I posted this in Weight Loss Warriors earlier this week but think it might be more appropriate here.

Years ago I attended a course on dealing with stress and pain. It was an excellent course based on the book: Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn (and still in print and available at amazon.com). I highly recommend it for everyone.

The approach in the book is based on using Buddhist principles of Mindfulness, Meditation, and Yoga.

The program is not religious, however, and is suitable for those of any religion or no religion. You just learn some techniques that were developed by Buddhists. I can’t emphasize enough the this course changed my life. I learned how to be happy and enjoy life from that course.

One of the first meditations we learned is called a Body Scan. It’s very simple and easy to do meditation. I think it would be very useful for those who are beginning an exercise program (actually for anybody in any exercise program) because it helps you to get “into your body” and can help develop body awareness needed for effective exercising.

I found a simple version on this website:

http://www.1stholistic.com/Meditation/hol_meditation_body_scan.htm

Try to do it everyday for awhile at least to see if it’s helpful. It’s also very relaxing