The first step to practising meditation is learning to breathe in a manner that facilitates a state of calmness and awareness.
The following simple exercise is recommended by Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder and director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, as an effective method for achieving this state. Find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed and practise the following exercise for several minutes each day:
1. Assume a comfortable posture lying on your back or sitting.
2. If you're sitting, keep the spine straight and let your shoulders drop.
3. Close your eyes if it feels comfortable.
4. Focus your attention on your belly, feeling it rise or expand gently on the in-breath and fall or recede on the out-breath.
5. Concentrate on your breathing, 'being with' each in-breath.
6. Every time you notice that your mind has wandered off the breath, notice what it was that took you away and then gently bring your attention back to your belly and the feeling of the breath coming in and out.
7. If your mind wanders away from the breath, then your job is simply to bring it back to the breath every time, no matter what it has become preoccupied with.
8. Practise this exercise for 15 minutes at a convenient time every day, whether you feel like it or not, for one week - and see how it feels to incorporate a disciplined meditation practice into your life. Be aware of how it feels to spend time each day just being with your breath, being 'in the moment' without having to do anything.
Meditation News:
Meditation Retreats Calm Those Jangled Nerves -  Several Buddhist, yogic or eclectic retreats are scheduled around the country in the next few weeks.
Close Your Eyes. Now Imagine You're Lying on a Beach. - Photo of women's retreat group practicing yoga in balmy weather on beach in Belmar, NJ
Yoga on the Internet: Finding Inner Peace With Your Keyboard - Many computer users are turning to Web for relaxation, meditation, yoga and exercise classes, which are created specifically for them and addresss the joint and muscle problems that tend to afflict them; drawing
Yoga master to visit hospital for seminar (Asbury Park Press) - Yoga Master Sri Swami Adhyatmanandaji of India will visit Community Medical Center, 99 Route 37 W., on Sept. 6 and 7 to present yoga sessions.
Meditation helps people find inner serenity (EARTHtimes.org) - Dusseldorf, Germany - Who doesn't know the daily aggravations brought on by work, relationships and the pursuit of one's own needs, and who hasn't sometimes wished for more peace and quiet?Meditation is one possible means of achieving them. Lutz Hert...
YogahOMe hosts Cinci Sangha (Community Press & Recorder) - Local yoga studio, YogahOMe, in Oakley, Columbia and Symmes townships and Bellevue, Ky., will host a one-of-a-kind overnight event featuring yoga practice, meditation, Mauntra, Sutra and Transformation bringing together teachers and performers from around the city.
$5,250 for eternal bliss? (MSN Money Canada) - Royalty and celebrities rub elbows at a retreat in the Himalayas, where nirvana-seeking guests can drop a fortune on learning yoga and meditation -- and discover how their money is making them miserable.
Thai yoga offers pain relief, relaxing benefits writeLink("vid_id=1165&file=thaiyoga.flv"); (Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier) - CEDAR FALLS --- Relaxing music flows from the small speakers in Bob Uhl's treatment room.
Pre-Natal Yoga 3MO+ (Cape May County Herald) - 08/21/2008 - 9:30a.m. to 08/21/2008 - 10:30a.m.
Health Tips: Aug. 21 (Ventura County Star) - Yoga hits the beach and board sports
Yoga class offered weekly this summer at McConnell Arboretum (The Record Searchlight) - New growth has sprung up at Turtle Bay's Celebration Garden at McConnell Arboretum and Botanical Gardens in the form of a summer yoga class.
Is this yoga for you? (Philippine Daily Inquirer) - MANILA, Philippines?The poetry in movement?that which connects the body, mind and spirit?breathes life back into the busy modern age as ancient scripts find its way into the hearts of yoga practitioners.
5:55 p.m. - Reducing Stress Levels (KARK Little Rock) - Feeling stressed? Take a walk. Exercise releases Endorphins, which can make you feel better. With more lay offs, high gas prices and foreclosures, our stress levels are higher than normal. Lunchtime yoga in low light is a good way to decompress.
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