Grabbing the Moment Meditation

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Once you gain experience in meditating, it is possible to go into meditative mode for short periods whenever you need to. All it takes to meditate in this way is a few seconds of concentrated focus, and you will find yourself refreshed and ready to cope with stress. We have used the right hand in some of the meditations described below: if you are left-handed, use the thumb and two fingers of the left hand instead.

The wedding ring meditation

To meditate on your wedding ring, simply inhale deeply and bring the tip of the thumb on whichever hand you wear your wedding ring into contact with the first two fingers so that the ring finger is slightly raised. As you exhale slowly, focus your eyes on the ring, gazing at a glint that catches the light. Repeat four or five times.

The red light meditation

Next time you are held up at traffic lights, stare at the red light with both eyes, willing yourself into it. Breathe in and out slowly as many times as you can until the lights change, and you will take off in a better frame of mind than before.

Meditation at work

Most people have jobs that involve doing the same thing day after day, be it something as active as waiting tables in a restaurant or as sedentary as working in an office in front of a computer. Most people at some time or other during their working day find themselves drifting off into their own thoughts: use this time to improve your work efficiency by meditating. The moment you first realize you are lost in thought, visualize a blank screen and then picture yourself on that screen, seeing yourself work faster and more productively, more safely and more creatively, than you have ever worked before. Try to hold this image for a moment or two, and in time you should find yourself working more efficiently and getting more out of the job too.

Spot meditation

Breathe in deeply and touch the tip of the first two fingers of your right hand with your right thumb. As you breathe out focus your attention on the first thing that catches your eyes and maintain the focus for four or five more breathing cycles.

Pain relief meditation

If you suddenly feel pain, for instance if you stand up too quickly and find you have an agonizing pain in the back, focus your thoughts on the part of the body that is aching. Again join the thumb and first two fingers of the right hand and breathe deeply taking the breath right into the pain. As you breathe out, see the pain being carried away on your expired breath.

Countdown to calmness

For a brief meditation that brings instant calm, breathe in, once more touching the tip of the thumb with the tips of the first two fingers of the right hand. Breathe out slowly, counting down from ten to zero as you do so and visualizing each number in turn in your mind's eye, watching one fade as it is replaced by the next. When you reach zero, you will be infused with a feeling of serenity you thought out of reach a few moments before.

Back to the future

Find an old photograph of yourself and focus your attention on it. Project the image you are looking at forward to the present and try to see if the person is still you. Then let him or her fade back into the photograph. After the meditation try and work out if the boy or girl in the photograph would be happy with what he or she has become. If so, good for you: if not, by taking up meditation you have at least taken a step in the right direction.

Postscript

Once you have learned to meditate, it is a skill that you will have for the rest of your life, but while it will give you a sense of inner serenity it does not mean that you are free of pressures and disturbing emotions. Meditation is not an escape from these problems: it enables you to see them as something you can deal with.

Once you have become used to meditation, you will find you can practise it anywhere-on a train, in an aeroplane, at your office desk during the course of a working day.

And remember there is no right way to meditate and no wrong way to meditate. The only right way is the one that you are most comfortable with, the one that enables you to get out of meditation whatever it is you want.