Meditation

Woo ...

I've been always trying to find some ways to curb my "enthusiastic" (short tempered :D) and "passionate" (impatient) nature. Was told that yoga can calm one's nerves and regulate a person's moods. But tried it and didn't feel it helped much.

However, I've been trying out some meditation classes. Pretty useful and it is actually better for me than yoga. Yoga just didn't do for me what meditation does. Maybe I was searching for something more psychological than a physical solution.

The way I see it, meditation is really like a form of exercise for the mind. We're used to exercising our mind by doing puzzles, and playing games. The westerners do crosswords puzzles from newspaper, Japanese play nintendo and soduku, and asian play chinese chess. I think we've gotta approach meditation in a similar mindset. No use just stretching our minds in differeent directions and not letting it relax and focus. Keep an open mind and give it a try.

Here's a rather interesting recent CNN article on mediation that talks about it's popularity in the west now
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/06/11/pl.meditation.main/index.html

Where I go for some lessons in Singapore
http://meditateinsingapore.org/