Fifteen Minutes of...not fame but peace

People in any profession can benefit from doing total relaxation every day. When co-workers and employees are overwhelmed by stress, they are much less effective in thier work and often miss work because of sickness. This is costly for the organization, so fifteen minutes of total relaxation after 3 or 4 hours of work is practical.

Maybe there's a place in the office where you can practice total relaxation for fifteen minutes. It's not costly to set up a stress management program in your company or organization; all that is needed is to train someone in the technique of mindful breathing. To do mindful breathing, stop what you are doing and become aware of your body, breathe in and breathe out, and relax.

For example, when the telephone rings, stop whatever you are doing and breathe in and breathe out before you pick up the phone. That way, when you answer, you are calm and compassionate; the person on the other end will hear this in the quality of your voice. It will help you become more fully present on the call.

Just one in-breath and one out-breath can help stop your habitual thinking and go back to the here and now; your mind will connect right away with your body. it's very easy and it takes maybe five or ten seconds at most-- from a state of dispersion, you become mindful and concentrated.

This is considered meditation. Meditation consists of two elements. The first is stopping, calming the mind, and concentrating. The second is looking deeply to get insight.

When you meditate, you need an OBJECT to place your attention on. You cannot concentrate on nothing. The object could be the steps of your breath, an actual object or even a concept like gratitude, appreciation etc. When you concentrate, you merge with the object of your attention.

If you sustain the concentration you will receive insight, the second element of meditation.

Actually, we cannot MAKE ourselves meditate. We can only make ourselves concentrate. To develope our ability to concentrate, we have to learn to not allow our faculty of attention to become distracted by every thought that passes through the mind. It is the nature of the mind to think. thinking is a form of talking. To interrupt it, you return again and agin to your object(the flow of breath etc).

Meditation is an effortless state that arises after continued concentration. Through practice you get closer and closer. If your concentration is interrupted many times during practice.....Stop, notice you have drifted off, and return again to your object. It doesn't matter.
What matters is that you are diligent. Don't give up---try again.

After a period of not engaging with the thoughts, they begin to quiet down. Space between thoughts becomes apparent. Your state of consciousness begins to shift and is typified by a peaceful feeling which affects both body and mind. This peacefulness is the result of identifying with the infinite rather than the finite.

Mantras can also be used as the objects of meditation. "Let Go" is a very powerful mantra. With each inhale, silently say "Let", and with each exhale say "Go". In doing so you are letting go of resistances. When you let go, you automatically let God.


By letting it go, it all gets done.
----Tao Te Ching