Meditation is not just about sitting in an awkward position under a tree with your eyes closed! 
Although this is the image that a lot of people conjure up when the word meditation is mentioned, 
especially people who have not been interested in learning how to meditate or taken any significant 
interest to learn about the benefits of meditation. 
Meditation is a collective term for a variety of practices which all have a common thread, much like a 
motor vehicle is a common term for all the cars on the road, and a tree is the common name for all 
the different types of trees in the world. 
The various different meditation practices differ as significantly as each car on the road differs, and 
many people who are new to the practice of meditation lose interest quickly because they do not 
prepare themselves correctly. Think of meditation practices as a new hobby or sport, you would go 
out and buy the necessary equipment and read books or learn as much as possible about the new 
interest before you actually went to join a club or group of people, so why is it that so many people 
who are new to meditation practices do not do the same for their new interest in meditation? 
Probably because they are scared that what they are learning is contradictory to everything they 
thought they knew! 
The main focus of meditation is to practice how to focus and concentrate and this focus is one of the 
common threads across all the different types of meditation. When you learn how to meditate, you 
learn how to let distracts pass over you like a wind passing over the branches of a tree, and this is 
where you begin to gain from your meditation practice and notice the subtle differences in your life 
and within yourself. 
The benefits of meditation are not only limited to your mental ability to concentrate, but there are 
health benefits, self-improvement techniques and many other reasons why it is a good practice to 
begin for a healthier and happier you. 
Meditation is not only for a select few individuals or for people within a specific social or economic 
group, anyone is able to use the practice of meditation to improve their thought processes and 
practice their ability to remain focused. 
Although some people will tell you that meditation is a religious practice and if you do not belong to 
the specific religious group that they associate meditation with, there are so many different types of 
meditation that it cannot truly be confined to one practice or religion. 
The common threads in all practices of meditation are as follows: 
- Location: All meditation is best when practiced in a quiet place where you will have very 
few distractions. 
- Posture: Although we think of meditation in a specific cross – legged sitting position, 
there are various different postures which are beneficial for meditation, including lying 
down or just sitting normally. 

- Focus: Meditation is about forcing yourself to remain focused on one specific objective, 
whether it is a spiritual objective or a personal one, you need to practice being focused, 
and there are various different techniques to help you practice this. 
- Attitude: Although you need to find a place where you expect to have few distractions, 
there always will be distractions, with meditation you are taught how to let the 
distraction pas over you without actually breaking your focus of concentration 
completely. 

Meditation is not a dangerous practice, but it is important that you do research, read or listen to CDs 
on meditation so that you can choose the right meditation practice for yourself as meditation is a 
personal practice and therefore unique to each individual. 

Resources: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation 
http://nccam.nih.gov/health/meditation/overview.htm