A Meditation Primer

18 days left. Let’s touch base on some basic meditation advice. First, remember that it matters how you frame the subject. People often feel that they are doing something wrong. Take the pressure off. For me if you can have one true breath in a mediation session, one breath in which you are truly present you can consider that as a successful meditation.

Sitting in a chair, chest up slightly, or sitting on a zafu (also known as a meditation cushion. Once I had someone in a class think that my name was Zafu. What a great name!) Sitting toward the front of the cushion, hips rotated forward slightly. Find a stable sitting position.

Placing attention in the lower abdomen, an inch below the navel and a half an inch in. This is called the “Hara.” Placing attention there, and then moving up into the heart. Just feel it, notice the vibration, the energetic space. Lips soft, if possible the tongue is in contact with the roof of the mouth. Relax the center of the forehead.

Focus the attention right at the tip of the nostrils. Feel the breath sweeping back and forth. Keep your attention right there. Feel the air, sweeping back and forth like watching a pendulum. Inhalation and exhalation. You can count the exhalations, or use the Royal Mantra, “I AM.” Breathe in “I,” exhale “AM.”

There it is. 18 days left. Build slowly. It is simple. Change yourself, change the world.