says. “When I’m able to let go of that in meditation, I think it brings me great peace and happiness, because I feel connected to something bigger than myself, my own thoughts, my own ego. .”
Eye-opening meditation may not have given me such an experience yet. But who knows? If you keep at it, it might happen someday. At least thanks to Paltrow, my eyes are now open to that possibility.
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