The here and now

I just found a very fine article on meditation in the UK newspaper the Guardian. It has the very mundane title, "How to meditate: An introduction". Here are some bits I really appreciate:

The aim is simple: to pay attention – be "mindful". Typically, a teacher will ask you to sit upright, in an alert position. Then, they will encourage you to focus on something straightforward, like the in- and out-flow of breath. The aim is to nurture a curiosity about these sensations – not to explain them, but to know them.
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Mindfulness, then, is not about ecstatic states, as if the marks of success are oceanic experiences or yogic flying. It's mostly pretty humdrum. Moreover, it is not a fast track to blissful happiness. It can, in fact, be quite unsettling, as works with painful experiences, to understand them better and thereby get to the root of problems.
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Then, it's about knowing yourself better, something recognised as a crucial part of living well across a wide range of traditions. It's striking that today we often don't take the time to do so. Hence, perhaps, many of the ills of the western world.

I do recommend that you click through and read the whole article (which is quite short). The page also has links to a number of other resources for meditative practice.
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