Meditation for Busy People

Many people think the only way to meditate is to sit crossed legged and be still for a long period of time, with an empty mind. Although you can meditate that way, there are many ways to learn to live in the present moment and practice meditation in your daily life. 

Meditation is not necessarily clearing your mind of all thought or having an empty mind. Rather it is directed concentration, a bringing to center…focusing your attention to something so intently, that the mind chatter falls away and you can feel calm and peaceful. It may be focusing on your breath (which is always with you) or gazing at a beautiful sunset, taking in the beauty of that one moment, without thinking about the future, or the past. Focusing so intently on that present moment, that your thoughts stop wandering and your mind is still.       

Often times the breath is used as the focus of concentration, and is an easy way to begin a practice. A candle flame, mantra, sound, prayer, or imagery may be used as the focus of concentration as well. There are many ways to meditate, so find something that fits for you.

When I first began my meditation practice, I couldn’t sit still, so I began while jogging in the wooded trails near our home. I paced my breathing to my jogging stride and just tuned into the rhythm. As thoughts come in, I just acknowledge the thoughts and go back to my rhythm. Before long, I could actually sit still and just focus on my breathing. Thoughts come and go, I acknowledge them and without scolding myself, and gently escort my attention back to the breath. Some days there are a lot of thoughts, especially if my life is really busy. I need to bring my attention back to the breath many times. It doesn't matter if your mind wanders for 5 seconds or 10 minutes, it's important to just bring your attention back, gently. I guess it’s called a practice, because you don’t get there over night. I like to think of it as a journey, just like life itself. Eventually there may be less thoughts and you will be able to focus more on your object of concentration, like the breath. The key is to be kind with yourself.  

Pema Chodron uses the analogy of training a dog to stay. One can train a dog to “stay” with brutality, yelling at it and hitting it and it will learn to stay, but the dog will not be flexible, able to adapt to changes easily and may be fearful and unhappy. If you train a dog to stay with compassion and kindness, he will still learn to stay, and he will be flexible, able to adapt, be happy and have a sense of humor as well. So what kind of dog do you want to be?

Visit http://www.myrelaxationcenter.com  for a recording of my CD “Meditation for Busy People”. You will also find many other quality products for relaxation and good health on the site. I have taken great care to research and provide only the best products on this website.