How to meditate Here are 7 simple steps for beginners to help guide to mindfulness meditation, followed by a few Benefits

of meditation: How long should you meditate for? If this is your first experience of meditation, just meditate for short periods oftime, maybe 5 to 10 minutes. As you get more experienced, you can lengthen the time you spend meditating to 25 or 30 minutes.

''If while sitting quietly without any motive, or walking quietly by yourself or with somebody, you watch the trees, the birds, the rivers and the sunshine on the leaves, in that very watching you are also watching yourself. You are not striving, not making tremendous efforts to achieve something.'' ~Jiddu Krishnamurti Here are seven simple tips that will enhance your experience: #1 Sit upright Upright posture helps the mind to come to rest. You can either sit on the ground with a firm cushion to elevate your back side, or sit on a straight-backed chair. The main thing is to keep your spine upright but relaxed. Its much easier to keep your mind focused if youre upright. #2 Pay tender regard to your body Its helpful to connect with your body in order to settle into meditation. Start at your feet and slowly scan the body with your mind. What do your feet feel like? What do you legs feel like? Let the soft light of your attention move slowly through your whole body. #3 Be still When you first start to meditate, you may feel fidgety and may want to adjust your posture constantly. Its really important to be still physically during meditation. Every time you move, your mind responds with random thoughts. So stay steady and still. #4 Be silent Outer silence helps you to become silent within. In our Western culture, silence has become rare. In order to become still within, make sure that you are in a quiet environment. Its only when you are still that we can become aware of your mind.

#5 Focus on your breath Pay tender regard to your breath flowing in and out. Your breath is a doorway to stillness. Notice what

your breath feels like in your nose, chest, and belly. #6 Let go of inner chatter Mindfulness meditation means becoming aware of the present moment, without judgment.Notice your thoughts coming and going. When you notice that you are caught up in an inner dialogue, gently let the story go. # 7 Bring your attention back when it wanders. Gently bring your mind back to your breath whenever it strays into the past or the future. Our mind tends to wander. Thats a natural condition. If you train yourself to gently return you r soft attention to the breath, your mind will become steadier. And you will be able to immerse yourself in the present moment. Meditation is a practice. It takes time to learn it. When you first start out, mindfulness meditation will feel strange. And it may be quite a shock to become aware of how often the mind spends time in the past or future instead of in the present moment. Set yourself a regular schedule, but make sure this schedule is too easy, and too short. If you want to create a habit of daily meditation, youre much more likely to be successful if you treat yourself with kindness and dont demand the impossible. When you learn to immerse yourself in the present moment whatever it is like you will experience a deep joy and peacefulness. As well, meditation has immense health benefits: it strengthens the immune system, lowers your blood pressure and pulse rate, and lifts your mood. Meditation is a wonderful gift to yourself! A few benefits of daily meditation: 1. Personal Benefits for the Meditator The mind: the mind feel at ease, calm and peaceful. Memory will also improve. Personality: self-confidence will be improved. The true nature of calm will be apparent. Anger will diminish, leaving only the feeling of kindness towards others. Daily life: will be increased in quality in the new-found absence of stress. The results of work or study will be much more successful. The meditator can enjoy health of both body and mind. Ethics & Decision-Making: a right understanding of that which is good and that which is bad, will be clearly seen for any given situation. Important decisions will cause less worry because the meditator understands the outcome of his actions. The meditator can refrain from harmful actions and decisions, instead being content and confident about choices he makes. 2. Benefits for the Meditator's Family Peace and Success: Family life will be more peaceful, through the increased ability of each member to maintain self-discipline and respect towards each other. Parents will be better able to lead the family

success fully. Problem-Solving: Family members will be more successful in worldly ways: learning to honor their duties. Whenever problems arise, everyone can calmly co-operate to towards solving them. 3. National Benefits Peaceful Society: Most grave social problems originate from mind degeneration. If everybody learns to meditate and live peacefully, "endemic" problems like crime and drug abuse will be diminished. National benefits of self-discipline: The ability of individuals to be self-disciplined is improved simply through keeping to the routine of meditation and following moral precepts. Honesty will improve the atmosphere of trust and the life of the community will be of a better quality. Progress towards a caring society: As a result of meditation, the peacefulness of life can be more widely enjoyed and there will be a more widespread willingness to participate in social work for the benefit of others. 4. Spiritual Benefits Understanding Eternity: All people, with or without their own faith can deepen the understanding of their own spirituality through meditation. Meditators of all faiths, through the practice of meditation, can explore their own faith in depth, particularly with reference to the understanding of eternity in their chosen faith. Inspiration: Inspiration in your own spiritual tradition is strengthened as the meditator comes to realize the profound happiness that can be found through meditation.