requires effort and discipline. Thus, to eat a peach mindfully would involve being
actively aware of every sensation, every smell, every taste, noticing its texture, its
color, its weight, and how it feels on the tongue. This technique can be practiced
with any activity.
Mindfulness meditation is a daily practice that encourages living in the moment. It
begins by sitting quietly with your eyes closed and focusing on your breathing. The
flow of thought during the meditation is observed as thoughts come and go. The key
to mindfulness meditation is the ability to accept rather than judge the wandering
thoughts, bringing attention back to the breathing as needed.
Tibetan Meditation
Tibetan meditation is a breath-focused form of meditation. You simply focus atten-
tion on each in-breath and out-breath. When thoughts about anything other than
the breath intrude, you note them by silently saying “thinking,” and then attention
is returned to the breath. It is recognized that thought cannot be completely halted
and that thoughts are a natural process and are simply to be noted in a nonjudg-
mental way.
Moving Meditation
Forms of moving meditation include the Chinese martial art T’ai Chi, the Japanese
martial art Aikido, the Indian practice of yoga, and the walking meditation in Zen
Buddhism. Instead of focusing on a word or on breathing, movement meditations
use physical sensations as the focus of concentration. In walking meditation, for
example, attention is given to the feeling of each step as it is taken. Intruding
thoughts are simply noticed and attention is returned to the step. Research has
found that focused walking, in contrast to unfocused walking, is associated with
reduced anxiety and fewer negative thoughts.
How Do I Start a Meditation Practice?
If practiced regularly, even 15 minutes twice a day, meditation produces widespread
positive effects on physical and psychological functioning. The autonomic nervous
system responds with a decrease in heart rate, lower blood pressure, decreased respi-
ratory rate and oxygen consumption, and a lower arousal threshold.
Why Meditate?
People who meditate say that they have clearer minds and sharper thoughts. The
brain seems to clear itself so that new ideas and beliefs become available. This
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