Find a quiet place where you will not be distracted. Find a comfortable position to sit or lie down. Now breathe deeply, filling your lungs completely with air. Hold that breathe for a few seconds while you imagine all the stress from your body moving into your lungs, then breathe out, releasing all the tension and stress from your body. Do this deep breathing two more times. Now, breathing normally, scan over your entire body beginning with your feet. Tense the muscles in your feet, then release; feeling your feet relax imagine your feet melting away into the air as if the atoms that make your feet are floating away in all directions. Continue this exercise up your body relaxing every muscle. Now that you are completely relaxed; pay attention to your breathing. In your mind, watch the breathe moving in and out without any effort. As you are aware of your breathing, watching the mechanism of your lungs filling then emptying; begin to become aware that you are watching your body do this; that you are the observer of your body. Now ponder in your mind the nature of the observer. Here we begin to see the first lesson of meditation; we are not our body.

Think about the nature of our physical self. We all know from basic science that our body is made of cells. These cells have a life of their own, they are born, they eat, they breathe and they die. We are not aware of the death of individual cells, but we learn from science that every cell in our body is replaced over the course of about seven years. So, every seven years, our body is completely remade. Think about your finger for a minute. Looking at your finger, wiggle it, bend it touch something with it. You recognize your finger as a part of you, you are not your finger, but it is a part of you. What if you had an accident and lost your finger? What if you lost your entire arm? Are you still the same person? Of course you are. Think about how much of your body you can live without, cutting away every part of your body until you are just the very basics necessary for life. What can you do without and still be you? What is left, the heart and circulatory system, digestive system, nervous system? Is this your identity? Is this who you are? Even our mind and the basic mechanisms that make life possible is simply a collection of cells. Our body is just a collection of cells, it is not our consciousness; it is not our identity. Think back to the meditation as we were watching the body breathe, we can realize that we are watching the body, and our identity is beyond the body. Our true nature, our true self is beyond physical form. Who is the watcher?

Most people in our society already know the simple truth about our body being separate from who we truly are. This is the basics of meditation, the first step. See how easy it is? Practice this simple meditation and you will find new awareness about the relationship between your “self” and your body. See what you can find out. You may surprise yourself with what you can do. You may find you are able to slow your breathing and heartbeat down to almost nothing. Or you may find the great benefit of pain relief from even chronic pain. You might learn that you have more control over your bodily functions than you knew were possible. Simple practice in this meditation can bring healing and vitality to your body. Remember, though that this is the first lesson, only the basics. Next lesson I will talk about the nature of the mind and thoughts.