More about "beginning meditation"

So there I was, trying to meditate every day.

After the initial "so what am I supposed to do, and how" it became a challenge and I was determined to get the hang of it, but somehow the harder I tried and tried to force "meditation success" (whatever that was supposed to be) the less I liked the process and thought I was failing. Instead of peace and harmony I experienced stress!

Grandmaster Kim had a good and benevolent laugh at this and very patiently told me to simply relax and have a good time and not trying to "do it right." Almost like a date with myself.

Now this was something I could relate to and after a few days I was actually starting to look forward to this peaceful, quiet, and relaxing time. I had no major experiences, just enjoyed the harmony and nice time I had to myself. I was finally relaxing!

Even during the day, other than during my meditations, I started feeling the benefits of it. In stressful situations, I would apply the newly learned breathing methods. Instead of getting all worked up, I would quietly breathe, and focus and was able to diminish the stressful times in my life.

Again, no drastic, overnight change, but a beautiful "work in progress" was starting to take hold.