Q: What does one do to start meditating? Do you have to take a class? 

A: Wanna start meditating? Cool - let's do it.

Sit still, or lie down, or stand, or walk, or run, and simply notice your body. Notice the air temperature on your skin. Notice if you are "holding" any tightness in your shoulders, hands, pelvis, or face. Bring your attention to your breathing. Notice as you inhale through your nose (if you can) or mouth, and follow the cool air down into your lungs. Feel the warmer air coming back up and out. Feel the moment when your breath briefly stops, then turns around.

Guess what? You're meditating!

Meditation, which has such mystical and lofty connotations, is really nothing more than paying attention to here and now. Instead of reliving the past and anticipating the future, you make a conscious decision to "be here now," in the simple and memorial phrase made popular by Ram Dass 40 years ago.

Now, to be fair, that's a lot easier said than done. Beginning (and experienced) meditators notice that instead of focusing on here and now, on their breathing or body or an object in front of them or a word or phrase or numbers from one to ten or the sounds of their environment or whatever they choose as an "anchor" to keep them in the present, that instead the mind wanders like a naughty child.

Lots of beginning meditators get frustrated and give up when they discover that instead of counting breaths to ten, they've gone off on a seven-minute daydream about that project they haven't started yet and only come around when they nod off and realize they've just counted to 653 instead of reaching 10 and starting over. Or they sit for two minutes and get antsy and finally give in and glance at their watch, only to be shocked that at least three hours haven't gone by.

But those dramas are not failures or distractions - they are the very heart of meditation. If it were easy, it would hardly be worth it.

There are many physiological benefits to meditation: lower heart rate, less stress, more energy, better digestion, etc. But the big honking benefit for seasoned meditators is the confrontation with "monkey mind," as our chattering, relentless inner voice is dubbed. We realize how little "ourselves" we usually are. We notice, perhaps for the first time in our lives, that "we" are not "our thoughts." We don't choose our thoughts. We don't even choose whether to have thoughts. The thoughts just "are," and we in our rush and frenzy make the understandable but tragic mistake of thinking that they're somehow "personal."

But that's advanced stuff, and if you've never meditated, it won't make much sense to you. So back to the question.

A meditation class can be a very helpful way to get started. Believe me, there's nothing  you'll experience when you start meditating that a seasoned teacher hasn't see a thousand times. They can guide you and encourage you to stay with the hard part until it becomes rewarding.

Meditation CDs and DVDs can also provide structure and guidance, as can books. Check out Lawrence LeShan's "How to Meditate," still a classic after how many years, or even the light and effective "The Three-Minute Meditator" by David Harp.

My favorite meditation CDs are done by Greg Lynn Weaver, spiritual director of the PeaceWeavers. He is my teacher, so I'm clearly biased, but what drew me to him in the first place was the humor and "ordinariness" of his language. It was accessible to me from the very beginning.

Greg Lynn was trained for many years in the rigorous Zen tradition, at the Rochester NY "boot camp" of Zen run by Roshi Kapleau. In the Zen tradition, meditation is referred to as "just sitting," or "nothing special."

That's a tremendous insight - that when you're meditating, you're not engaged in some deeply heroic spiritual quest. You're just sitting on your butt like a regular person.  When you "get" this, you are then free to meditate on a dime, anywhere, anytime. Doing the dishes? Focus on the water, on the sponge, on the soap. Just do the dishes. Don't talk on the phone, or plan your weekend, or try to figure out why your kid hasn't inherited your ability to spell, or worry about whether you paid the electric bill. And so on - whatever you're doing, just do it.

That's the heart and soul of meditation, and you don't need expensive meditation cushions or sneakers or googles with psychedelic patterns flashing into your subconscious. You don't need to see God or angels or have past life experiences or feel an oceanic oneness with all creation - in fact, in the Zen tradition, those are known as "Makyo" - illusory distractions.

Isn't that cool? Even the pursuit of enlightenment itself is seen as a distraction to the art of "just sitting - nothing special." That's because, if you're just being here now, all you need is the here and the now. You don't need to aspire to anything, to achieve anything, to acquire anything. What a relief, even for just 30 seconds a day, for everything to be OK just as it is!

Click here to learn more about Greg Lynn's meditation CDs.

Also, Greg Lynn, Peter Bregman and I have collaborated on a related project: a CD and transcript titled, "Peaceful Parenting When You Feel Like Wringing Their Necks." It takes the principles of meditation and applies them right where we need them most - at those moments when our children are most relentlessly and skillfully pushing all our buttons.

You can listen to an excerpt and find out more here.

Until next week, wishing you health and happiness,

Howie