In this video, Larissa Hall Carlson, Kripalu yoga and Ayurveda expert, shares her expertise in a guided meditation on the breath.

I have always justified all this thinking and planning and creating of future fantasies by telling myself that I just had a lot of ambition to live life to the fullest. The problem was that the present me, just as she was, was being neglected.

Your sacred space will be used for meditation, prayer, sending healing energies and writing in your journal. This space is for your introspective process, and it is important that it is undisturbed by outside influences.

It's easy to believe that any time you take to relax or meditate is time that could be used elsewhere. But taking time out doesn't mean it is selfish or even wasted time.

This fall, InsightLA celebrates its 10th anniversary -- a decade during which Trudy and an ever-growing band of colleagues have helped change the lives of thousands of Angelenos.

If you consider your attention like a kind of currency -- you only have so much, and what you choose to spend it on is what you will receive -- then you will begin to see that you have a choice. You have the power to guide your experience of life by choosing what you decide to focus on.

In this post I will share a daily spiritual practice that helped me work through a life-threatening illness and discover new fulfillment, in case it may benefit you or someone you know.

In order to pay attention we need to be quiet, to be practiced at stillness, to know the habits of our mind and be skilled at dancing with them, not to be controlled or dominated by them.

Have you ever wondered what this life is all about? What are we really doing with our lives? What are we supposed to be doing? What is our role?

The natural awareness of peace resides in every one of us. We have simply forgotten. The distractions of everyday life and circumstances tend to pull us away from this remembrance.

The ability to shift focus is basic to any meditation practice. Try this simple shifting of focus to see if perhaps you are submerged in love, but only lack the awareness of it.

Through no coincidence, in any meditative practice, what is fundamental is the ability to use your steering wheel, which is focus. Shift your focus, change your life.

I learned how to meditate and process disturbing memories and emotions. I healed in ways I never could have imagined. I'm a monk in a minivan now, driving through the suburbs of New York with a peacefulness and clarity I could never have imagined I could access.

With practice, mindstrength is an effective tool to help one develop a deeply-grounded core rudder so that no matter what size of wave they encounter in their life they can recover quickly and proceed with more focus.

As challenging as it may be, the most painful experience can often turn out to be our best teacher, and we may feel enormous gratitude for what we have leaned.

Meditation can change your life and your very sense of who you are. There is a reason it has been around for thousands of years and practiced by people from all walks of life and on all parts of the globe.

The common perception of meditation is that it is a very personal experience, and in recent times the emphasis seems to be on its utilitarian value.

After years of hearing a plethora of reasons why people find it hard to meditate, we have whittled it down to just a few.

As you practice meditation, please try to remember that you are cultivating a kind of indestructible resilience, the ability to always return to balance. Thus you can afford to open, further and further. This is what is meant by softness.

Be patient with the process of meditation, since like any other skill, this will take some time to master. Make it a formal practice, and it will only get better.

Guess what? You don't have to leave the world to meditate. A few minutes in your bedroom at the start of the day is all you need. Despite my totally crazy busy schedule, I have not missed a single day of meditation in over 30 years!

When I use the term meditation, I don't necessarily mean sitting cross-legged on a cushion but rather participating in any deliberate activity that helps us to disengage from a compulsive relationship with our stream of thought.