Meditation is the process through which you quiet your thinking mind, return your focus of attention to the present moment, and open up to receive higher intuitive and spiritual insight and guidance. 'Here and now' is where everything actually happens in life - and meditation brings you fully into this present-moment awareness.

• Try this for yourself - turn your attention to feel the air flowing in and out of your nose, even as you read these words - go ahead and experience what we're talking about for yourself.

Ancient Guidance

Over 20 million people take at least one yoga class in the United States each week. Mostly, what is taught is just hatha yoga - stretching and postures. However, the ancient yoga tradition of India also includes many other yoga methods with remarkable meditative insight and power, beginning with breath meditation.

• Breath meditation is as ancient as civilization itself. At least four thousand years ago, yogic masters in the Hindu tradition taught methods for tapping the great power of focusing one's attention to the breath experience.

In this first class we're going to draw strongly upon the teachings of a great yogic master called Patanjali (accent on the second 'a'). In 'The Master' section (see top right button) There I'll share the ancient instruction regarding breath meditation in more depth with you.

Patanjali and the meditation tradition he presented in his writings offer numerous ways to approach breath meditation. But always the first step is the act of redirecting your mind's attention to the actual sensation of the air flowing in and out of your nose - this is always the beginning point:

Short-Form Meditation

Although there is much wisdom and psychological insight in the ancient traditions, you'll find that the meditation process I'm teaching in this course includes several advancements based on new insights in psychology and neuro-science.

One of the major differences between this new meditative process and traditional methods is that this process does not require that you dedicate half an hour at a time to meditation. Using insights from cognitive research, this 'short-form' approach to meditation focuses on your power to shift quite quickly toward meditative states of consciousness - even in one minute once you get good at the process.

The primary tool that enables you to quickly shift your focus of attention and transform your level of awareness, is a mental function called 'cognitive shifting'. In this first class we're going to explore this mental function - and apply it specifically to the 'breath watch' meditation.

• When you actively shift your attention from distracting thoughts about the past and the future, and focus upon the immediate experience of your breathing, you shift immediately into a meditative state - and with a bit of practice, you can do this in just one breath.

Try it again, even here in the introduction - just turn your mind's attention right now to include the sensation of the air flowing in and out of your nose ... and stay aware of this experience as you advance to the next page in this class...