Distracted by your thoughts? Try these techniques from a meditation teacher

Mindfulness pioneer Sharon Salzberg on cultivating discernment, redirecting the fear movie playing in your head, and building inner resources to navigate challenges.

“My first thought was: That’s so stupid,” says Sharon Salzberg, reflecting on the first exercise of an independent study program to learn meditation in India when she was 18. She was to place her attention on the sensation of her in and out breath. Once her attention shifted, she was to release the thought and return to her breath. “I came all the way to India. What do you mean, ‘feel my breath?’ I could have stayed in Buffalo to feel my breath.”