You may well ask: 'What is the purpose of experiencing this meditative state for a few minutes each day?' The answer is that it reduces the level of our anxiety.

 

The effects of meditation include inner peace, better interpersonal relationships, clearer thinking, increased work capacity, better sexual relationships due to less tension, absence of disturbing dreams, and smoother physical reactions often shown in better performances in sport.

 

The key to management of our stress lies in those moments when our brain runs quietly in a way that restores harmony and function.

 

There are quite different forms of meditation in which the brain functions in quite different ways.

 

In classical meditation as in yoga, in Zen Buddhism meditation and in the meditation practiced by the early Christian mystics, the thought processes of the mind are helped by will power concentrating on some object or spiritual concept. The mind is active, striving to attain and maintain this ideal.

 

In the meditation I would advise you to practice, there is no striving, no activity of the brain function, just quietness, a stillness of effortless tranquility.

 

This is not the tranquility of drowsy somnolence. The mind is clear but still.

 

For the type of meditation I advocate, we must start our meditation in some position of slight discomfort. Then we let our mind run quietly, with as little thought as possible, and we are soon no longer aware of any discomfort. This transcendence of slight discomfort is an essential feature of successful meditation.

 

It does not require long periods of meditation to obtain relief from stress. Ten minutes twice a day has produced dramatic relief in some hundreds of people who have consulted me professionally.

 

To get the full effect of meditation, it is important not to do it when too tired. The effect is greatest when we are alert and frisky.