Find your inner peace in 30 seconds or less
In my book, "10 Simple Solutions to Stress," there's a chapter titled "Meditation for Maniacs." I wrote that out of my own experiences as a meditator and my interest in presenting it in a non-threatening and non-onerous way to my readers.
I believe that if you've put in some time meditating, you begin to have a feel for that "place" you go to when you become deeply relaxed, focused, and in the present moment. Micro-meditation is simply taking a few seconds to remind yourself of the calm that resides within you - a little wake-up call to conscious awareness of the gentle beauty that's all around you, even in your cubicle.
My first exposure to meditation was about 20 years ago, when I studied Transcendental Meditation (TM) with an instructor in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was a great experience, learning how to focus my thoughts on my mantra, to accept and ignore intrusive thoughts, and to feel utterly calm for the first time in years. Since then, I've been a sporadic practitioner, taking a workshop here and there with Jon Kabat-Zinn, who teaches mindfulness-based stress reduction, and a going on a few retreats to the Shambhala Center in Colorado.
At the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, we teach these things as well as moving meditations - body-focused techniques aided by music. I also really enjoy the meditative journey of Five Rhythms dancing, originated by Gabrielle Roth.
In spite of all this, I have found it hard to maintain a consistent, diligent practice of meditation in my every day life. One thing I can do, however is break the spell of "reality" several times a day to keep in touch with the still center of my being. I've presented this idea to many of my students and clients over the years, and they've enjoyed it.
Meditation purists may want to burn me at the stake for this, but I believe you can reap some benefit from a few seconds of "quiet mind" even if you don't have a solid sitting meditation practice.
If you want to start a practice or get some training, by all means, do it! Check out the several resources I mentioned above. In the meantime try these simple steps to a "moment's peace" in your busy world:
1. Stop what you're doing, and find something lovely to look at. In my office, I have a window (lucky me!) so there's always a tree being blown by a breeze, a glint of sunlight on grass, a new bud on a branch - or even a spider web. Without a window, there can be photographs of pets or children, pieces of art or objects from wonderful travels. Anything that catches your eye in a nice way will work.
2. Gaze at the pretty thing, and listen. Don't analyze, just listen to the sounds around you. Stop listening to the voice in your head, and listen to the world around you. If you catch yourself identifying or evaluating a sound, move on to the next one.
3. Now smell. Breathe slowly and deliberately and see if you smell anything, again, without assessing it.
4. Now feel. Feel your body, the air circulating around you, the support of whatever you're sitting on.
5. Now just float for a little bit on a sea of sensory awareness, veering gently away from all your mind's attempts to categorize, assess, and capture anything. As you breathe, say to yourself breathing in, "Just," and breathing out, "Be."
6. Repeat for a few seconds, up to five minutes. Just. Be. Just. Be.
I can almost promise you that if you haven't meditated before (and even if you have), this will be hard for you at first. But I can also promise you that if you try it 4 or 5 times a day, every day, it will gradually become easier.
Oh, wait a minute! As the great meditation master Yoda once said, there is no try - only do, or do not. So Do!
