Meditation: Not Just For Buddhist Monks!

Meditation is like learning a musical instrument - you're not going to play Mozart your first time sitting down at the piano. It takes practice and commitment to reap the benefits of this ancient discipline. This means you'll need to make time for it every day. To get the most from meditation you need to do it every day at a time and in a place where you're free from distractions.

• Use a quite, serene area of your home in which to meditate. If you like, burn a candle or some incense.

• Try not to eat prior to a meditation session. The process of digestion makes you lethargic and sleepy.

• According to expert practitioners, meditating early in the morning is the best time. Many Buddhist monks say 3 a.m.is the optimal time. But few of us are Buddhist monks. So really, the best time to meditate is when you can fit it in to your schedule. Start out with 15 minutes. Set a timer so you won't fret about taking too much time.

• Don't lie down to meditate, because you'll fall asleep. You need to sit with good posture, a straight back, but relaxed. Think of the vertebrae in your spine as being stacked one of top of the other.

• Relax every part of your body. Don't try to do it all at once - start with your toes, then move up to your ankles, then your calves, and so on up to your head. When you've finished try to notice any part of you that still isn't relaxed and relax it. It often helps to tense the muscles and then let them go to truly relax them.

• Focus your attention, which is easier once you find your correct meditation posture, which naturally eases your mind into a relaxed yet alert state. Let your brain chatter fade away. One way to silence the chatter is to focus on the flow of your breath. Sometimes counting breaths helps, from one to ten, then starting at one again. Breathe slowly, deeply, in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Experiment. If following your breath doesn't completely quell the mind interference, recite a mantra (a sacred word) like "om" with every outflow of breath.

• Have distracting images floating in your mind? Visualize a calming place, whether real or imaginary.

• Now that your mind is quiet, what do you do with it? Some visualize goals or dreams. Others pray. But if you do either of these, make sure you don't fall into the anxiety trap. Keep it positive. Rather than falling into "I'll never achieve this goal" or begging God for things, concentrate on gratitude and serenity.

You will not experience immediate results. As I said at the beginning, it's going to take a lot of practice, discipline and commitment. As you stick to your commitment, you'll probably find you're calmer, more relaxed, better able to handle stress. You may not even notice it at first, and maybe a family member will comment on it before you're even aware of the change. But meditation can be a way of taking care of yourself. And when you take care of yourself, you're better prepared to help others.