Cultivating calm

I was browsing among my books a few minutes ago and found a little "stocking stuffer" sized book called The Little Book of Calm by Paul Wilson. It's full of short pieces of advice about how to reduce the stress in our lives. I want to share three pages with you:

Start Ten Minutes Early

Start every journey ten minutes early. Not only will you avoid the stress of haste, but if all goes well you'll have ten minutes to relax before your next engagement.

Turtle

The pace you move has a direct relationship with the way you feel. Slow down your movements, consciously relax your gestures and expressions, and before you know it you'll be relaxed.

Press on the Roof

Tense people have tense jaw muscles. To relieve this tension, simply press on the roof of the mouth, behind the front teeth, with your tongue.

Interestingly, the recommended position of the tongue during meditation is touching the roof of the mouth just behind the front teeth.

Each of these tips will help set us settle down and prepare for meditation.