I've been practicing meditation in places with lots of activity for some time now.
My goal is to meditate while walking down a busy street.
When I became interested in meditation, I read every book I could get my hands on.
I also thought that meditation could only be done by contorting your legs into uncomfortable positions.
Then one of my good friends said to me, "You want to learn to meditate? Go watch a cat.
" I grinned.
"No really," he said, "watch it.
Observe every movement it makes.
Just try it--then come talk to me.
" So I tried it one morning with some tea--just as a quick meditative exercise and was surprised.
I found that a cat actually sits for meditation! That although the cat may appear asleep to the casual eye, if you look closer, you'll notice the animal is completely and totally aware; it is listening to everything taking place around it.
The ears are moving constantly to catch all the interesting sounds.
It is absolutely in the Moment.
I saw that even though its body was relaxed to the point of appearing asleep, its mind was not.
This cat's mind was fully aware.
This was obvious by the way it was experiencing its environment.
It remained silent.
Still.
Becoming one with the world around it.
Listening.
That's the way meditation works, I thought.
Body asleep.
Mind awake.
The mantra I use often to enter meditation passed through my mind.
Then I thought about when I was first beginning to meditate, and that we should all want to be beginners; because in meditation, to consistently maintain the beginner's mindset is the quickest and best way to experience things.
Another good way to think about meditation is as the space between thoughts.
You are trying to find the space between thoughts.
The spot where no thoughts happen.
This is the place you seek in meditation.
And when you find it, try to stay there as long as you can.
Soon a thought will appear and pull you out of it.
Just don't give attention to the thought.
It will go away.
If it arises again, do not feed it, do not give it attention.
It will dissipate.
Your goal is to get to the space between thoughts and stay there as long as you can.
If a thought tries to distract you, decide purposefully not to follow it.
You can think of observing your thoughts as you do of watching traffic.
Traffic is happening all the time, but you are not giving it attention all the time, are you? Your attention goes where you want it to go, it isn't dragged here and there by every thought that crosses your mind.
You wouldn't randomly get into a car just because it passed in front of you, would you? Same goes for thoughts.
Don't attach yourself to them.
Just watch them go.
One of the most well known techniques is focusing on the breath, where you can practice visualizing your breath as it brings beneficial energy into your Self from the Universe around you.
This energy can heal, if you allow it to; visualize it healing the areas of your body that need attention.
And when you exhale, watch in your mind's eye as all the negative energies are leaving you.
Focusing on the breath is the most versatile technique because you can practice it wherever you are.
Some people practice it to de-stress, depressurize at certain times of the day.
It's simple really, all you need is a quiet spot, or if your meditation is good, you can practice in the midst of rush hour traffic.
Remember you don't have to be sitting still to meditate.
You can enter the moment even if your body is active; sometimes movement is an excellent way to find the stillness that movement rises from.
Just ask any runner.
What is important is that you have a reliable method to access the Moment.
In meditation, this is the main goal, to access, or enter, the moment--using a method that works for you.