Meditation using an object as a focus point (Apple)

Sit on the floor or a chair. Hold an apple in your hands and close your eyes.

Firstly, feel it all over. Examine every part of it with your finger tips. Is the skin as smooth as you first expected? Is the apple cold or hot? Is it firm or springy?

When you think you really know what it feels like, more it closer to your nose with your eyes still closed and smell the apple. Take a deep breath and feel that breath sucked all the way down to your stomach, as if you were drinking in the smell of it. Is the smell sweet? Is it sharp? Does the stem part of the apple smell differently than the base?

When you know the odour thoroughly, open your eyes. Now, look at the apple properly. Study the shape of it. Is it symmetrical? Look at the colour of it and notice how different shades run around the apple. Then look at where the stem grows. Study it. Look at the base. Turn your attention to the skin itself. Look at each tiny intend. You should now know your apple intimately, you should feel that if you put this apple in the bowl of apples and know straight away which one is yours. No two apples are exactly alike.

Once you feel you know your apple, take a bite of it. Bite into it slowly, feeling the juice splash up against your lips, noting the crispness of the flesh and the different texture of the skin. Hold it in your mouth before you chew. It's hard to do it, because it is a natural reflex to chew. Can you taste much in this state? Start to chew it, but very slowly and deliberately. Try to chew it for at least 30 chews – can you define what it tastes like? What is an apple taste? As you swallow, really feel the apple sliding down into your system, feel it nurture and enrich you.

Now, you may finish the apple. As you continue eating it, let your thoughts dwell on the apple's origins. It started as a tiny seed, planted in the earth. Think about how was the seed nurtured, drinking in the sun and rain and goodness from the soil, slowly growing. Think about all the blossom that came, how they died and how small apples started to form. Think about their growth, their eventual harvest and the possible journey that made to arrive in your hands. Have you finished the apple now? Open up the core and look at the tiny seeds, if you feel the urge to plant them in a small pot of soil and nurture them, do so.