Prince Harry is fending off the new father jitters and staying calm before the birth of his first child by following in wife Meghan Markle‘s footsteps.
During the couple’s visit to Birkenhead on Monday, their first public engagement of the year, Prince Harry received a book entitled 8 Steps to Happiness from a 69-year-old Buddhist monk named Kelsang Sonam, according to PEOPLE. The book was gifted to the royal after he revealed that he meditates every day in an effort to help him keep calm as his wife’s due date draws closer.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Meditation, which can reduce stress, control anxiety, and improve mental health, is also an activity that the Duchess of Sussex takes part in, and was the topic of a 2015 post on her now defunct lifestyle blog The Tig.
“Last week marked the one year anniversary of my relationship with meditation, something I found endlessly daunting at first (the thoughts, the distractions, the boredom of it), but soon became the quietude that rocked my world,” she wrote. “I can’t put my finger on the why or the how, but I will tell you this much, for me…I am just happier. And meditation has much to do with that.”
“I urge you to give it a shot,” she continued. “The worst thing that can happen is that you gave yourself ten minutes of quiet in an endlessly loud world. Shhhhh……it feels good.”
Markle went on to admit that she was skeptical when she first met her meditation instructor, Light Watkins, during her time on Suits.
“Not gonna lie, I rolled my eyes thinking ‘Oh give me a break, mystic man.’ But low and behold, this mystical man was right. I can’t put my finger on the why or the how, but I will tell you this much, for me… I am just happier,” Markle wrote on her blog, according to The Sun. “And meditation has much to do with that. I know you’ll think of a million excuses as to why this is silly or why you don’t have time for it; much like the day I told Light I didn’t have enough hours in the day to do it, and he told me that’s why I needed to meditate twice as much.”
The Duke and Duchess will likely pass on their love of meditation to their little prince of princess, who is set to arrive this spring. It has already been reported that they intend to integrate yoga into their little one’s life, as it “has brought calmness” to their lives.
