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This recording of selected sessions of a workshop entitled The Art of Mindful Reflection was made in Montreal’s West Island in the Fall of 2007
 If you want meditation to change your stress levels, bring it into the situations that are most stressful. Formal meditation develops strength and insight, but for flexibility and real change, there’s no time like nine-to-five.
That’s not easy, so first we practice in the more ideal circumstances of silence and privacy. Breath awareness and mindful reflection in that situation establish a reference point – the breath – something comfortable and intimate to which we can return with increasing ease. Going there is no escape from the turmoil of life, but it does provide a sort of central spaciousness from which we act more sanely. We respond less in react mode, more mindfully.
Mindfulness is the foundation for a greater goal – balance in every situation – and that’s something you can’t start working on soon enough. Sit back and give your thoughts free rein and they’ll gallop away without hesitation, but try to pull them in and you begin to see their enormous momentum. That’s also when you realize they’re too much to bear. We all come to the practice of meditation looking for a technique that will produce immediate results – a magic bullet. There isn’t one, but there is a way to gradually reverse direction.
It takes work, yes, but also patience and above all, your own friendship. Don’t be hard on yourself, and don’t think that meditation has to be a miserable sacrifice. In fact, if you don’t enjoy it at all, it’s not going to work. Forget about what you think it should be and just focus on the pleasure of breathing at your body’s own pace and with the motivation of making it stronger and more supple. Meditation is just another state of mind. It’s not magical, but it is awake, and its also courageous enough to go against the flow when you know that the most important thing of all is to be faithful to yourself.
No matter how many opportunities we miss we can always get the next one. No matter how weak we feel, we know that practice can only make us stronger. The best friend you can have to cope with such difficulties is yourself. Remember, you’re dealing with habits that go all the way back to your very beginnings.
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