Choose a quiet place. If it's a room, shut the door. Turn off your phone, laptop, computer, and any strong lights.
Sit in a firm, straight chair (you might use a pillow for lower back support), or sit on a cushion on the floor, with your legs crossed.
Place your hands in your lap, close your eyes gently.
Try to make your spine feel as long and straight as possible.
Relax your shoulders, release all tension in your forehead and around the eyes, mouth, jaw, even the teeth.
Breathe gently.
Bring your focus to the tip of your nostrils.
Be aware of the breath going out of the nostrils . . . and coming in.
What does it feel like? Become fascinated by the fact of your own breathing.
Count the breaths, on the exhale, from one to ten.
If your mind wanders, simply bring it back to counting.
After you reach ten, stop counting and simply watch the breath going out and in, like gentle waves lapping on a lake shore.
Choose a single word and repeat it silently.
The word may be: peace, light, love, hope, healing, life . . . whatever seems the most peaceful sound to you . . .
whatever you most want to give to the world.
(Repeating the word, or mantra, will also help your mind stay more focused on the rhythm of the breath.)
Try to breathe the word interiorly, along with the breath.
With every exhale, send the breath and the word gently into the world.
With every inhale, receive the breath and the word returned to you.
Distracting thoughts will arise . . . inevitably.
The moment you become aware of them, simply return to the breath and the single word.
Eventually, the mind will become calmer, you will be able to focus more easily, and your breathing will slow down.
You will begin to "feel" the silence within.
Finish your Peace Meditation by dedicating it - along with your daily Acts of Peace - to creating a little more peace in our troubled world.
Practice your Peace Meditation five or ten minutes a day . . . eventually working up to twenty or thirty minutes twice a day:
every morning and evening. (Surely you can spare one hour in twenty-four to become more peace-full!)
Try to choose the same time every day to give your Peace Meditation to the world: each morning, before you turn on your computer or go off to work or school; each evening before you eat or retire.
Make your Peace Meditation a new habit, and certainly one of your most potent Acts of Peace. Given that there are millions of meditators just like yourself who are literally breathing peace all over the world, the peace-filled energies will work unimaginable transformations.
This is how you will BECOME the peace you wish to give to others. And your Three Acts of Peace a day will be all the more mindful and meaningful, once they flow out of your daily Peace Meditation.
Sit in a firm, straight chair (you might use a pillow for lower back support), or sit on a cushion on the floor, with your legs crossed.
Place your hands in your lap, close your eyes gently.
Try to make your spine feel as long and straight as possible.
Relax your shoulders, release all tension in your forehead and around the eyes, mouth, jaw, even the teeth.
Breathe gently.
Bring your focus to the tip of your nostrils.
Be aware of the breath going out of the nostrils . . . and coming in.
What does it feel like? Become fascinated by the fact of your own breathing.
Count the breaths, on the exhale, from one to ten.
If your mind wanders, simply bring it back to counting.
After you reach ten, stop counting and simply watch the breath going out and in, like gentle waves lapping on a lake shore.
Choose a single word and repeat it silently.
The word may be: peace, light, love, hope, healing, life . . . whatever seems the most peaceful sound to you . . .
whatever you most want to give to the world.
(Repeating the word, or mantra, will also help your mind stay more focused on the rhythm of the breath.)
Try to breathe the word interiorly, along with the breath.
With every exhale, send the breath and the word gently into the world.
With every inhale, receive the breath and the word returned to you.
Distracting thoughts will arise . . . inevitably.
The moment you become aware of them, simply return to the breath and the single word.
Eventually, the mind will become calmer, you will be able to focus more easily, and your breathing will slow down.
You will begin to "feel" the silence within.
Finish your Peace Meditation by dedicating it - along with your daily Acts of Peace - to creating a little more peace in our troubled world.
Practice your Peace Meditation five or ten minutes a day . . . eventually working up to twenty or thirty minutes twice a day:
every morning and evening. (Surely you can spare one hour in twenty-four to become more peace-full!)
Try to choose the same time every day to give your Peace Meditation to the world: each morning, before you turn on your computer or go off to work or school; each evening before you eat or retire.
Make your Peace Meditation a new habit, and certainly one of your most potent Acts of Peace. Given that there are millions of meditators just like yourself who are literally breathing peace all over the world, the peace-filled energies will work unimaginable transformations.
This is how you will BECOME the peace you wish to give to others. And your Three Acts of Peace a day will be all the more mindful and meaningful, once they flow out of your daily Peace Meditation.