There are tools, products, publications and teachers available for working with one's mind. Since I was born with my mind and it developed over my lifetime, I don't feel that I need much help using my mind, feeling comfortable with my mind or facing what comes to mind. I learned decades ago about practices using my mind that could be engaged in by myself alone. These practices are related to what religious people in various groups have done for centuries.
If articles about the effect and the result of using one's mind and attention consciously are read, the evidence can be surprising how much concentrating on one's breath or on some place in view for a while can turn out to be so valuable and helpful. Good mental practices can be understood and practiced at no cost. However, reading honest and balanced explanations of methods and results can be daunting. So, it is natural that people feel comfortable with a teacher or an activity. Doing mind work in a group, like doing yoga or exercise in a group, can be helpful, making a person feel correct, part of a group, ok.
There are many sources urging us all to get exercise. I suspect there are fewer telling everyone to try meditation. It is fashionable among some to sneer at business and look down on commercial efforts to direct good use of the mind. However, practicing meditation for 5 or 10 minutes can pay off. In some ways, developing the habit is more valuable than lifting weights or aerobics since it enriches one's life and awareness for all parts of life, even if one is sick or unhealthy. Practicing anything for five or ten minutes can seem too brief to matter, but it is not. Besides many people meditate for longer times. Magazines, such as Mindful, or books, such as "10% Happier", or videos, such as any of the dozens on the subject on YouTube, can all be helpful.
You may know there are multiple traditional types of meditation. In one, the meditator keeps attention on a single anchor. Since our minds are always roaming, the meditator is not surprised or offended when she finds her attention has wandered off the anchor, her breathing or a point somewhere that she can see. When she realizes that she is thinking about something, she returns her mind to the anchor. She does this until time's up.
Another traditional practice is to calmly observe the train of thoughts that come to mind. The difficulty with this approach is that it is easier to fall into the matter that comes up, considering what clothes to buy, or why you shouldn't have a cookie. Do either approach for 5 or 10 minutes every day for a week, and you may well feel that it is comforting and helpful. If being in a class, following a leader or watching a YouTube helps get you launched, fine.
