For many it is simply the question, "Where do I start?" Meditation is not something that needs to be complicated. You already have everything in your home that you need to begin your practice today.

To start meditation as a part of your everyday life, choose a place in your home where you can meditate comfortably. After choosing this space, you may like to place a photograph of a place or a person that inspires peace. You may also like to light a candle to signify the 'illumination' that you may reach through your regular meditation practice. I also like to have books that support my practice nearby and read a passage before my meditation to set my intention.

You can use folded blankets, a bolster or a meditation cushion to sit either cross legged or in a kneeling fashion. If either of these are uncomfortable, use a chair or sit against a wall. Remember that the stability of your body will reflect the stability of your mind. You want to be as comfortable as possible and sit in a way that allows your chest to be open so that your breath can travel through your body with ease.

Choose a time of day that works well for you. If you are a morning person, begin your practice when you first wake up. If you are an evening person, try the afternoon or shortly before going to sleep. Experiment with different times of the day to find what suits your schedule, home and body.

Start by meditating for a short period of time each day. A little bit often is much better than nothing at all. And quite often, if you intend to sit for five minutes, you may find yourself sitting for longer. Starting out with five minutes will help in ensure that you make your way to your cushion more regularly. Over time increase the length of time that you are meditating for. I enjoy daily twenty to thirty minute sessions.

When you are ready to meditate, close your eyes gently and take three deep breaths, imagining that all the tension is leaving your body. Come to focus on your inhale and exhale. In order to focus the mind, it may help to say the words 'in' silently to yourself on the in breath and 'out' on the out breath.

You will notice that your mind will become distracted within your meditation. When this happens, gently bring the focus back to your breath. Let any thoughts fall away like Autumn leaves from a tree.

You may need to bring your mind back to your breath several times throughout your meditation; this is normal. Your meditations will change every day, depending on what is going on in your life and in your body. Be gentle with yourself. As you practice more and more, you will find that connecting with your breath will become easier.

When you finish your meditation, you may like to bring your hands into the prayer position at your heart center and bow your head or your body. Take this moment to give thanks for this time of quiet and the opportunity to connect with your breath. To further support your practice it can be very beneficial to seek out a meditation group in your local community. Most of all, let this new peace flow out into the rest of your life as well.

About the Author:

Christina Adler is a yoga and meditation teacher with her master's degree in psychology. She has lived in Sydney, Australia for the past thirteen years where she was the manager of a well-known yoga center. She has recently moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband where she enjoys her work as a life coach, writer and yoga teacher.

Learn more about life balance by visiting Christina's website at www.everydaybalance.net.

the level of fear that we collectively tap into, both consciously and unconsciously.

Driving along, I notice that the dramatic words of a clerk in the pharmacy have triggered my mind into a number of ill-fated scenarios. As my imagination runs wild, I notice my pulse starting to rise, and also that I’ve lost my footing in the present moment.

When the waves come crashing down and the wind is stirred up, what is it that you can hold in your hand to keep you steady?

There are a myriad of possibilities. Perhaps it is a quote by someone that inspires you, a photograph of a time in your life when you felt whole, a DVD that elicits wonder or insight, a letter from a friend, a website, a piece of music, or a recorded talk by a speaker that inspires you. For each of us it will be different.

In order to find out what the recipe is for you, consider taking the time to reflect on what helps you keep perspective. A wonderful way to get back in touch with what it is that grounds you is to take notes.

Go to your local stationery store and buy a small notebook that can fit in your purse or briefcase. If you are a phone person, create a page in your phone where you can keep notes specifically on this. Over the next week, create consciousness around when a mood shifts, inspiration is present, or you find yourself moving beyond a problem with ease.

Look for the moments in your life when you feel the most grounded, where your anxiety has gone for a walk. Write down what it was in these moments that gave you perspective. Keep these notes in a place where you can reach for them when you're feeling overwhelmed.

If it is talking to a friend that helps, write the word perspective next to their number in your phone. If it is a physical activity that shifts your mood, begin to organize time for this activity on days that are challenging.

As you get better at identifying the aspects of your life that provide perspective, you'll find yourself naturally weaving time for these activities into your life. As a result, your daily life will begin to balance in a way that you hardly recognize.

About the Author:

Christina Adler is a yoga and meditation teacher with her master's degree in psychology. She has lived in Sydney, Australia for the past thirteen years where she was the manager of a well-known yoga center. She has recently moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband where she enjoys her work as a life coach, writer and yoga teacher.

Learn more about life balance by visiting Christina's website at www.everydaybalance.net.

I cannot remember a time when I did not have at least one journal that I was using. As a child, I preferred the tiny journals with pictures of flowers or my favorite cartoon character on it. These days, I love journals that feel good and open to lay flat so that the pen moves across them with ease. For years, I have found that using a daily journal is a wonderful way to create life balance.

A daily journal allows the implicit thoughts and feelings that you are having to become explicit. By chronicling where you have arrived to each day, you are immediately more in touch with the areas of your life may need attention. After journaling for a few months, you can go back over your entries and underline areas that you repeatedly mention as lacking energy or joy.

To start your regular journaling practice, it helps to set a time each day that you will set aside to write. Find yourself a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted and make yourself comfortable. Enjoy the moment. Set your clock for fifteen minutes and begin writing. Try not to edit when journaling; simply allow your thoughts to flow across the page without judging what comes out. What you write may surprise you. Let it out anyway. These are only thoughts; they appear and are changing all the time.

