Published in July 9th, 2008
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Some masters meditate for hours. They just sit still in one spot, holding their focus for hours on end. In some rare cases, they sit in the same place for days! It is amazing to consider the things we can do with some practice.
But what about those us who have other things to do than just sit and meditate? Some of us have jobs, a spouse, kids, car payments, etc. Do we try to retire early so there is still time for enlightenment, or do we swear off all ‘worldly’ things and find a cave to sit in?
I would suggest that neither of these is an ideal solution. In fact, I doubt anyone would listen to me if I recommended either of those choices, anyway. Ideally, we want to find some way to begin to integrate meditation into our daily life. The best way to do this is to begin very simply. Setting aside several hours is difficult, extreme, and likely to fail. Setting aside a few minutes is easy, relaxing, and will help you begin to create momentum in your practice.
All you need to begin meditation is one minute of silence. Find a place where you can close your eyes, relax, and enjoy the silence for just sixty seconds.
You will also want to select a single focus for your session of meditation. It can be virtually anything. It could be the feeling of your feet against the floor. It can be whatever internal sounds come up (or the internal silence). The most common focus is the breath. If you like, pick one element of the breath to focus on: the feeling of the air passing through the nostrils, the movement of the chest as you breathe, or the expansion and contraction of the belly as you breathe.
Sit silently for 1 minute and hold your focus. When your attention drifts, bring it back. It is perfectly normal and acceptable for your attention to drift during meditation. This is part of the meditation! If it happens, just continue to relax, and gently return your awareness to the object of meditation. If you find drifting awareness to be particularly frustrating, you can also add in a smile anytime you notice your focus beginning to wander: relax, smile, and gently return.
You can use this mindfulness as the beginning of any meditation practice, or you can choose to make this your entire practice of meditation. It is very handy to have a watch or some unobtrusive alarm that will alert you when 1 minute has elapsed. At first a minute might seem to last forever, but after practice, you might be surprised at how fast a minute can go.
When your focus begins to build and you feel good about your 1 minute meditation, you can extend it to 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, etc. Keep in mind that an hour is just 60 individual 1 minute periods. On the other hand, you may choose to do several 1 minute meditations during the day. No matter how you begin to evolve your practice after mastering the 1 minute meditation, you will find more and more surprising insight and peace can be found in the space of 60 seconds!
benjamin langley has been studying and training in meditation, yoga, and other sciences of the mind for over 10 years. he regularly writes and shares powerful insights on his own blog. come take a look: http://peacefulprosperity.com/blog
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