How do I meditate?

How don't you? Inside joke.

It comes down to clearing your thoughts. Then stopping them.

"Why on earth would anybody want to stop thinking?!"

Two good reasons. The first is the understanding that thoughts are illusions. Consider them as commentators to your life after the action.

When you keep your mind clear and free of illusion, you tend to make the correct decisions. Simple, as that. It is the part of you that hears a dog barking and knows that it is a dog barking without having to stop to listen.

Imagine if it was the other way around; that your thoughts were actually the origin of the action and not just the aftermath. We would think our arms into motion. And think our legs into walking.

Even if we imagine this is so, your body knows the difference. Try to think your leg into motion and while it might respond, no one is fooled.

Beyond thought, is a clarity that exists right here, right now.

And every once in while it feels good to get in touch with that side of ourselves. Like Thoreau says of Walden, to behold it, is to be changed forever.

The second and more practical reason is that to be in touch with this makes you funnier. Happier and more able to handle a bounce. More real. Did we mention funnier?

Meditation is the active process of stopping thought.

Meditations exist in every moment. They are the process of awakening.

To awaken to these moments, practice using zazen. Zazen is sitting lotus meditation twice per day. During this time you are intensely focused on building the muscles you will use throughout your day to quiet your mind.

With your eyes open, you should find a point of focus that you are comfortable with. It can be a pebble, a dot on the wall, a pretty picture, or something you hold dear. It is generally not a good idea to focus on a person lest you fill your mind with the very thoughts you seek to stop.

With your eyes closed, silence the world with sounds of nature on headphones. And let your mind be still.

To meditate, you clear your mind and stop your thoughts. Do not fight your higher mind. Thoughts will break the silence like screeches. Be neither attracted nor repulsed by them. Move them gently aside. When they slow, let them stop. Without illusion, you are the buddha. Trusting yourself.

Try our 3 Minute Egg Meditation.

3 minutes. No thought.

Surely, it is over easy.