Stars Who Swear by Meditation: Connie Britton, Jenna Dewan, Megan Fox and More Explain Benefits

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Stars Who Swear by Meditation: Connie Britton, Jenna Dewan, Megan Fox and More Explain Benefits

Breathe in, breath out, say om — get zen! Hollywood stars often lead the charge on wellness trends, and the practice of meditation is no different. Celebrities from Connie Britton to Megan Fox to Paul McCartney are known to stay centered by taking anywhere from three to 10 minutes or more a day to meditate. Other stars and business people rave about the benefits of meditating daily — which can include everything from lowering anxiety to stopping wrinkles and getting glowing skin to reducing stress and inflammation to improving sleep to gaining energy and combatting fatigue. Whether you’re thinking of practicing Transcendental Meditation (known as TM), Mindfulness Meditation, Vipassana Meditation, Loving Kindness Meditation, a Moving Meditation such as yoga or simply adopting a mantra and focused breathing, there’s a technique out there for you! Scroll through to find out what famous actors, singers, TV hosts and other meditators have revealed about the mental, physical and spiritual benefits of keeping a meditation practice. [podcast_block]

Credit: Rich Polk/Getty Images; Vera Anderson/WireImage/Getty Images

Stars Who Swear by Meditation: Connie Britton, Jenna Dewan, Megan Fox and More Explain Benefits

Breathe in, breath out, say om — get zen! Hollywood stars often lead the charge on wellness trends, and the practice of meditation is no different. Celebrities from Connie Britton to Megan Fox to Paul McCartney are known to stay centered by taking anywhere from three to 10 minutes or more a day to meditate. Other stars and business people rave about the benefits of meditating daily — which can include everything from lowering anxiety to stopping wrinkles and getting glowing skin to reducing stress and inflammation to improving sleep to gaining energy and combatting fatigue. Whether you’re thinking of practicing Transcendental Meditation (known as TM), Mindfulness Meditation, Vipassana Meditation, Loving Kindness Meditation, a Moving Meditation such as yoga or simply adopting a mantra and focused breathing, there’s a technique out there for you! Scroll through to find out what famous actors, singers, TV hosts and other meditators have revealed about the mental, physical and spiritual benefits of keeping a meditation practice. [podcast_block]

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Alicia Keys

The “No One” singer said that she thinks meditation has made her a better mom.

"I have to be honest: The first time I tried the meditation, I was so tired that I fell asleep,” she wrote for USA Today in May 2021. “But the second time, I felt a little spark."

According to the Grammy winner, who shares sons Egypt and Genesis with husband Swizz Beats, her meditation journey started after the birth of her youngest son.

"Like so many new moms I was exhausted, but the depletion was more than physiological; my spirit was shot," she added. “Once you make that kind of deep connection with yourself, your relationship with everything and everyone around you changes. As I'd hoped, I became a better mother because I was more confident in myself.”

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Kelly Rowland

The singer finds meditation to be one of the best forms of self-care and practices as often as she can. “I actually make sure that I make time,” Rowland told Us in September 2019. “You can just shut things off for a minute. Even if it's five minutes, ten minutes, I swear by meditation. I feel like it's a way to kind of empty out all your thoughts and be able to put things into perspective.” Apps guide help her along in the pursuit of zen. “You have to find the one that you like and sometimes you might even find it in a nature sound,” she added. But no matter how she gets to that headspace, meditation helps the Kelly Rowland x Fabletics designer relate to others. “I like being able to communicate and communicate well,” the star shared with Us. “It always was a challenge for me, simple communication. I feel like I'm able to do that better after meditation. I'm able to verbalize whatever it is that I need to say and get that message across to others.”

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Miley Cyrus

In her explosive August 2019 Elle cover story, the singer revealed many secrets regarding her sexuality and her marriage to Liam Hemsworth. She also shared a subtler wellness habit. “I try to meditate the night before interviews on what my goal is, what I want this to say about me,” the Hannah Montana alum said. In this case, Cyrus wanted the world to know her ruminations about the third person female pronoun. “My record is called She Is Miley Cyrus. ‘She’ does not represent a gender. ‘She’ is not just a woman. ‘She’ doesn’t refer to a vagina,” declared the Black Mirror guest star. “‘She’ is a force of nature. ‘She’ is power. ‘She’ can be anything you want to be, therefore, ‘she’ is everything. ‘She’ is the super she. ‘She’ is the she-ro. ‘She’ is the She-E-O.”

