The first technique I’d like to share – dropping – works to break the habit of being caught up in our thinking minds, lost in thought, and out of touch with our bodies. Dropping is not so much a mediation as a way to cut through the tension-building stream of constant thinking, worrying and speediness. It allows us to land in the present moment, in a grounded and embodied way.

In dropping you do three things at the same time: 1. Raise your arms and let your hands drop onto your thighs. 2 Exhale a loud, big breath. 3. Drop your awareness from thinking into what your body feels.

Just rest there being aware of your body without any special agenda. Feel your body with all its sensations, pleasant or unpleasant, warmth or coolness, pressure, tingling, pain, bliss, whatever comes into your awareness.

So in brief, drop, rest, and relax…let yourself relax from within. Give yourself permission to do nothing.

from the very nice book by Daniel Goleman and Tsonknyi Rinpoche, Why we Meditate: 7 Simple Practices for a Calmer Mind