7th Limb of Yoga- Dhyana
(meditation)

"The main tool is the practice of meditation.  It trains you to stay, it trains you to be gentle with yourself, it stabilizes your mind so that it can stay more and more, and it also gives you a method to work with the discursive thoughts, with the momentum that takes you away from the present.  So it's a simple instruction and learning how to do it with gentleness, spaciousness, light touch, and all of this, is what you train in" Pema Chodron, Getting Unstuck audio cds

"The tendency to struggle with ourselves is so strong" Pema Chodron

We come back to the breath with gentleness and warmth.  The breath becomes a support for what we are doing.

In meditation we are spending more and more time absorbed in the ocean of consciousness.  We slip into it effortlessly.

It can be difficult to know when absorption is happening, or has happened.  Two clues are your breath has become quieter, and time passes quickly.