As a sales professional, Mike does very well. His job as an
insurance agent is exciting and very stressful at the same
time. Because of this, his blood pressure climbed to an
unhealthy level and requires medication to keep under
control. He's overweight, smokes, and drinks way too much.
Little does he know, there's a way for him to get his stress
under control with very little effort. Meditation would
greatly benefit him. There are numerous benefits to
meditating. Some of the great advantages for meditation
include enhancing your creativity and boosting your immune
system. When your body becomes stressed, your brain
releases cortical, which takes a heavy toll on your body.

Focus on your breathing.

One of the easiest ways to get into a meditative state is to
focus on your breathing. Here's what you do. Put all your
awareness into the feeling of your breath's coolness going
in and the heat coming out. Feel your lungs expanding.
While doing this, your mind cannot think about anything else
but what you do at that very moment. You could practically
do this everywhere, even while at work or while you drive
home from work.

Focus on your hand.

I read about an interesting way to meditate from the author
Eckhart Tolle. He's the author that wrote the books, "The
Power of Now" and "A New Earth." This method requires
sitting in a quiet area with your eyes closed. You then
hold out your hand and try to feel the "knowing" that your
hand exists, without the benefit of touching anything. The
first time I tried this, I became amazed with the result.
It could literally feel the aliveness in my hand. Once you
get better at doing this, you can move from your hand to
different parts of your body. When your skill level gets to
the point that you can do this with your entire body, your
level of meditation will be incredibly deep and profound.

Focus on the empty space between words or sounds.

Many people find it hard to meditate where sound, but you
can use it to your advantage. The easiest sound to start
practicing this to would be a slow and steady type of sound.
Try using a metronome. A device that musicians use to make
sure they're keeping up with a beat. You don't actually
need to go out and buy one you can find many websites that
include a digital metronome. Once you find one, just set it
to a slow and steady pace. Focus on the blank sounds
between the ticks. Doing this, puts your mind in a state
where you focus on emptiness. It's a great way to meditate!

Focus on everything that his happening in the present
moment.

It's as easy to do as the breathing technique. While
totally focused on the present moment you align yourself
with source energy and in the flow with everything. Start
by taking a walk in the park or on the street. Notice all
that's happening around you as much as possible. Hear and
pay attention to the sounds of the cars, birds, and people
talking around you. Feel the ground though your shoes.
While in the present moment, all is well. Keep the past in
the past and the same with the future.

Take up yoga.

You'd find it surprising to know that body movement can
actually induce a hypnotic and meditative state. Yoga works
by making you concentrate on your breath in positions that
normally lie out of your comfort zone. This type of
physical activity keeps your mind focused on what's
happening in the present moment. It's very difficult to
think about something else without falling out of some of
these poses. A byproduct of yoga is that it's a great
workout; it will also make you very physically fit over
time.

Use guided meditation and hypnosis CDs and MP3s.

Out of the methods for meditation I've shown, this is the
only one that will cost you any money. But for those having
a hard time with meditation, it's a small investment to
make. As guided meditation audios become more and more
popular, you can get them at great prices. Some of the
audios I've used cost me upwards of $50. Now you can get
downloads for less than ten bucks. And since technology
gets more and more advanced, these audios can put you in a
meditative state with a few minutes, no matter how
distracted your mind may get.

Like any other habit, meditation takes time to incorporate
routinely. It's best to write up a daily schedule of when
you will conduct each meditation session. Don't get hung up
on the length of time you need to set out for yourself,
around 15 minutes equates to plenty of time to start out.
Consistency is the key here, so keep at it. If you can't
find the time to squeeze meditation into your life, try
cutting something negative out of your life to free it up.
You'll find it surprising how much time you can save
yourself by cutting out watching the nightly news. Besides,
all that negative information you get will just heighten
your stress level anyway.