Once a month, on a Saturday, our local Thai restaurant hosts a guided meditation.

We sit together in the bright, sunlit space, on soft, comfy, highback chairs, surrounded by the lingering scent of Friday night’s cooking.

The trained facilitator begins by offering advice to newcomers, and assuring us all that this is a very simple practice. Simple, but not easy. All we have to do is gently focus our attention on the center of our bodies, and allow ourselves to relax, over and over. Gently refocus. Gently relax.

She asks us to imagine a sense of calm and peace washing slowly over the crown of our heads, like a lukewarm bath of water. We allow the calm and peace to wash over us from our heads down to our feet.

She then chants the mantra, in a beautiful clear voice: Samma Aranhang- which loosely translates to ‘clear and bright’. And more literally translates to the ‘right and proper pathway to clearing and purifying your mind’.

Near the end of the meditation she asks us to tap into the peaceful place at the center of our bodies, and allow the peaceful energy to wrap around and cover us like a soft blanket. She asks us to allow our peaceful energy to cover everyone in the room. Then cover the entire town, then the country, then the planet.

And nothing is happening. I am sitting, and I am breathing, and nothing at all is happening. Nothing.

But I feel completely calm. Wholly content. Overwhelmingly grateful for everyone in the room. Deeply peaceful in this moment.

I will try to hold onto this peaceful energy, and tap into it all week. I will try to embody this peaceful feeling, and share it- through small acts of connection and kindness.

I want to remain calm. I want to remain grateful and joyful. I want to remain peaceful. But mostly, I just really want some Massaman Curry!

Hear the mantra here