While meditation is surrounded by religion, beliefs and superstitions, it is a valid body state like any other, such as arousal or sleep. By learning to meditate, you can reap the benefits of this body state which include relaxation, energy and perspective on your life. Meditation is being taken seriously by health researchers interested in stress reduction and methods to improve overall health.

Meditation is used by people interested addressing conditions such as anxiety, pain, depression, emotional problems, insomnia, and stress. Meditation is also the ultimate brain workout.

Difficulty: Average
Time Required: 20 minutes, everyday
Here's How:

1.Sit:Find a place where you can sit comfortably, uninterrupted for about 20 minutes. The most important thing is to sit with your back as straight as possible. Some people find that sitting on the edge of a cushion helps keep the back straight. You will hear about special meditation cushions, candles, incense, statues, bells, and so forth -- don't worry about any of that stuff. The important thing is to sit comfortably and to practice meditation often. You can add in accessories whenever you want.

2.Set a Timer:At times when you are meditating, you may secretly be looking for any excuse to get up and do something else. One of the most compelling excuses is to "check the time." Often during meditation your sense of timing is lost and that leads to the feeling that you have gone past the time you set for meditation. This will often happen after you have been sitting for 1 or 2 minutes. A timer helps to assure you that you have not meditated too long. If you do not have a timer, you will probably look at a clock or your watch every 30 seconds. So set a timer and then forget about time.

3.Breathe:Breathing is an unique bodily function. It is automatic, we take over 10 million breaths per year without noticing, but we can also control breathing voluntarily. Think of breathing as how we can communicate with our bodies. If we breathe slowly, our bodies relax. While you sit:

* bring your attention to your breathing
* notice everything about your breathing:
o the inhale
o the exhale
o the tiny pause between them
* breathe naturally, just be aware of your breath

This is your only task in meditation -- be aware of your breath. If your thoughts wander, just come back to breathing.

4.Label:The goal of meditation is not to have no thoughts (that is impossible) but to not interact with the thoughts that occur. If, while you are meditating, you start wondering when was the last time you changed the oil in your car, that is perfectly normal -- just come back to your breathing and try not to 'chase' the thought.

Some people find it helps to label the thoughts. When you notice yourself drifting, just place a neutral label on the thoughts -- if you are thinking about everything you have to do at work, label the thoughts 'work' and return to breathing.

5.Don't Judge:Meditation is hard and perfect meditation is impossible. Your thoughts will drift. You will find that on some days you spend your entire meditation time thinking about your kitchen sink. Your awareness will drift away and the time will disappear. That is fine. Whenever you drift, come back to being aware of sitting and breathing. Do not judge yourself. Do not create a train of thought about how you can't meditate, how you are no good at this. Just come back to your breath.

6.Don't Listen To Yourself:While you meditate, there is a little voice inside your head trying to get you to stop.

* This voice will come up with "great ideas" that you just have to write down immediately.
* The voice will read your to do list to you, leaving you feeling pressured to just stop and get something done.
* The voice will, at least once, utterly convince you that your timer has stopped and you have been meditating for hours and are late for something.

Don't listen to the voice. While you are mediating there is nothing more important for you to do. Just sit.

7.Watch the "Thought Clouds" Drift:Treat meditation as an experiment. Watch yourself thinking. Examine how thoughts emerge randomly and then begin to connect to other thoughts. Watch what happens to thought if you do not nourish them. How do trains of thought stop? Eventually you will see that most thoughts are random and not really worth your time. You will also begin to develop an awareness apart from your thoughts. Perhaps the greatest lesson of meditation is that you are not your thoughts.

8.Bring Meditation Into Your Daily Life:Many of the skills learned in meditation can be applied during your daily life. Meditate when:
* waiting in line

* doing the dishes
* feeling upset

Take a two-minute breathing break several times during the day. Watch as your thoughts and ideas turn up at work, in conversation, or while you are solving a problem. Use the same experimental mindset and watch how you behave and think throughout the day.

9.Repeat Daily:Meditation is a skill that needs practice and more practice. Set a daily time for meditation and stick to it. Your brain will benefit from the endlessly fascinating journey into your own mind. Your body will benefit from the deep relaxation and stress reduction.

