Meditation happens when you reverse the normal, outgoing flow of your energy; gathering your energy and returning to yourself. You stop expending your resources and allow your system to use the energy to restore itself. There is nothing strange or magical about the practice of meditation. Self-restoration is a natural process necessary for health. We interfere with this beneficial process when we lose ourselves in the habits of an unbalanced modern lifestyle.

The result of practicing meditation is inner integration, calmness, peacefulness and health. Ordinarily, we turn to indulgence and distraction to satisfy our yearnings: we eat when we are not hungry; we continue to accumulate when we already have far more things than we can use or even manage; we go on talking when we have nothing worth saying.

Our prosperous society has, in many ways, made life too convenient and many things too easily available. It is a quite common predicament that our lives become about our possessions. We learn to equate the quality of our existence with our things, while in the background, there lurks the ever present fear that we will loose all and find ourselves isolated and lonely. Fearing to be alone prevents one from meditation.

We all need to be alone at times to restore ourselves.

We become too "full of the world". Inner clearing begins to happen naturally when we remain quietly alone with ourselves. Haven't you, at times, felt driven to be with others and to obsessively occupy yourself with doing; only to find that whatever you did, was just not enough to fill up the vacuum of longing and hopelessness? There is a simple remedy for this state of distress: meditation.

To come into the presence of one's wholeness and inner silence heals and fulfils.

Meditation is a state of being

You already have the capacity and can begin to practice meditation now, or whenever you choose. All you need is a quiet, comfortable place where you can sit for a few minutes without being disturbed. Like everything else, the more you practice, the better at it you become.

When sitting, there are three basic points you must attend to:

Posture:
It is important to sit with your spine straight and your limbs uncrossed. Put your feet flat on the floor and sit up straight on your chair. It is best that you do not lean against the back. Place your hands on your thighs or folded in your lap.

Breathing:
Be aware of your breathing and let it relax and deepen into the abdomen. Draw your breath down to fill your entire torso. Slow down. Relax inside. Observe the cool air enter and warm air exit with your breath. Your breath will gradually deepen and become slower.

Attention:

Direct your mind to be alert but remain unengaged. Stay awake but don't do anything. When you notice that you have wandered off into your thoughts or are dreaming, return your attention to the present. This state is called "empty mind."

Notes:

• Practice several times a day.
• First, take a walk to relax if you are in a disturbed state of mind or emotion.
• Find a clean, quiet, pleasant environment where you are unlikely to be disturbed.
• Sit quietly for short, refreshing intervals.
Cultivate an attitude of simple enjoyment and delight at being alive.