Tips for incorporating meditation into your daily life:

Fitting meditation into your daily life is a great challenge.  At first, it seems as though there is no possible time to meditate!  Seems ironic, doesn’t it?  As you find a few minutes here and there to fit meditation into your life, you will see that life is so much easier with a clear mind, that meditation makes space for itself.  Here are a few recommended places to start.

Train yourself to practice mindfulness while:

• Waiting in traffic – try to notice how many breaths you complete while waiting for the light
• Doing the dishes – notice the feeling of the water on your hands and the pace of your breath
• During a commercial – practice using the mute button and notice the breath in and out
• Taking a shower – hear and feel the rushing water, notice the steam rising
• Sunset/Sunrise – pause for a breath and observe the change in the light and shadows
• Walking outdoors – observe your breath, the sensations of the air on your skin and the fluidity of your movements
• Standing in line – also a good place to practice the QiGong preparation standing form

(A friend of mine learned to always practice on the toilet, guaranteeing at least a few times a day of practice!)

Eventually, when you have enough practice, you will find that you are able to use the techniques in difficult situations:

• In a meeting – practice being aware of all the different sounds in the room
• During an argument – listen and feel for your heartbeat, notice its rhythm