Why We Meditate: The Science and Practice of Clarity and Compassion

“Chapter 3: Belly-breathing (from page 24)I call this understanding the three speed limits: the physical speed limit, the mental speed limit, and the feeling or energetic speed limit. The body has its own healthy speed, but the feeling world can be rushed in a distorted way. That feeling—of restless, anxious energy—is not healthy. Speedy energy tells us to get there now, even when we can't. Anxiety tells us we're going to die when we aren't.”

“Chapter 2: Drop it! From page 9"If you can't change anything, why worry?And if you can change something, why worry?- Tibetan saying”

“If you can’t change anything, why worry? And if you can change something, why worry? —TIBETAN SAYING”

“Chapter 8: a deeper look within (from pages 175-176)Permanence might sound somehow grand and strange—we know in the back of our minds that somehow things aren't actually endless. Yet we forget our bodies are constantly changing, our minds are constantly changing, our mood is changing. Everything is in flow, in transition. The basic building blocks of mind and matter are constantly arising and ceasing, appearing and vanishing, being born and passing away. Reality is more like a sparkling river than a collection of dead objects sitting in space. Emotionally, when we forget about this constant flux, our moods for instance, when things don't go our way, we can feel like our world is ending.But by staying in touch with flux we can have perspective, we can remember, This too shall pass. By internalizing the realization of constant change, we can stay grounded with the ups and downs.”

“In dropping you do three things at the same time: 1. Raise your arms and then let your hands drop onto your thighs. 2. Exhale a loud, big breath. 3. Drop your awareness from thinking into what your body feels.”

“Dropping is a different approach to relaxing. It’s a deeper, inner relaxing, connected to our bodies and feelings, not trying to escape from them and relax somewhere else. Rather than cultivating a dull state as an antidote to stress, we are learning how to relax with awareness and address the root cause of this imbalance where we live lost in our thoughts.”

“The raw material is our bodies, minds, and feelings. We’re working with our thoughts and emotions—our happiness and sadness, our challenges and struggles. In the case of meditation, a solid foundation means we’re grounded, we’re present, we’re connected.”

“So in brief: drop, rest, and relax. We’re simply letting awareness become grounded in the body. We’re not looking for a special state, not looking for a particular feeling. There is no way to get it wrong, because feelings and sensations aren’t right or wrong; they just are.”

“Research at Harvard and elsewhere finds that the more our mind wanders, the worse we feel. So, for instance, the more time people spend doomscrolling on their mobile phones, the more likely they are to report being depressed.”