Last Sunday I attended a meditation workshop at Deepak Chopra’s Center at the Dream Hotel on 54th and Broadway. It was an interesting experience, one of four Sunday workshops geared towards peace. They’ll be doing two more Sundays. It’s free and takes place from 4:00pm to 6:30. You don’t need to preregister. Check out www.chopracenterny.com for more info.

I urge all of you to keep doing the meditation from last week and to let us know how and if it’s been working for you. Peace is really needed at this time on our planet. We can write letters to our congressmen, and join rallys and marches but truly, peace has to start with us and how we are presenting ourselves to the world. In the words of Saint Frances, “Lord make me an instrument of your peace…”Here’s another short meditation you can do to make your body an instrument or channel for peace. Feel free to do this one wherever you can sit quietly and close your eyes.

Relax, close your eyes and begin to pay attention to your breath. Inhale and exhale evenly breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. Count breaths. After the third deep breath, turn your attention to your heart imagining that there is a small glowing, peaceful light within it. Now imagine that light beginning to grow as it begins to expand into your entire heart, then your entire chest. Imagine it filling your body with a warm peacefulness. As it reaches and oozed into every part of your body imagine those parts of your body relaxing. Concentrate especially on relaxing your shoulders, neck, forehead (third eye) and jaw and then moving down your body so the light fills your chest, pelvis, legs and feet. Once you feel yourself completely relaxed I want you to start repeating to yourself I am peace, I am peace, I am peace. Do this until you feel all of your tension disperse and you become relaxed and tranquil. Check the time before and after you begin this excercise. As you continue to do it each day the time it takes to become relaxed will be less and less as your body begins to remember the feeling.

This relaxed, peaceful state is our true nature – and the more we bring this into our bodies the more we’ll be instruments of peace – even if you don’t feel peaceful now, the more you walk the walk, the more this path will become comfortable for you.

Good luck and be peaceful.