Written by:Leo Babauta
While many people think of meditation as something you might do with a teacher, in a Zen Center, it can be as simple as paying attention to your breath while sitting in your car or on the train, or while sitting at the coffee shop or in your office, or while walking or showering.
It can take just one or two minutes if you’re busy. There’s no excuse for not doing it, when you simplify the meditation habit.
Why Meditate?
Why create a small daily meditation practice? There are countless reasons, but here are some of my favorite:
It relieves stress and helps you to relax.
When you practice mindfulness, you can carry it out to everyday life.
Mindfulness helps you to savor life, change habits, live simply and slowly, be present in everything you do.
Meditation has been shown to have mental benefits, such as improved focus, happiness, memory, self-control, academic performance and more.
Some research on meditation has indicated that it may have other health benefits, including improved metabolism, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and more.
Actually, some of the best benefits of meditation are hard to define — you begin to understand yourself better, for example, and form a self-awareness level you’ve never had before.
Most simply, sitting for just a few minutes of meditation is an oasis of calm and relaxation that we rarely find in our lives these days. And that, in itself, is enough.
How to Do It Daily