冥想總是被宗教、信仰和迷信包圍著，但就如同“清醒”或“睡眠”一樣，它就是一種有益的身體狀態(tài)。通過學習冥想，你能獲得許多好處，包括：放松、精力，甚至是對生活的新看法。一些致力于研究減輕壓力、增進整體健康的專家，也越來越認真地看待冥想。

冥想被人們用于改善以下問題，包括焦慮、苦惱、抑郁、情緒化、失眠和壓力。同時冥想也是一種極佳的頭腦鍛煉方式。

難度：中等
時間：每天20分鐘

如何進行：

1.坐：找一個你可以舒服地坐著，在20分鐘內不會被打擾的地方，最重要的是坐著的時候讓你的背部盡可能地挺直。有些人認為坐在坐墊的邊上可能幫助背部保持挺直，你很快就知道有一些特別的物品，例如冥想坐墊、蠟燭、香料、人像、鐘等等，不用去理睬這些東西。重要的是坐得舒服并且不斷練習冥想。你可以在需要的時候再添置這些物品。

2.設置計時器：當你進行冥想的時候，你可能會不自覺的找任何借口起來做其他事情，最具誘惑性的借口之一就是“查看時間”。通常在冥想的時候，你會失去時間感，導致你認為已經冥想了過長的時間，這通常發(fā)生在你坐下的一、兩分鐘后。計時器能夠幫助你確認并沒有冥想過久。如果你沒有計時器，很可能每隔30秒鐘就會看一次鐘表。所以，設置一個計時器，然后忘掉時間吧。

3.呼吸：呼吸是一種獨特的機體功能。它是自動進行的，我們每年都在沒有察覺的情況下進行超過一千萬次呼吸，但我們也可以主動控制呼吸。把呼吸看作是我們與身體的溝通方式，如果我們慢慢呼吸，身體則會放松。當你坐著的時候：

* 將注意力集中在呼吸上
* 注意呼吸的每一細節(jié)：
o 吸氣
o 呼氣
o 呼吸之間的細微停頓
* 自然地呼吸，保持對呼吸的意識

這是你在冥想時的唯一任務——留意你的呼吸。如果你的想法游離了，只需讓它回到呼吸上面來。

4.標記：冥想的目的不是完全沒有想法（這是不可能的），而是不被冒出來的想法所影響。如果在冥想的當中，你開始回想上一次給汽車換機油到底是什么時候，這是再正常不過的——只要把注意力重新回到呼吸上，不去追隨這些想法。

一些人發(fā)現給這些想法進行標記是很有用的。當你意識到自己的注意力開始游離，只需想法加上一個中性的標記——如果你想到任何需要在工作中完成的事情，就給這些想法標記為“工作”，并且將注意力重回到呼吸上。

5.不做評判：冥想是件難事，完美的冥想是不可能的。你的想法會游離，你會發(fā)現某些日子，你的整個冥想時間都在想著廚房的水槽。你的意識會游離，時間將流逝，這不要緊。任何時候你開小差了，就重新注意自己的坐姿和呼吸。不要養(yǎng)成認為你無法冥想、做不好冥想的想法。只是重新注意你的呼吸就好。

6.不要聽從自我：當你冥想的時候，在你腦海中總會有一個聲音試圖阻止你：

* 這個聲音將會提及一個“重要的想法”，似乎是你必須馬上記下來的
* 這個聲音將為你讀出代辦事宜列表，使你感到一種壓力要馬上停止冥想去完成那些事情
* 至少會有一次，這個聲音使你相信你的計時器已經停了，你已經冥想了好幾個小時而耽誤了其他事情

不要理會這些聲音。當你冥想的時候，就沒有其他更重要的事情了，坐著就好。

7.坐視“想法浮云”：可以把冥想看成一次試驗，觀察你自己的思維過程。留意那些想法是如何隨意地冒出來，如何關聯到其他想法。看看你不去關注那些想法的話會發(fā)生什么，你的想法鏈是如何結束的。最終你將發(fā)現絕大部分的想法都是隨意的，不值得花費時間。你會逐漸從你的繁雜想法中挖掘出自我意識，也許冥想的最佳收獲就是你可以不被想法所控制。

8.日常生活中的冥想：許多從冥想中學習到的技巧都能在日常生活中應用，你可以在以下時刻冥想：
* 排隊的時候
* 洗碗的時候
* 煩惱的時候

一天當中，可以進行多次只需兩分鐘的冥想。當你工作的時候，交談的時候或者解決問題的時候，留意你所涌現出來的各種想法和念頭。用同樣的試驗心態(tài)觀察你自己一天中的行為和思想。

9.每日練習：冥想需要不斷地加強練習，計劃每天冥想的時間并堅持下去。你的頭腦將受益于這邁向自我內心的無盡迷人旅程；你的身體也將通過這種深度放松和壓力消除而收益。