Alternative Health Blog

The daily commute as meditative? Not all that impossible, says Terry McGilloway.

“We find few opportunities in daily life or weekly life for private time,” says McGilloway,  a meditation teacher and director of Ananda meditation centers in the  Seattle area.  “A commute is private time we not might find in other parts of our day.”

McGilloway said he knows a number of Ananda students and others who play chanting CDs on their car music systems. While he doesn’t see that as a universal approach, McGilloway is a proponent of what you might call the Commuter as Meditator concept. That goes for drivers and passengers (cars, public transit) alike.

McGilloway offers a simple starting point for converting your commute from tedious to terrific: Slow, deep breathing. He said as a novice meditation student decades ago that he was taught to “hold a newspaper up in front of your face if you don’t want other people on the bus to notice you.”

As a passenger, you can begin your Commuter as Meditator approach with an “eyes-open, belly breathing” exercise not likely to draw much attention. Called diaphragmatic breathing, the first step is sit up a bit straighter in your seat by pulling the spine away from the back rest and lifting your chest up. Not ram-rod straight, but taut enough to imagine the proverbial string from the ceiling holding your head and spine in place.

Next, McGilloway suggests taking a nice, slow inhale to fill the chest and “even the upper chest below the throat.”

Hold the inhaled breath for the same amount of time it took to breathe, then exhale on that same count a third time. For example, if you inhale on a four-count, then hold for four and exhale the full breath on four beats.

“Don’t push it,” says McGilloway. “Normal breathing is your goal.”

 Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.