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Like every January, many of us are working on New Year’s Resolutions. The 40 Days of Meditation event reminded me that meditating more is one of mine. I’m a regular at meditation class here at Sun Dragon, so I thought I’d talk about it a little.

Our meditation class is very simple. We haul out a couple of folded-up mats and arrange them in a circle. Sensei, or whoever is leading the class, usually reads something inspirational, often from one of Kaicho Nakamura’s books. I always feel like a kindergartener at storytime during that part - sitting on a blue mat, listening to the teacher reading aloud. It’s surprisingly fun.

Then we sit. There’s no formal, “approved” way to meditate, as long as it’s quiet, so I’ll just talk about how I do it. I close my eyes and focus on my breathing. I visualize a ball of energy moving through my chakras - growing on the exhale, moving on the inhale. When it reaches the top of my skull, I imagine the energy cascading down me and pooling again at my base chakra.

That is what I try to do, anyway. My mind wanders. Usually I end up wondering what I’m having for dinner, or worrying about something at work, or reviewing some part of the previous karate class. But eventually it occurs to me that I’m supposed to be meditating, and I straighten my spine and take a deep breath and begin again.

My style is a little more complicated than it has to be, I guess. It’s just how I’ve always done it. I learned how to meditate in seventh grade English class. I had an old hippie teacher who firmly believed that meditation was a life skill and she brought one of her even hippier friends in to teach us all how it was done. It was actually a really neat class -we did a little guided mediation, learned a few different kinds of visualizations, and, best of all, didn’t have any homework relating to it.

And that’s been my challenge ever since. I like meditating, I make it a point not to miss meditation class, but I never do the homework. It’s like exercising, or eating healthy food - it makes me feel good, sure, but for some reason I can never quite get started unless there’s something external cracking a whip over my head.

So this 40 Days of Meditation gives me a little of the structure that I need to meet my goal. And meditation has taught me something about goal setting, too. The point is not to never let your mind wander. It’s going to wander. The point is to keep going even after you’ve lost your focus. You don’t fail until you get so hung up on whatever just happened - skipping a workout, cheating on your diet, missing a deadline, whatever - that you forget you’re supposed to be paying attention to your breathing.

So breathe!

- Jeremy Dalberg