Hannah Borno

Right. Today I’m really going to meditate. This time I don’t sit in the warm relaxing sun but sit in a cool room.. I’m sticking to the ‘mindfulness of breathing’ method (where you notice the flow of the breath), rather than the delightful Metta meditation (where you beam love to the world).

But it’s so hard to focus. I know I should be concentrating solely on my breath, but actually I’m thinking about a million other things: my split ends, Horatio Caine’s peculiar stoop in CSI Miami, the fact I forgot to ring my mum last night, the puzzling GI of pumpkin. Then as my mind wanders, the anxiety kicks in - I have deadlines left unmet, my mortgage is spiralling out of control (my weight likewise), I’ve got terrible split ends. Then I remember the breath…. I return to it gratefully. It’s like pure oxygen. The anxiety evaporates. After a couple of minutes I am calmed by its rhythm. And I feel peace for the first time in weeks. My mind feels like an empty blue sky - it’s delightful. Then the rug starts itching, I get pins and needles and I need to go to the loo.