The benefits of meditation are many and they include stopping the stress response, slowing your heart rate, calming your breathing, and reducing cortisol levels.

It is difficult for beginners to get a grasp on meditation. In the beginning it is difficult for us to learn how to quiet our minds.  In our New York minute lifestyles our brains are usually working over time.

Basic Meditation Techniques: First things first.  You need to get comfortable.  Sit in a comfortable position.  Turn off the TV.  Take a break from the kids.  This is your time.  Do not feel guilty.  Get rid of your worries.  I like to imagine that I am standing on the end of a boat and I’m throwing all my problems overboard.

Focused Meditation:  Focus on something intently, but resist the urge to contemplate it. Possibilities include focusing on something you can touch, perhaps a picture on the wall; focus on sounds like a tape of a mountain stream; something constant, other possibilities include your own breathing. It just might be easier to do this than to focus on nothing.  The goal is to stay in the present.  Thinking only of now not of the past or the future.

Activity-Oriented Meditation: You accomplish this by performing a repetitive activity. This quiets the mind and is very calming. Practicing yoga and gardening is an excellent example of this Technique.

Spiritual Meditation: Prayer can be a form of meditation.  Quiet your thoughts think on a particular question and ask for gods guidance.  I actually like to imagine myself sitting in a garden one on one with my own personal image of Jesus.