Give Me A Break: No Fuss Meditation

Here’s part of my new children’s book on meditation. If you want to learn to meditate, try these simple exercises from my manuscript. I didn’t invent them. The practice of meditation goes back thousands of years.

If you are interested in learning more, send me a message. If you’d like me to include your comments on meditation on my site, contact me.

Why Meditate?

Let’s face it. Life knocks you around. One minute you’re happy. The next minute you want to scream. You don’t get everything you want. And you don’t want everything you get. You’re mad at your parents. Your brother is a pain. Your teachers yell at you. Your best friend betrays you. You have nightmares. You need a break.

How do you cope when life feels too big? Do you hide? Do you keep secrets? Do you lie? Do you eat junk food? Do you hurt yourself? Do you hurt others? Do you scream at people? Do you get messed up on drugs? Do you steal? Do you talk to someone?

Maybe you’ve tried ways to feel better, but nothing works. This book is about finding a new way. A safe way.

Meditation calms you down. It loosens your mind. It helps you face trouble before trouble eats you. Meditation shows you what bugs you, what scares you, what heals you. Meditation puts you face to face with life and your reaction to it. It unlocks wisdom that you can’t see or touch but you know is there.

Lots of people meditate——athletes, actors, dog trainers, writers, pilots, short-order cooks, talk show hosts, and kids like you. They do it wherever they find a quiet spot——in the living room, in the back yard, under a tree, in an empty classroom, in the library, in a tent, on a mountaintop.

You can meditate. It’s not hard. Just try it and see for yourself. This book gives you different meditation exercises. You may not like them all. That’s fine. Try them and see which ones work for you. Then stick with them.

Meditation Can Help You To

Calm Down
Think Clearly
Know Your Mind
Concentrate
Stop Overreacting
Be Kinder
Be More Creative
Be More Patient
Experience BIG MIND

How to Sit

You have to experiment to find your best meditation posture. The most important point to remember is to be both relaxed and alert. If you’re new at this, you might want to start in a chair, with your feet planted firmly on the floor and your hands resting on your thighs, palms down. Your back is straight. Avoid your favorite couch potato position.

Or, try the traditional position, sitting on the floor, legs crossed. If you choose this position, sit on a rug, blanket, yoga mat, or large cushion to keep your knees from pressing into the hard floor. You can put a pillow under your behind to raise it slightly above your knees. This will help prevent your legs from going to sleep and your lower back from aching.

If you are flexible, try different leg positions. Put one foot on the opposite calf in a quarter lotus (fig. 1) or one foot on the opposite thigh in a half lotus position (fig. 2). For a full lotus position (fig. 3), put each foot on the opposite thigh.

Your hands rest on your knees palms down or in your lap, palms up, right hand on top of left hand, the thumbs touching lightly tip to tip.

You can also try sitting on the floor in cowboy position, with the soles of your feet touching. Touch your index fingers to your thumbs and rest your hands on your knees, palms up (fig. 4).

Or sit Burmese-style on your heels and rest your hands on your thighs, palms down (fig. 5). You can also slip your lower legs to the side (fig. 6).

Choose any of these postures and make sure your spine is straight but not tense. Imagine a stack of quarters running up your back. Your shoulders are relaxed and squared. Not hunched.

Your eyes can be closed or opened slightly, gazing downward at a spot on the floor. Your jaw is relaxed. The tip of your tongue touches lightly at the back of your upper front teeth. (This calms you down and helps you circulate your breath and energy.) Your mouth is relaxed with your lips slightly opened.

Simple Breath Meditation

Sit in your favorite meditation posture (see illustrations). Take a slow in-breath and concentrate fully on your out-breath. Let your in-breath come in like a whisper. Notice how the out-breath passes through your nostrils

Breathe in and out. Count each out-breath up to twelve. Then count each out-breath back to one. Repeat up to twelve and back to one. (Counting to twelve instead of ten keeps your mind alert. You’re used to counting to ten. Your mind wakes up when you have to add two more.)

If thoughts distract you, start counting again at one. Do not judge yourself. Just say to yourself in your mind, “Thinking,” and go back to counting. You may have to do this again and again. If it helps, label the type of thoughts you have——fear, freaking out, anger, excitement, craving, etc.——and go back to your breath.

Stay with your breath meditation for five minutes. If you can do that, try ten minutes the next time. Or, end your meditation when you’re ready. Let your attention come slowly back to the room. Look around and take in the sounds. Get up slowly, keeping a sense of awareness.

Favorite Object Meditation

This simple exercise will help focus the mind and strengthen your power of concentration. Before starting, choose a favorite object.

Sit in meditation posture. Focus on your out-breath for three breaths.

Now, imagine that you have a pencil or crayon in your mind. Draw your favorite object slowly. Draw the outline of it in your mind. See its shape. Draw the details. Imagine its color. Imagine how it would feel if you touched it.

If a thought distracts you from the object, just say to yourself silently, “Thinking,” and go back to wherever you left off. Can you still see part of your object? Start there and keep drawing with your mind.

Draw your object until it is complete. Admire your object. Let your attention stay with it. Shift your attention inside this object. What does it look like from the inside? You are now a part of this object. You no longer see it. You are it.

Stay there and breathe.

End your meditation slowly by focusing on your out-breath.