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Elizabeth Vargas

The veteran journalist, who publicly revealed that she was an alcoholic in 2014, has long been open about her struggles with anxiety. And as she told Us Weekly in May 2019 at the Child Mind Institute’s Change Maker Awards, she relies on her mindfulness practice to remain in control. “Meditation helps me with my anxiety and anxiety is what led me to self-medicate with alcohol. It’s a very common thing among women,” the A&E investigative reporter shared. “Meditation is huge. I still do it every single day. It’s a really, really important thing.” She also shared that sobriety is “not as much [of a struggle] as you would think.” Vargas continued, “It’s not something you say, ‘Oh, I’m cured and let’s go back to everything the way it used to be.’ But actually, my life is so much better now. You have to deal with life on life’s terms instead of numbing it.”

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Danai Gurira

It’s easy for the busy Walking Dead star to get preoccupied by everything from her workouts to her acting gigs — so she makes a conscious effort to find perspective. "I aim to do something in the realm of meditation and prayer every day. That's crucial,” the Black Panther actress told Shape magazine in April 2019. “It's about having a spiritual relationship and total well-being and really being a person who cares about things far beyond herself.” She added, “If I get too caught up in myself and my little life, it can become a much smaller world. I want to have an awareness, a concern and a service toward the larger world."

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Malin Akerman

The Billions actress had heard millions of reasons to meditate — and has finally gotten on board. “I do try!” she told Us in March 2019 of meditation. “It's one that I aspire to do more often and it ends up happening a couple times a week. I do love it, I think it's a wonderful way to kind of regain some energy.” The longtime supporter of the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles' Make March Matter Campaign is realistic about the form her sessions take. “But really, when you don't have the time, it's so helpful [to deep breathe],” she explained. “I've talked to so many people lately just about breathing and breath work and just doing a three-minute breath [exercise] when you feel overwhelmed or stressed… and getting present in the moment.” Her other mindfulness trick? “I think it's also about putting your phone down as much as possible because it'll take you out of the moment so often.”

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Beverley Mitchell

“My main focus is just about being kind to myself and doing what’s right for my heart and my head, because if I can take care of my heart and my head, then I can take care of everyone else around me,” the Seventh Heaven alum told Us in January 2019 of keeping daily life in perspective. That adds up to meditating — even though Mitchell says she doesn’t like it! “A good friend of mine gave me a really great meditation book that I’ve been reading every day, which is weird because I hate meditation,” she explained. “But I’ve been working on it.”

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Connie Britton

The Dirty John actress believes her practice has helped reduce wrinkles. “Meditation has been a big part of my adult life — meditation, breathing, and connecting to whatever is my own version of my center. It can be 10 minutes; it can be in the car while I’m driving or just taking a deep breath before I’m about to shoot a scene,” she told Health magazine in December 2018 at age 51. “It’s about going deeper than the external noise. To me, that’s a really important tool. And I really believe it helps with wrinkles. We can change our body chemistry through meditation.”

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Jenna Dewan

The actress and dancer has frequently talked about her wellness journey. As Dewan, who has talked about practicing Ziva Meditation, told Us in May 2018, “I have learned the hard way about burning the candle at both ends.” Now, before she gets that feeling, she added, “I try and… go and have a spa day or even a hike with friends. Or meditate, I know that sounds so boring, but that’s literally what I do.”

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Megan Fox

While filming her Travel Channel series, Legends of the Lost With Megan Fox, the star was able to put her mental health practice to good use. “During the first episode, I did basically a vision quest is what it’s called, where I sat out in the woods in Norway alone in the dark for a while and had to meditate,” Fox told Us in November 2018. “I had a quest in my mind when I was meditating that I wanted an answer to.” It worked, she added.

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Mayim Bialik

In November 2018, the Big Bang Theory actress told Us that she had taken to meditation through her work with mattress company Nectar Sleep. “[It] can sound pretentious, but I'm about to make it not sound pretentious,” she continued. “One of the things I've done is… I have a free app that I use on my phone, and usually before bed I'll do a sleep meditation. Which is usually like a guided meditation, to kind of help my brain to wind down.” She also shared that it “brings a lot of balance” to her life. “I’m also a person of faith and, you know, having a spiritual connection really helps me,” she shared with Us. “It provides a sense of comfort and calm, even though things are really hectic.” 

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Jonathan Van Ness

Before Queer Eye’s resident style expert does his yoga routine every morning, he meditates. “I like to sit still and do a proper meditation for, like, three minutes,” Van Ness told Us in October 2018. But he also considers his physical asanas part of his practice. “Yoga is kind of a moving meditation,” he noted. “It's really about doing it every day and doing it for a small amount, because the point is just doing it every day… And then a similar time of day is important for your nervous system to get the benefits from the meditation.”

