Meditation Made Easy

Let's demystify meditation, here and now, once and for all.

The word 'meditation' is one of those words that often comes with a lot of unnecessary baggage. Many people have inferences and associations with the word 'meditation', things it conjures up in their minds when they think of it, that turns them off to it and away from it:

• That it requires discipline; none but the slightest. If you brush your teeth every day, you can meditate too.
• That it involves chanting and prayer; it can if you want, but it need not.
• That I have to do it for a long time and I don't have a long time, or I do but when I sit for a long time it hurts; it "works" instantaneously, 5-15 minutes a day is all you really need, and if you don't want to sit for 5-15 minutes, lie down, and if you fall asleep, that's okay.
• That only Hippies and New Agers do it; businessmen and women, political leaders, teachers, doctors and judges, actors and musicians, athletes - the list of those who meditate is bigger than you think.
• That you have to proscribe to a particular religion in order to meditate; nonsense, though Hinduism and Buddhism and Judaism and Christianity and Islam all have their own forms and styles of meditation, Hindus and Buddhists and Jews and Christians and Muslims along with Pagans and Agnostics and secularists alike all meditate all sorts of ways.
• That it doesn't work; the only ones who can get away with saying that are those who have never tried.

To meditate all you need to do is find as quiet and peaceful a place as you can to sit or lie still for 5-15 minutes and try to silence your mind. One of the most effective ways to do this is by focusing on your breath.

Notice your breathing, in and out. Feel your breath, with your body. Not with your mind. Release any thoughts that enter your mind and calmly, forgivingly return your attention to your breathing.

If you have any thoughts about your breathing or about anything else, let them slip through your mind. Don't hold on to them. Don't examine and evaluate them. And don't judge or criticize yourself for having them.

Just let them slip past like a rolling stream and focus back in again on the stream of your breath, in and out. In and out.

Alternately you could focus, instead of your breathing, on the moment. Many people like to incorporate more of their senses in the experience of meditation, and that's fine too. That's why we didn't say you necessarily had to close your eyes to do it. Instead of focusing on your breath, then, focus on the Now.

Experience the sounds, sights, and sensations of this moment without any thought, any analysis or interpretation, any judgment. That too is meditation.

The rest is practice. Practice increasing and lengthening those moments when all you are is breath, when all you are is this moment. Practice maintaining that state of mindful mindlessness every day for just a little bit, or if you can't do that then just whenever you think of it - either way you'll be amazed at the positive results you'll find in your life.

You'll feel better. You'll feel healthier. You'll feel happier. You'll have more of what you want. You'll feel empowered and inspired. Passionate and enlivened.