Meditation is especially simple -- you probably have the necessary equipment already: A human body, awareness, some emotional energies, and an environment are about all you need.

You do need a little basic instruction to get started, with any of these methods, and this page gives resources for aquiring the tools and learning to use them. The real learning, though,  and the benefits, come from practicing. The more you practice, the more you learn. It's very simple.
 

The meditations included are the basic mindfulness/awareness practice (sitting practice), tonglen, and Chenrezig, Green Tara, and Medicine Buddha visualization practices.

For some of us, especially those who have problems related to stress and alienation, finding a meditation practice that is easy for Western people to connect to in a genuine and whole hearted way may be the best approach, even if it is not traditionally considered to be an especially healing meditation. Two approaches come to mind as having inspired very many Western students, both of them created especially for Western people by highly accomplished lamas. To learn more about them, take a look at these pages: 

MANTRA

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The Lama's Chant: Songs of Awakening


Lama Gyurme and Jean-Philippe Rykiel

CD Sony SK 62591 
Order online from Pentagon

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The prayers and Mantras of the Tibetans have played a very important role in their medicine for centuries. They are used in the healing of so-called "wind energy" sicknesses, and - as can be experienced in the film - they accompany various forms of therapy such as moxabustion. According to H.H. the Dalai Lama, for devout Buddhists they also reinforce the effects of medications by promoting self healing. The calming sound of this CD are ideal for creating an atmosphere of meditation relaxation. The CD is filled with mantras, prayers, pujas and traditional instruments of Tibetan Doctors, Nuns and Monks. 

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The Meaning of the Mantra
explanations of the prayer (mantra) 
Om Mani Padme Hung

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PRAYER WHEELS

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The Prayer Wheel
Tibetan prayer wheel is a device for spreading spiritual blessings and well being. Rolls of thin paper, imprinted with many, many copies of the mantra (prayer) Om Mani Padme Hum, printed in an ancient Indian script or in Tibetan script, are wound around an axle in a protective container, and spun around and around. 

Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying this mantra, out loud or silently to oneself, invokes the powerfully benign attention and blessings of Chenrezi, the embodiment of compassion. Spinning the written form of the mantra around in a prayer wheel is said to have the same effect, and including many copies of the mantra multiplies the benefit.

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The Benefits of Prayer Wheels

A short teaching by Lama Zopa, Rinpoche: "Just touching and turning a prayer wheel brings incredible purification and accumulates unbelievable merit." 

"One idea I have is to use them for healing. Anyone with a disease such as AIDS or cancer, whether or not they have any understanding of Dharma, can use the prayer wheel for meditation and healing."

This page has several images of Tibetan people using prayer wheels.

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The Meaning of the Mantra
explanations of the prayer (mantra) 
Om Mani Padme Hung

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Digital Prayer Wheels Turn your hard drive into a prayer wheel Prayer wheels generated by Javascript Prayer wheels as animated GIF images Download a prayer-wheel screen saver

TIBETAN NUNS PRAYER FLAGS: Support Tibetan Nuns. This is a set of traditional prayer flags in the five colors with Windhorse and the four symbolic animals from the Shambhala teachings (Tiger, Lion, Garuda and Dragon) together with mantras for Vajra Guru (Padmasambhava), Chenrezig, Kalachakra, Mahakala and many others. The flags are pre-strung for easy hanging. The Tibetan nuns of Lobsering, India have made these and will receive payment for them as they sell. The purchase of one set of 5 flags will feed a nun for a month. $12

The following three brands of medicinal incense all have essentially the same formula. They are effective for symptomatic relief from stress, depression and tension, headache, and asthma, and are totally natural, safe, non-toxic and non-habit-forming. Used by many people who have allergic reactions to ordinary incense.

TARA HEALING INCENSE: Tara healing incense has been used for centuries. It is prepared according to the Tibetan medical system with 33 different pure & rare natural herbs.

AGAR 31 HERBAL INCENSE: made by Dr. Dolkar. Contains all the thirty-one herbal & mineral ingredients essential for reducing stress created by the different "wind" disorders. Basically the same formula as Tara incense, but better quality. 

NIRVANA BRAND: aroma-therapeutic incense. Prepared by T.J. Tsarong and Himalayan Herbal Co. of Gangtok, Sikkim.. 

Living and Dying: A Buddhist Perspective by Carol S. Hyman "If we learn to let go into uncertainty, to trust that our basic nature and that of the world are not different, then the fact that things are not solid and fixed becomes, rather than a threat, a liberating opportunity. Then we are free to savor what life offers, to taste the texture of each moment fully, whether the moment is one of sadness or joy."

Excessive fear of death distorts lives, and seems to be responsible for many of the more bizarre and inhumane excesses of our American medical system. In our search for sustainable, effective, respectful health care practices, ideas that could contribute to a sane and compassionate integrated health care system, we've found nothing as simple, basic, workable and cost effective as coming to terms with death and the process of dying -- something we can do as individuals, as families, as communities and as a culture.