Here is a ~1.5min guided meditation prompt for soft belly meditative breathing. You can do this meditation upon waking, going to bed, in-between tasks or when you need a quick reset. Enjoy

I can only imagine you’re thinking: Expressive? Shaking? Adedayo Explain! And So I shall.

I would not fault you if when you think of meditation an image of someone sitting legs folded on the floor, eyes closed, with hands clasped together and by their chest and saying “ ohhmm” was the image that came to mind. I may have thought the same a year ago. So why is that not the case anymore you ask?

In my 2nd semester of MS1, I had this life-changing opportunity to participate in my school’s pilot Mind and Body Medicine group and for 8 weeks along with 10 other MS1 and one of our Dear Behavioural Sciences professors; we embarked on a journey of learning different meditation techniques and coping strategies. You could even say this is my origin story of how I became your self-proclaimed Med School Wellness Accountability buddy… but I digress, that’s a story for another blog post hehe!

Each week, we were introduced to a new technique weekly learning about its origins and then trying it out. Now you may guess that considering this is my first time mentioning this that I must be starting with my favourite of them all. And you would be correct.

I found that I enjoyed expressive mediation as I don’t do well with forced/ intentional breathing as practice in other forms of meditation. So if that resonates with you too, this just may be the meditation technique for you. And I’ll let you in on a little secret, not to brag, but they do call me the shaking Queen!

So clear out your surroundings, get the tunes on (preferably instrumental) and get to Shakingggggggggg * insert Oprah Gif *

4 ways to stay sane in med school:

1. Take Mindful Breaks

2. Set realistic Daily Goals

3. Don’t compare yourself with others

4. Have fun