Imagine yourself sitting in a field on the side of hill. The nearest town is miles away. As you look into the grass you see a very small insect, perhaps a couple of millimetres in length navigating its way along the side of a grass leaf. The insect moves warily from side to side sensing its environment. Perhaps it is following the sent of a mate, or following the trail of something to eat. You tap the side of the leaf with a twig, and the insect immediately takes evasive action. This small insect is a very complex creature. Most of it is made up of highly crafted legs, a complex body system, and sensors to evaluate its environment. If it were possible to make such a creature, where within this very small body would the very complex computer required to control it go? Many would speculate that there is not enough room within this creature for such a computer, and by inference, the computer (consciousness) must exist outside of the space that is this creature. By deduction, it must also exist outside of time. Some will point out that we can build quantum computers, made up of several atoms, that can perform more computations than all the believed elements in the universe. Again, by deduction, these computations must exist outside of space and time.

One can argue that you are also controlled by consciousness (computer) that is so powerful and complex that it cannot exist within space and time. The only limitation on this consciousness is the physical limitations of the body through which it works (the same as for the insect). This is a very good reason to keep the body working optimally by encouraging good health. Your consciousness will work on any problem presented to it relentlessly even to the point of depression or insanity. It will even create multiple instances of itself (schizophrenia) to work on problems hidden deep within the subconscious, or perhaps within your DNA.

Imagine yourself back on the side of the hill listening to the peaceful quiet. The sound of birds singing punctuates the silence. You breathe in the clean fresh air. Up until very recently (in evolutionary terms) this would have been your normal environment. Any sudden sound or disturbance would have invoked a "fight or flight" response (similar to the insect). In today's civilised world we are continuously bombarded with harsh stimuli. We are also kept in a continuous state of anxiety by the media, our work environment, traffic and relationships. Rarely is any of this harsh stimulus life threatening, but our physical make-up (similar to the insect) ensures our body reacts anyway - ready for action. This subconscious reaction has ensured our survival, and is natural. We have grown so used to our environment that, most of the time, we are not aware that these reactions are taking place. We become consciously aware when our stress levels rise or we feel depressed.

The mind (conscious and sub-conscious) will work on whatever stimulus is presented to it, and will discharge the appropriate bodily reactions. These chemical reactions along with their emotional indicators (depression, fear, anxiety, aggression, stress) have a strong detrimental effect on our judgement, as well as our physiological well-being if overly stimulated.

Although our stress may be the result of our environment, we do have a certain amount of control over our environment. To some extent, we can control the stimuli around us, and, with effort, we can also control our thoughts. Meditation is one of the ways of doing this. As well as relieving stress, controlling the mind also frees it to work on issues that are of real importance to us.

Meditation is about controlling the incredible and constant amount of thoughts and stimuli, that rush through the brain at any given moment. The idea behind meditation is to focus on a single stimuli, such as breathing, and exclude all other thoughts or stimuli. The goal here is to reduce physiological stress, although there may be spiritual aspirations in practising meditation. Focusing on breathing is one of the most common activities when meditating especially for beginners.

To Meditate
Find a quiet comfortable location to engage in meditation.
Take long, slow breaths, and listen to the sound of the air coming in and out.
Pull your abdomen out, and expand your chest when inhaling (hold for three seconds) And exhale for a count of five seconds. Do this for the first ten breaths, and relax into your normal breathing
Try to think of nothing else except your breathing
When your mind wanders, gently and without recrimination, return your focus to breathing
Progressively relax all of your main muscle groups such as your feet, then your legs, your trunk, hands, arms and finally your face and neck.
This is a good way to recognise which muscles are uptight. Feel the relaxed muscles as dead weight as your relax them.
Repeat the above, after you have relaxed each major muscle group.
Finally, try thinking of absolutely nothing.

The whole activity should take between 10 and 15 minutes, and should be practised perhaps twice a day.

Remember the feeling of relaxation later during busy parts of the day, and take several deep breaths. This will help your mind to return to the same state of relaxation.

There are also a number of good relaxation and meditation tapes available on the market. These can be very helpful when meditating.