My parents actually got me hooked on meditation as they have practiced it many times before. Many people believe that it always has to be some sort of ceremonial thing, with your legs crossed, on the floor, in a room so quiet you can hear a pin drop. That's not really the case with modern meditation practices. All you really need is a space that you feel comfortable in, and just close your eyes and clear your head. If you believe you're lost and are not sure where to start I suggest using the app Calm, which provides voice-guidance and plays nice, calmly sounds.

But onto why specifically in college that this is important — Research has been done with students at elite universities who use meditative practices to cope with the stresses they have in school, which is exactly what mediation is for. It does actually help relieve stress and some anxiety and depression while also improving brain function. It's a form of mental relaxation, which everyone should be getting often especially in college.

A common misconception among students is that there is only one type of meditation, which is: Meditating. Not true, there are actually multiple types of meditation, found on Medical News Today that help the user with different things. There is Loving-kindness meditation (Metta Meditation), that helps with anger and can reduce depressive symptoms; Body scan/progressive relaxation, which involves tensing and relaxing muscles; Mindfulness meditation, that promotes awareness and improves focus and memory; Breath Awareness meditation, which of course is breathing techniques and helps with emotional flexibility; Kundalini yoga, which is a physical meditation, Zen meditation, which is the original Buddhist practice that involves more spirituality; lastly there is Transcendental meditation, that involves slow breathing and mantras. So, really, there are many forms of meditation that can fit whatever you need, making it a very versatile, healthy practice.

I know from my experiences practicing meditation that I've become a much more aware and conscious person, and it has definitely helped me with my stress. There are many different ways people deal with stress and negative feelings, but you can never have too many coping mechanisms at your disposal, so hopefully, you take into consideration practicing meditation and see the benefits of using it.