IN OUR HECTIC, FAST-PACED SOCIETY, IT DOES A WORLD OF GOOD TO SLOW DOWN AND MEDITATE.

operated underwater vehicle (ROV) submarine engineer began taking yoga classes at WindHorse Wellness Center in Eustis. Slowly but surely, he began noticing improvements in his overall health.

“I have lost eight pounds, and I have also experienced an increase in muscle tone and endurance,” he says. “I also feel mentally sharper and more connected to the people around me.”

In our hectic, fast-paced society, it does a world of good to slow down and meditate.

When you meditate, the mind becomes calm and allows you to enter into a state of deep inner peace. According to the website Project Meditation, meditation has numerous physical benefits, including lower blood pressure and heart rate, increased air flow to the lungs, and a decrease in chemicals that trigger stress.

Psychological benefits include improved mood and memory and decreased irritability and depression.

“When we meditate we are making a complete break with how we normally operate,” says Mark Winwood, founder and resident teacher of the Chenrezig Project, a Tibetan Buddhist study group in Yalaha. “We enter into a mind state that is free of all cares and concerns, in which there is no competition, no desire to possess or grasp at anything, no intense and anxious struggle, and no hunger to achieve. There is no acceptance or rejection, no hope or fear. And through it all, we slowly begin to release all the judgments and emotions that have imprisoned us. It is only when we have removed the harm in ourselves that we become truly useful to others.”