Take a 5-minute break and focus on your breathing. Sit up straight, eyes closed, with a hand on your belly.

Transcription

1 Take a 5-minute break and focus on your breathing. Sit up straight, eyes closed, with a hand on your belly.

2 Slowly inhale through your nose, feeling the breath start in your abdomen and work its way to the top of your head. Reverse the process as you exhale through your mouth.

3 Mindfulness meditation technique encourages the practitioner to observe wandering thoughts as they drift through the mind. The intention is not to get involved with the thoughts or to judge them, but simply to be aware of each mental note as it arises. Through mindfulness meditation, you can see how your thoughts and feelings tend to move in particular patterns. Over time, you can become more aware of the human tendency to quickly judge experience as good or bad ( pleasant or unpleasant ). With practice, an inner balance develops.

4 A concentrative meditation technique involves focusing on a single point. This could entail watching the breath, repeating a single word or mantra, staring at a candle flame, listening to a repetitive gong or counting beads on a rosary. Since focusing the mind is challenging, a beginner might meditate for only a few minutes and then work up to longer durations. In this form of meditation, you simply refocus your awareness on the chosen object of attention each time you notice your mind wandering. Rather than pursuing random thoughts, you simply let them go. Through this process, your ability to concentrate improves.

5 Novel experiences. Remember how you jump into focus mode when you see a police car behind you or unexpectedly meet a giraffe? We escape our brain's jumble of day-to-day thoughts when we experience something out of the ordinary. Similarly, you may greet a loved one with more attention after you've been apart for a month compared to if you see him or her daily. Try this: When you come home and meet your family at the end of the day, pretend like you haven't seen them in 30 days. To an extent, yes, you'll be faking this feeling. But it may help to think about transience. There's only a finite number of evenings you'll have with these people you love. For example, oldest daughter, who is 8 and 1/2 years old. She will be off to college in 2,000 evenings, and 2,000 is a very small number.

6 Walking meditation. This practice is very traditional, simple and well suited for stressed out people today, who used walking meditation to manage the overwhelming emotional energy. Find a space outside, and simply walk at a slow or medium pace, focusing on your feet. Try to distinguish when your toe touches down the ground, when your foot is flat on the ground and when your toe points back upward. Feel the roll of your foot. Observe sensory details: a tingle here, a pull of the sock there.

7 When your mind wanders, and it will, gently bring your attention back to your feet. You're building a skill of noticing when your attention drifts into default mode and bringing it back into focus. This ability can help you be more present and in control of your attention every day, especially in times of stress. Start by dedicating a specific time and place to practice, and when you become comfortable with walking meditation, try it as you walk to the bus stop, office or just about anywhere.

8 1. Sit or lie comfortably. 2. Close your eyes. 3. Make no effort to control the breath; simply breathe naturally. 4. Focus your attention on the breath and on how the body moves with each inhalation and exhalation. Notice the movement of your body as you breathe. Observe your chest, shoulders, rib cage, and belly. Simply focus your attention on your breath without controlling its pace or intensity. If your mind wanders, return your focus back to your breath. 5. Maintain this meditation practice for two to three minutes to start, and then try it for longer periods.

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