The letter I sent my nephew who would like to begin and an update on why this article may be wrong.
Dear Yonah,
I’m thrilled you wrote to me asking about this.
First things first: Meditation is not a religious practice. Many people may choose to connect it with their religion, but meditation is simply a tool, a method and a device that you can use to connect yourself with… yourself!
The basic principle is quite simple: Breathe.
That’s it.
Breathe.
What’s amazing is how we forget how to breathe and how we forget that we have control over our minds and bodies. Meditation brings us back to the most basic, simple life process.
There are two general types of meditation (at this point) that will be useful to know about. One is a guided meditation where an external voice (a video, an app, a CD) takes you on a journey in your own mind from A to B. I find these are very helpful when I’m having trouble relaxing, falling asleep, making a decision or tuning out the world so I can focus on being in a more-even emotional state. The guided meditations will help you visualize calming journeys, perhaps through a garden or along a stream to a pond to a lake to the ocean… that kind of thing. With these meditations there is still an active…
