Clever Meditation Tips for Busy People – Driving Zen Meditation
Summary: This meditation tip for us busy people is a Zen meditation technique which we can do while driving. This meditation helps one to come into the “here and now” and realize the absolute perfection of the moment.
Since so many ideas are flowing with regard to clever yoga, pranayama and meditation tips to help us busy people in our spiritual practice, I have decided to break up the original series into 2 separate threads. One series will focus on just meditation tips, while the other will be yoga tips (and include pranayama tips). So this article will launch the clever meditation tips for busy people series, while the original articles will become the Yoga Tips Series.
In America we drive a lot, and even those who don’t drive a lot, often take trains and buses as part of their daily life. This “idle” time presents us with a great opportunity to get in some meditation work and there are many meditations that can conveniently be done during this time. We already explored doing pranayama exercises while driving and in the article Clever Yoga Tips for Busy People – Part 1 and I will now present an excellent Zen meditation technique that can also be easily done while in transit. The same warning applies to those trying this meditation while driving: Please DO NOT practice this meditation if it distracts you in any way from your driving.
Zen Meditation techniques all have their roots in mindfulness or being in the moment. This meditation tip is no different and is also designed to help you come into the “here and now” as much as possible. Below is a step by step guide of how to practice this meditation. It is given assuming you are driving, but can easily be extrapolated to other modes of transportation.
Meditation Tip: Driving Zen Meditation Technique
- Start the meditation by taking 5 long deep slow breaths. This will relax you.
- Now, bring your attention to your breathing and just observe its flow without manipulating it in any way. Meditate on it’s physical characteristic as closely as you can. Feeling it’s temperature, texture, depth etc. Continue this meditation for 1-5 mins. This will settle your mind down.
- Now begins the heart of this meditation. Begin to watch the scenery go by as you drive with an unfocused, holistic gaze. In other words, let your vision relax, incorporate the periphery and without any point of focus just observe the world as you journey through it. Just observe the trees, sky, clouds, houses, cars as they pass by. Just be empty within and allow the world to pass through you. That’s it.
- To add another component to this meditation technique, whenever you come to a stop return your attention to your breath and then when moving, meditate once more on the scenery.
- If at any time driving requires your focused attention please stop the meditation and pay attention to your driving.
Commentary on Driving Zen Meditation Technique
This meditation tip probably belongs more in the series Online Book of Guided Meditation Techniques because like the meditations described there, it has the ability to reveal to you the True Nature of Reality. Etched in my mind are occasions where the absolute perfection of life and the moment was fully realized while practicing this technique. This meditation was one that just came to me naturally and I am happy to share it with all of you. The credit for getting me to put this technique down on paper goes to one of my most senior and adept Kundalini Yoga students – Miguelina, as she asked me to provide a meditation technique she could do while driving. So Miguelina, there it is… Enjoy!
Dear Anmol,
I love your teaching work and have begun to follow the basic yoga programme suggested. Within a very short time the feeling of higher energy and mental relaxation is present.
As a driver on the busy, conjested UK motor ways before i leave the car drive, I tune my mind to the being relaxed, fully aware and focused on the skills needed to deal with any possible event. I feel too reluctant to enter into a meditative mind state as posed in the “driving Zen meditation ” where it is suggested one may focus in and out of a meditative state while at the wheel of the car.
Yours margaret.
Dear
Dear Anmol
I spent about two hours daily on the busy disorderly roads of Colombo. The Zen Driving Meditation has dramatically reduced the stress caused by the chaotic road conditions. Incidentally, it could be applied, with subtle changes, during many other life situations as well.
Thanks.
Nimal
Hey Miguelina,
Feeling is likewise. See you in class :-)
All Good Wishes,
Anmol
Thank you, Anmol! :) I just have to say, once again, that crossing paths with you has been such a blessing. I look forward to trying this tomorrow.
Hi Desika / Shobha,
Glad to share this meditation tip with you all. If it helps reduce road rage, nothing like it. Driving can be a very enjoyable activity and certainly does not have to be as stressful as some folks have made it. It really does offer some great opportunities to see if we can keep our cool under pressure.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and insights with us.
Best,
Anmol
Hey Anmol,
Very nice one! I have been doing this for about a year following my inner guru. Now, seeing this on paper (err… screen) makes me feel very happy. And, especially coming from you–the wise meditation wizard–it has even more positive impact. :-) I did not know until now that it is called the driving zen meditation. This meditation, surely, has the capacity to reduce the road-rage and make a peaceful driver (or is it “zen-driver?”) out of anyone. :-)
Thanks for sharing.
– Desika
It is a great protection from getting angry, upset, hassled from traffic jams, bad drivers, nagative thoughts and fears. This will make a journey worth while and enjoyable. Thanks for this positive inspiration.
Hey Karthik,
That quote is very revealing. Thanks for sharing it and I hope people spend some time digesting it, instead of brushing over it on account of being too busy :-)
Thanks also for the book recommendation. I have not read the series, but will certainly check it out.
Best,
Anmol
Hey anmol,
I don’t think people who call themselves busy are actually busy. They just pretend to be busy. From my own experience, when I have been really busy with work, I have also been able to make time for other activities.
And to paraphrase a sentence from “Communion with God” by Neale Donald Walsch, “If someone can’t spend 15 mins every day on meditation, that shows how deeply they have been entrenched in the illusion of life or maya”.
Kudos to you for spreading the word on meditation, and I suggest you read the ‘conversations with god’ series if you haven’t already done so, pretty interesting read.