Yoga pioneer and best-selling author Beryl Bender Birch offers a clear and compelling introduction to the history and evolution of mindfulness meditation in this exceptional recording ideal for beginning meditators. In Everyday Mindfulness: Meditation for Beginners, Birch, through lecture and a guided meditation, guides listeners through a meditation program that helps us relax, focus, and be more mindful of whatever we are doing, not just during meditation, but throughout the day, every day. Based on principles from a variety of meditative traditions, Birch's program offers an accessible practice for quieting and focusing the mind, gaining a greater awareness of the 'self' and connecting us with the present moment — where the true joys of life are lived. Excerpt from recording: "Now see if you can step back and listen to the inner environment. What is going on? What thoughts are taking your attention? Are you bored? Restless? Anticipating my next words? Depressed? Excited? Let's take a couple moments here to just observe what's going on with us now. Are you rerunning an event that took place earlier in the day? Notice who or what is taking your attention. Are you thinking about something to eat? To do? An obligation that is hanging over you? Whatever you notice go ahead and think it, notice it, let it bubble up, welcome the thought. Watch it bubble up from the floor of the unconscious, like bubbles from the bottom of a lake. Don't suppress or judge your thoughts. Simply watch them."