Andrew Weil Quotes

The mental ability to concentrate is inherent to all; it is not extraordinary or mysterious. Meditation is not something that a Yogi has to teach you; you already have the ability to shut out thoughts.

You don't meditate once and suddenly your life turns around. What it does is it lets you train your brain to be able to become more stable in an action-oriented way.

To learn to concentrate we must choose a prayer or meditation and follow this path with commitment and steadiness, a willingness to work with our practice day after day, no matter what arises.

Be true to the thought of the moment and avoid distraction. Other than continuing to exert yourself, enter into nothing else, but go to the extent of living single thought by single thought.

I'm pretty much done with mindfulness. I'm just going to start paying attention.

The degree of freedom from unwanted thoughts and the degree of concentration on a single thought are the measures to gauge spiritual progress.

The mind is a monkey, hopping around from thought to thought, image to image. Rarely do more than a few seconds go by in which the mind can remain single-pointed, empty.

Writing is a very focused form of meditation. Just as good as sitting in a lotus position.

The problem is to keep the monkey mind from running off into all kinds of thoughts.

I meditate two hours a day, and every year I do one big long meditation course. I love it, and I'm really into it.

Through meditation and by giving full attention to one thing at a time, we can learn to direct attention where we choose.

If you take an hour out of your day to meditate, you will progress ten-fold. By staying mentally focused, you can let your worries go.

We know even from ordinary life that we have to achieve a sufficient degree of attentiveness if we want to concentrate on an inner picture or an object of some kind; we must also have it in our power, though, to turn our soul away from something we have been concentrating on.

Meditation is practical, simple, and very useful. Taking even 30 seconds to rest your attention on your breath instead of following the cycle of your thoughts can bring you back to you in a heart beat.

Out of silence is born concentration, and from that comes learning.

Whatever you are doing, put your whole mind on it. If you are shooting, your mind should be only on the target. Then you will never miss. If you are learning your lessons, think only of the lesson. In India boys and girls are taught to do this.

Concentration is the magic key that opens the door to accomplishment.

The purpose of meditation is to create focus. It is about focusing your attention on your experience. The reason for focus: it allows you to be here now. Your only reality is This Moment, right here, right now. Peace is found in such awareness.

Concentration is a part of life. It is not the consequence of a method of education.

Peak performance is meditation in motion.

The Zen people from Ancient China, "When you're walking, just walk." It turns out to be the hardest thing.

Meditation teaches us to focus and to pay clear attention to our experiences and responses as they arise, and to observe them without judging them.

Meditation does not mean just sitting quietly for five or ten minutes. It requires conscious effort. The mind has to be made calm and quiet; at the same time, it has to be vigilant so as not to allow any distracting thoughts or desires to enter.

Meditation is a powerful and full study as can effectually taste and employ themselves.

Meditation is not passive sitting in silence. It is sitting in awareness, free from distraction, and realizing the clear understanding that arises from concentration.