Sometimes a deep breath can do a lot more for your mental health than you might expect. In an Instagram post on Monday, Camila Cabello opened up about her personal struggles with anxiety and stress, citing mediation as a point of relief that better helps her to be at one with herself and the world around her. “Meditation has changed my life in the last few months,” Cabello wrote. “I didn’t share this with you guys at the time because honestly I was just trying to be okay, but I was experiencing severe anxiety. It was meditation — it was practicing every single day multiple times a day that has been healing me, and, more than just helping me manage strong emotions like anxiety and stress, it’s making me a better human.”
“May you be healthy. May you be safe. May you be free from illness. May you be well.”
Cabello went on to point out the benefits of meditation, including that it makes her feel closer to nature and more in tune with her own emotions and those of people around her. “Not only does it help in times like this with stress and anxiety, meditation is the practice of strengthening habits like empathy, love, and compassion — making you feel more connected to not only everybody around you, but living beings in general like animals, plants, and the earth, which is a living being, itself.”
Given the coronavirus outbreak, Cabello urged those suffering more stress and anxiety than usual to take into consideration their own well-being and that of those around them, particularly those highly susceptible to the virus. “In times like these, especially as young people, even if we are healthy, it’s important to practice compassion and help others that could be suffering. We are in this together, let’s not be indifferent to others [sic] risk. It’s our responsibility to do whatever it takes to keep everyone safe. Empathy to others’ reality and solidarity could make the difference in hard moments like this. We can’t think that we will be unaffected because we feel young and healthy. We have parents, grandparents, friends, and neighbors, and we don’t want to be a part of the problem when we could be part of the solution.”
Cabello suggested her followers take the time to mediate by sitting up straight and feeling “gravity grounding your body to the earth’s surface and supporting you.” Next, she recommended taking three deep breaths and keeping track of each inhale and exhale until your mind has stilled. “Once your mind has stilled. Picture every human in the world right now, elders, people that have respiratory problems and are vulnerable, picture the people that are vulnerable, picture their families, and say ‘May you be healthy. May you be safe. May you be free from illness. May you be well.’ Repeat until you really feel it in your heart — love you guys, please stay safe!”