This summer my friends who are also in their autumn years came to visit with their three girls. Though they thought they were finished with parenting years ago, due to unusual family circumstances they are parenting again. We had a marvelous time together and throughout the month they visited we taught the girls several simple meditation practices. In this post I’m going to share one of them. It’s a very simple meditation that anyone can use any place and any time to experience one minute of deep relaxation and peace.

Silence, stillness, and solitude

Silence, stillness, and solitude are the practice of being in the moment instead of  allowing our monkey mind to dwell in the past or future.  There’s a space for resting in deep peace deep inside you where healing and rejuvenation take place.  If you read Eckhart Tolle’s books, The Power of Now and A New Earth, then you are familiar with the concept.

Being in the silent, still and solitary moment is not a new concept. Living in the moment is practiced world over in many cultures across millenia. However, it’s gaining greater recognition as more people realize the physical and mental health benefits that issue from learning how to meditate one minute at a time.

Since ancient times the term awakening has been used as a kind of metaphor that points to the transformation of human consciousness. There are parables in the New Testament that speak of the importance of being awake, of not falling back to sleep. The word Buddha comes from the Sanskrit word Budh, meaning, “to be awake.” So Buddha is not a name and ultimately not a person, but a state of consciousness. All this implies that humans are potentially capable of living in a state of consciousness compared to which normal wakefulness is like sleeping or dreaming.  –  Eckhart Tolle

You are not in the now — you are the now

In the silence, stillness, and solitude of just being we learn minute by minute to cease our futile our attempts to re-create the world according to our own agendas. We take a much needed rest from managing our relationships and manipulating people with our words and actions.  Silence, stillness, and solitude teach us that our own value is not determined by our usefulness to others.

You are not “in the now”; you are the now. That is your essential identity–the only thing that never changes. Life is always now. Now is consciousness. And consciousness is who you are. That’s the equation.  — –  Eckhart Tolle

Learning how to meditate one minute at a time teaches us how to rest and rejuvenate, so more of our authentic self is available to those whom we are in relationship with.

One Minute Meditation Technique with Ayurvedic Doctor – Dr. John Douillard – Video

This is a wonderful meditation for relief of anxiety. It starts with pumping oxygen into your brain, and it ends with a breathing technique called Ujjayi breathing, which is a kind of nasal breathing, deeply in through the nose and out through the nose after we pump prana, or life force into your nervous system. You start with about 30 seconds of bellows breathing, and follow that with about 30 seconds of silence and calm Ujjayi breathing. Often times this pumps enough energy into your nervous system to give you the ability to be calmer and settle your mind.

Resting the heart and the mind

Your resting heart rate is the number of beats in one minute while you are in a complete rest state. It indicates your basic overall heart health and fitness level. The more conditioned your body is, the less effort it needs to make to pump blood through your body. A normal resting heart rate for an adult ranges from 60 to 100 beats a minute. For a well-trained athlete, a normal resting heart rate may be closer to 40 beats a minute. For healthy adults, a lower heart rate at rest generally implies more efficient heart function and better cardiovascular fitness.

Below are two more excellent little videos I happened upon when reviewing my Twitter stream. (Hat Tip to Melissa Wolfe) I hope my readers will view them and give one minute meditation a place in their lives.

How to meditate 1 single moment anywhere at anytime,
thus advantageously utilizing the waiting time in stores,
on the job, and in the traffic jam with great calm and joy!

A one minute meditation experience of deep peace.

Invitation

Suppose you learned how to do a one minute meditation and then expanded that practice to spending one minute of silence ten times each day. Your body, mind and spirit would benefit from dwelling in silence,  stillness and solitude. It’s easy and free medication for what ails us all in this hurry, hurry, hurry and worry world.  So why not give it a try?

Related posts found in this blog:
On time, space and the now moment
Exploring Spaciousness: Experiencing Peace
Stillness Speaks
Being yourself: The stillness of pure consciousness
The Simple Life: Present Moment Living