Last week I did a heavy sales job on the benefits of meditation – claiming that it provides a major key to success in the world as well as imbuing you with clarity and calm. Today, let me introduce you to a simple, universally appropriate style of meditation, perfect for all temperaments. It derives from the ancient Chinese Taoist system, though involves no dogma or religious undertone, so is perfectly appropriate no matter your creed or persuasion. The idea is to begin practicing this sitting comfortably with eyes three-quarters closed for approximately 20 minutes a day. After about three weeks you are then able to pretty much maintain it, with eyes open, even while in the midst of a busy day, as you work, rest and play, thus helping you remain internally stable, relaxed and unphased, no matter how much the external pressure may be building up around you. Sit comfortably, cross-legged or normally, with back supported if necessary, and mentally elongate your spine. Likewise mentally broaden your shoulders and pelvis. Relax all your muscles and sinews and have the sense of throwing open all your joints. Pay attention to your breathing. Slow it down, make it silent and smooth and even out the length of the inhalation and exhalation. Relocate the point from which you're observing this, to the centre of your brain, so that you momentarily become a point of pure observation in the central brain region, supported by a relaxed, expanded mainframe and regulated breath mechanism. As thoughts inevitably arise in the forebrain, rather than get involved in them, simply watch their arising and dispersal as if watching clouds passing in the sky of mind. Now visualise that every time you breathe in, the breath enters through your perineum, between your legs and ascends in a fine stream up the rear of your spinal column to the top of your head. As you breathe out, visualise it descending in a fine stream down the front of your spine and leaving your body again through your perineum. With your imagination, imbue the ascending in-breath with the essence of primordial strength and the descending out-breath with the essence of primordial grace. Undertake this lightly. Contrary to most other activities, it's about not-doing, rather than doing, though ironically, it will help you achieve far more in the world without effort than you'd have hitherto thought possible.