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Chloe Grace Moretz

Moretz has been open about her struggles with anxiety — and she’s developed many self-care strategies to help. “I think it’s always important to check in with yourself and keep an open dialogue with your heart and mind,” she told Us in November 2018. “Don’t forget to open your heart. It’s really easy to wall up and protect yourself.” One main thing that helps her? “Meditation is really wonderful,” she added. 

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Beth Behrs

The Neighborhood actress has shared her health tools with her family, including her mother, Maureen Behrs, who suffers from lupus. At a fundraising event for the autoimmune condition in November 2018, the actress told Us, “I introduced her to yoga. That’s completely game-changed her life [and health].” Added mom, “That’s true! And meditation.” 

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Lea Michele

Michele took baby steps into the mental health practice. “The first place I actually started was giving myself 10 minutes at home of just peace. No music, no... Try to clear my mind as much as possible,” the Glee alum told Us in October 2018. “I find that if I tell myself that this is my 10 minutes of just me, quiet mind time, it helps me so much.” When she wants to use a meditation app, “I like the Calm app, that one's really good,” she added. “Something to kind of remind myself that this is your time to let your mind and your body wind down. Because if you don't take that time, you never will.” 

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Maria Menounos

After having a benign brain tumor removed in 2017, Menounos told Us that she concentrates on “full health,” which she described as “your mental health, your emotional health, your spiritual health.” Her No. 1 piece of advice for those wanting to start on a path of holistic care? “I think meditating is a really good first step because you need stillness in your life,” she told Us in October 2018. “Being present and being still is so important because the universe is talking to you, right? Messages are coming through. You're just not hearing them.” She added that quiet and stillness help her make the best decisions possible: “I think that being still is such, such a game changer in life. I think that meditation is a great way to get yourself to be still, be present, and you're able to make better decisions.”

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LeAnn Rimes

The singer told Us that she and her husband, Eddie Cibrian, love to use meditation apps. “Eddie and I are big on that.… For a couple of years I’ve been meditating. He’s like, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ Then all of a sudden I got him into it. And one day he’s like, ‘Can we put on a meditation?’” she shared with Us in July 2018. And while Rimes likes the popular app Headspace, there are others she prefers. “Insight Timer is my favorite,” she said. “And then 10% Happier, which is Dan Harris’ app, which is really great. Those are my two meditation apps.”

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LeeAnne Locken

“I'm like the golden goose that keeps laying the golden egg. I'm golden,” the Real Housewives of Dallas star told Us in September 2018. “Every week I do personally see a therapist, one for the show, one for my real life. Sadly, two different therapists.” But that, along with the time she dedicates to meditating, makes her life peaceful. “It's keeping me so much more sane and the meditation keeps me so calm and so centered. I think what I've managed to do is just remove the noise.”

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Jamie Chung

As a health and fitness enthusiast, Chung likes to do mornings right. “The best thing to do is start with a five-minute meditation when you first wake up,” the Gifted actress told Us in September 2018. She finds it helps put her in a healthy mindset and even encourages her to work out. “I just feel better after I’ve moved, it’s about your state of mind and giving yourself some endorphins,” she noted. 

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Madelaine Petsch

“I'm very into crystals and meditation and it's all about how my brain is feeling, so there are moments where I'm like, 'I need to take a second' and I'll go listen to music or whatever just to calm down,” the Riverdale actress told Us in June 2018. “I have anxiety. It's something I have to deal with my whole life.” She knows she’s not alone. “I think the majority of my generation has it, which is so weird and crazy and unfortunate, but it's about deep breaths,” she added. “It's a lot of just deep breaths and calming myself down.”

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Luann de Lesseps

The Real Housewives of New York star knows when she feels best: “When I’m happy and centered and focused,” she told Us in June 2018. “It's all about being the best version of yourself that you can be. I love books like that are... uplifting and you know, spiritual. I'm into yoga and meditation right now, so I'm reading those types of books.” She was also about to embark on “a spiritual meditation retreat with my daughter,” she noted.

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Jordana Brewster

For the Lethal Weapon actress, meditation helps her balance her busy work schedule with the endless duties of motherhood. “I build in stress relievers when I can,” the mom of two young boys told Us in June 2018. “I’ll get up extra early so I can run, or I will make sure that I can get this one meditation in.” 

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Tom Bergeron

He’s open about his love of Transcendental Meditation, but the Dancing With the Stars judge keeps some things about his relationship to the method close to the chest. “For over 30 years I've practiced TM,” he told Us in 2017. But, he added, “I've never told anyone my mantra. Not even my wife.”

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Jennie Garth

As a mother of three young daughters, Garth knows how to keep calm and carry on. The actress told Us in June 2018 that her strategy for dealing with overwhelming parenthood moments is “taking a break, just taking that minute.” She added, “I do some meditation that personally helps me to ground and center. Just calling upon nature for the support.”