By giving yourself time to air out your thoughts, you also give yourself the freedom to feel all of your feelings. When you are finished writing, close your journal. Do not feel the need to re-read what you have written right away. Give yourself at least a week and then if you choose to, you can look back on what's been written.

Checking in with a friend who is also journaling can be helpful in assuring you continue this practice. Alternatively, by working with a life coach, you can use this practice as a way to create change. Reading books on writing can also be very helpful.

Most of all, enjoy your time writing. Your thoughts are a gift and your voice on the page is unique to you. Each sentence you write brings you closer to knowing yourself in this present moment, and as a result, closer to the life balance that you are looking for.

About the Author:

Christina Adler is a yoga and meditation teacher with her master's degree in psychology. She has lived in Sydney, Australia for the past thirteen years where she was the manager of a well-known yoga center. She has recently moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband where she enjoys her work as a life coach, writer and yoga teacher.

Learn more about life balance by visiting Christina's website at www.everydaybalance.net.

Making time in our busy lives for creativity, unless it relates to our work, takes a conscious effort. Often when I say the word creativity to my clients, they shy away, immediately thinking of the ceramic pots they made in high school or the poems they wrote in English class. When I go on to explain that creativity has a place in all aspects of our lives, they begin to relax. Being creative is not only for artists; it can exist in all of our interactions. As we get more creative in our everyday lives, we not only break old habit energies, but we discover new areas for joy in our lives.

Being creative simply requires us to look at the activities in our lives from a different perspective. It involves stepping out of the box and being brave enough to experiment with something new.

Often we get stuck in our old routines, and when we experiment, we are focused on getting it right. Creativity invites you to experiment without the need to get it right, because there is no right or wrong.

For instance, if your evening meals are feeling a bit stale, invite creativity to play. Borrow a new cookbook from your local library and then get creative with the extra ingredients or sides that you add to your meal. Be daring, knowing that regardless of how the meal turns out, there will always be tomorrow night. Involve friends and family and invite joy into the process.

Creativity will allow you a greater sense of life balance because it will teach you about what you enjoy. Whether it is cooking or exercising or a family vacation, there is always room to get creative by trying new combinations and activities. This week, choose one area of your life and invite your creativity out to play.

About the Author:

Christina Adler is a yoga and meditation teacher with her master's degree in psychology. She has lived in Sydney, Australia for the past thirteen years where she was the manager of a well-known yoga center. She has recently moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband where she enjoys her work as a life coach, writer and yoga teacher.

Learn more about life balance by visiting Christina's website at www.everydaybalance.net.

A simple way to bring more balance into our everyday lives is to shift our focus from what we lack to what we already have. Often we spend so much of our time thinking about the past or the future that we miss the gifts in our lives that are waiting to be opened.

Working with the concept of gratitude can lead to a wonderful pathway towards the present moment. Practicing feeling grateful for even the smallest details in our lives can have a profound effect on our wellbeing. It can even lessen our stress and boost our levels of happiness.

So how do you practice gratitude?

An easy way to weave gratitude into your routine is to set aside time each day to write down those things that you are grateful for. I find that doing this right before I go to bed, in a journal set aside for my gratitude practice, is a nice time for reflection.

Simply list five aspects of your life that you feel thankful for. If it helps, you can begin each sentence with the phrase “I feel thankful for…” On a difficult day, you may list things like the roof over your head or the meal that you prepared for dinner. In times of happiness, you may find yourself having a hard time choosing only five items.

Try not to judge your list. Each day will be different, and, regardless of what you are grateful for on any given day, simply taking the time out to feel thankful will begin to shift your focus from lack to abundance. From this space of abundance, you will begin to feel more content, not only with the life you have worked so hard to create, but in the knowing that no matter what twists and turns life takes, you will have strengthened your ability to see beyond what could be to the beauty of what already is.

About the Author:

Christina Adler is a yoga and meditation teacher with her master's degree in psychology. She has lived in Sydney, Australia for the past thirteen years where she was the manager of a well-known yoga center. She has recently moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband where she enjoys her work as a life coach, writer and yoga teacher.

Learn more about life balance by visiting Christina's website at www.everydaybalance.net.

Yoga is a wonderful therapy that can encourage balance in your everyday life. One of the many benefits of a regular yoga practice is that it can lower your stress levels. By practicing being in the present moment on our yoga mats, we can begin to carry this practice into our daily lives. When we are in the present moment, we spend less time worrying about what the future holds and fretting over what may have occurred in the past.

Through working with the physical postures of yoga, in conjunction with our breath, we also begin to release the tension that we’ve built up in our bodies in our everyday lives. For example, if we tend to sit at the computer or in the car for long periods of time in our work, we may experience pain in our neck and shoulders, causing irritation and fatigue. By practicing poses that create movement and opening in these areas of the body, we release the build up of tension and decrease the amount of stress building up in our body. As a result we are more likely to have energy for the activities that we enjoy outside of work.

Yoga can be practiced at home with a DVD or in one of the many classes offered in your local community. Beginner’s yoga courses are a wonderful way to start your journey towards life balance.

About the Author:

Christina Adler is a yoga and meditation teacher with her master's degree in psychology. She has lived in Sydney, Australia for the past thirteen years where she was the manager of a well-known yoga center. She has recently moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband where she enjoys her work as a life coach, writer and yoga teacher.

Learn more about life balance by visiting Christina's website at www.everydaybalance.net.