JUMP-STARTING

YOUR PRACTICE
Although a full understanding of attention and awareness is essential, some of you might want to get
right into the practice. So here is a quick and basic version of the meditation instructions.
1. Posture
a. Whether you sit in a chair or on a cushion on the floor, make yourself as comfortable as possible with
your back straight.
b. Get your back, neck, and head in alignment, front-to-back and side-to-side.
c. I recommend closed eyes to start with, but you can keep them open if you prefer.
2. Relax
a. While maintaining a straight back, release any tension in the body.
b. Relax your mind. Take some moments to appreciate the fact that you’re gifting yourself with time
away from all the usual tasks and worries of your life.
3. Intention and Breath
a. Resolve to practice diligently for the entire meditation session no matter how it goes.
b. Breathe through your nose as naturally as possible without trying to control your breath.
c. Bring your attention to the sensations associated with the breath in and around your nostrils or
upper lip. Another option is to center your attention on the sensations associated with breathing in
the abdomen. See which of these is the easiest for you to focus on and then stick with that one, at
least for the sit at hand. This is your meditation object.
d. Allow your attention to stay centered on your meditation object while your peripheral awareness
remains relaxed and open to anything that arises (e.g., sounds in the environment, physical
sensations in the body, thoughts in the background).
e. Try to keep your attention centered on the meditation object. Inevitably, your mind will get
distracted and drift away. As soon as you recognize this has happened, take a moment to appreciate
the fact that you have remembered your intention to meditate, and give your mind an imaginary
“pat on the back.” The tendency is to judge yourself and feel disappointed for having lost your focus,
but doing so is counterproductive. Mind-wandering is natural, so it’s not important that you lost
your focus. Remembering and returning your focus to the meditation object is what’s important.
Therefore, positively reinforce such behavior by doing your best to reward the mind for
remembering.
f. Now gently re-center your attention on the meditation object.
g. Repeat step 3 until the meditation session is over, and remember, the only bad meditation session is
the one you didn’t do!