For many people, one of the biggest problems with meditation is finding the time. Who has an extra 30 minutes a day to sit and desperately attempt to quiet the mind? It takes serious discipline to make that a practice, especially when piled on top of work and exercise and foraging for the next meal and relating with people and cleaning the house and everything else.
That’s one of the reasons I love this book. You see, what you really don’t have is an extra 30 minutes in a row. You do have driving time and eating time and pauses while you wait for your computer to catch up. Mark Thornton’s Meditation in a New York Minute takes advantage of all those extra moments (way more than 30, by the way) and shows you how to use them to destress your life.
He has numerous exercises on how to do this, ranging from simple to advanced. For example, why not put an alarm on your PDA to remind you to take a deep breath? I have something like that on mine – and occassionally I’ll change the alarm time or the message to help me see it in a new light.
My favorites activities are, of course, those that help you really develop an awareness of your body – when you’re eating, walking, brushing your teeth, working in the garden. I often encourage my clients to do the same with their senses – anywhere, anytime – feel the experience of life in that moment. After all, the input is there. We’re always smelling, tasting, hearing, touching, seeing. Simply allow yourself to notice.
