Meditation Techniques

Learning how to meditate is about discovering an inner ‘observer’, the part of you that simply watches what is going on without judging or becoming emotionally engaged. You need to find this observer part of yourself in order to deal with distractions during meditation.

If you can find it again, when you are dealing with a tricky situation at work, you will find it very useful and be able to take a more detached view of the problem.

Most of us are not lucky enough to be staying at a retreat or living in an ashram: you just don’t have time to use deep meditation techniques during the day. The best you can do is rest and refresh your mind briefly. If you find yourself in a situation that’s getting out of hand, see if you can take a few moments on your own to do the yoni mudra which can be very effective.

But in many situations, say during an important meeting, you will be under too much pressure to be able to stop and meditate, so you need to have some detachment exercises that are already ‘programmed’ into your consciousness. Try working on these at home, and you will have an imaginative toolkit to call on whenever you need it.

Recalling Tranquility

After you have finished an ordinary meditation at home, spend some time paying attention to how you feel, both physically and mentally. You don’t have to put these feelings into words – simply notice them.

When you have finished take three short breaths in through your nose, hold for a moment and then let go gently. As you do so tell yourself that you will remember this feeling of relaxation and whenever you take three breaths like this, you will return to this state.

This may not work at first, but repeat the exercise when you meditate at home and then practice your three breaths during the day. You will find that eventually you have made the connection between the breaths and a state of calm.