For a couple of weeks now I’ve been exercising, and can honestly start to feel some difference. It’s tough, I’m a big guy, and things take time, but little by little I’ve begun to make changes in my life that hopefully will improve my health, and my struggle with depression. After training, I get a whole new feeling of tired. Not the kind of tired you feel after you’ve sat all day next to a computer, but your body actually telling you that you’re physically tired, and once you get to relax after working out, it’s a like a pat in the back, a “job well done”, if you will.

Now, as I’ve been making these changes in my life, I’ve begun to look towards meditation. Some say it works, other say it doesn’t. I choose to believe that it does, and several medical studies are able to back that claim, just have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_on_meditation. Supposedly it help to improve your health, concentration, and is even able to reduce pain! Imagine that.

The book I’ve been reading is called Mindfulness In Plain English, and is written by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana. I’ve already read through this book once, and I find it easy to understand. I’ve tried meditating a couple of times, and it’s more difficult than you think! There’s particularly one analogy that I enjoy:

Our mind is analogous to a cup of muddy water. The longer you keep a cup of muddy water still, the more mud settles down and the water will be seen clearly. Similarly, if you keep quiet without moving you body, focusing your entire undivided attention on the subject of your meditation, your mind settles down and begins to experience the bliss of meditation.

If anyone should have any tips or guidelines as to what I should/should not do to improve my meditation, I would really appreciate it!

Now, before ending this post, let me just mention that the book I’ve mentioned is available for free! Just head over to http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html for the online version. It’s also available as a PDF and in the .epub format.

Enjoy!