Most everyone has heard the positive benefits that meditating can have on your health, both physically and mentally. It can calm your nerves, help reduce stress and anxiety, and increase serotonin, which has a positive effect on your mood. If you are a stressed-out mom, these are sure to sound pretty good to you.

However, starting a meditation practice can seem intimidating. Thankfully, there are many teachers around town that can help guide you to a state of relaxation and bliss.

Paige Continentino is a Maplewood mom and certified personal coach who has been meditating for over 16 years. She is leading a meditation class at Shakti Yoga titled “Learn to Meditate or Deepen Your Practice.” The class will be held on the Second and Fourth Thursdays from 7:30- 8:30 p.m.

“What I love most about meditation is that it allows us to open up to ourselves and connect deeply to ourselves.” Continentino’s goal is to make meditation more accessible to everyone.  “What I want is to teach the basics of meditation and help people find what works for them. I will experiment with some different topics and some guided meditations as well, but my focus will be on helping people become comfortable with the space they create.”

More meditation options locally:

• Arthur Young will be leading Learning To Meditate through The Adult School beginning in March 9 at the South Orange Middle School Library on Wednesdays 7-9 p.m.
• Moms in Millburn may be interested in checking out the Dharmachakra Buddhist Center located at Millburn Mall on Vauxhall Road. The class, Learning to Meditate, is currently being offered on Friday mornings from 10-11:15 am and on Sundays 3-4:30 pm. 
• Karen Frank leads a meditation class at the JCC in West Orange on Tuesday mornings at 9:30 am and Wednesday evenings at 7:30 pm. Frank, who has had a meditation practice for 12 years, has been teaching meditation at the JCC for the past 4 years. “Meditation helps people cope with whatever is going on in their lives.”