I was sitting on the bed, totally relaxed one sunny Sunday afternoon. Two Siamese cats were stretched out, contentedly purring by my side. A wren was happily singing outside in a nearby tree. I was leisurely cutting strips of cloth for a project. Gradually it dawned on me that I was in an alpha, or meditative, state. Unfortunately, upon realizing this, it was enough to bring me out of that relaxed state. What Meditation Is Some people believe that meditation's only goal is spiritual enlightenment, such as was attained by Buddha. However, it also brings the following benefits almost immediately: • Elimination of tensions accumulated in the body. • Drop in blood pressure • Elimination of stress • Enhanced learning ability • Enhanced creative capacity As soon as meditation occurs, the heart rate slows while blood pressure simultaneously drops. Metabolic activity, usually measured by the amount of oxygen used up by the body, decreases to levels much lower than during prolonged and restful sleep. Research at Harvard, Yale, Stanford and other universities has shown that meditation strengthens the immune system, and is effective in helping the body fight all kinds of illnesses, including cancer. Meditating is not only an activity that is easily performed, but it is also within anyone's reach, regardless of that person's lifestyle, religion or philosophical persuasion. I have been meditating off and on for over thirty years. Taking yoga classes was a good introduction, but it was probably a course in transcendental meditation in my early twenties that inspired me to focus enough to meditate regularly. I even built an eight-foot plywood pyramid in the '80s. Its sides were hinged so it could be folded for storage, and it had a screened, hinged, round hobbit-like door for entrance. Sometimes I would try to sleep in it, but the energy was so intense that I'd be driven back into the house during the...