if you have meditated even once, you no doubt experienced a sense of calm, you relaxed for the amount of time in your session.  However, mediation isn't simply about experiencing the benefits within your seated practice, as you become more proficient at meditating, sticking to a daily habit, you will begin to see how the benefits are making their way into your daily life.  Today I talk about ways to facilitate that process as I talk about four ways to extend your mediation practice into your day.

Ian White Maher is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister and has served churches in New York City and North Carolina. Presently he lives at the Cambridge Zen Center, one of the largest residential Buddhist temples in North America. He is a retreat leader, spiritual director, and is working on a book about the possibilities of spiritual transformation. To see more of his work visit his website at ianwhitemaher.com

Will Henshall is the founder of Focus@will, the streaming music service designed to increase focus and attention. I am rebroadcasting this episode to help listeners understand what better focus can be like. Of course we all know that meditation leads to increased focus as well.

Grant Sabatier is the creator of Millennial Money, a personal finance, investing, and entrepreneurship community dedicated to financial independence and early retirement. At 24 he was broke and living with his parents.  Fast forward5 years later and he had made over one million dollars.  It took hard work and many hard hours, but the greatest outcome was the ability to live a fuller life, a deeper life.

Since discovering meditation in his mid-40s, he has used this engineering mindset to understand how mindfulness works and how we can use it for real-world applications. So apart from the obvious health benefits, Tom teaches authors how to ‘meditate’ to get inspiration and words for their books. He works with businesses showing them how to tap into light bulb moments on demand. He also teaches how we can change the nature and speed of our thoughts so we can get more done in less time.

For some meditators, the ability to deepen their sessions depends on instrumental accompaniment.  Thankfully for them (and myself included, at times) there is Jim Rajan. I found his selections incredibly helpful in allowing me to go deeper in my mediations.  Today, I am glad to have him on the show to discuss his creative process and the things he does to maintain peace and balance.

Things You Will Learn in this Episode:

There is a remarkable tool for improving your relationships, and it doesn't cost a thing.

I am thankful that I have such a good memory, because it helps me remember when I thought meditation was tough.  Since I have been meditating for over 30 years, it comes to me quite naturally.  I don't say that to be boastful, but as a reminder to new practitioners of mindfulness.  It will become effortless in time.  But before you believe that, let me spend today talking about why people find meditation so tough.

The majority of the world does not think, but responds.  That is not a defamatory statement, simply an observation.  Many of the challenges people face comes from the fact that they are not in touch with their thoughts or beliefs on a cognitive level.  Someone says something that hits a nerve and before you know it you are lashing back at them.  With meditation, you learn the process of becoming non-reactive, and along with that comes some pretty amazing benefits.  Today I talk about the top 3.

The other day I started the episode off having listeners take two deep breaths following the 4-7-8 tempo that is typical with most styles of meditation.  However, I then wondered if I ever told listeners why that tempo is so important.  Today, I take that wonder out of the equation as I detail why it is.