Age Wise
A Science Writer’s Belated Embrace of Meditation
Finally, my experience confirms what the research has clearly shown
Somewhere outside Moab, Utah, my wife calmly reaches for the sky atop a house-sized, smooth red rock. Ancient towering formations balance improbably behind her. The Colorado River lazes below, milky green. Above, the blue is deep, endless, the early morning air crisp, quiet, still.
It’s a perfect spot to do two things she’s been encouraging me to try for years now: yoga and mindfulness meditation.
Long a doubter but trying to get wiser with age, I’ve been dipping a clumsy toe and a recalcitrant mind in these ancient practices lately, and while I can immediately feel the physical good of yoga, I haven’t exactly been getting the meditation thing, thinking it awfully abstruse, maybe a little too mystical, and perhaps just not for me.
Boy, was I wrong.
A few minutes ago, up there on that same rock, it all came together in a flash of relaxed realization, a melding of mind, body, and… science. I can’t wait to tell you about my belated epiphany. But first:
