Secret's out: I love meditation. My first experience with meditation came when I was 5 years old and I started taking karate classes with my older brother. Before and after each lesson the class would meditate on what we had learned. At that age, my meditation was mostly a visualization of a small man inside my brain which was full of filing cabinets and he was filing the lessons that I had learned.

After age 12 when I stopped taking lessons, I didn't have a formal meditation practice anymore. But, I think it would have helped because as you know after about that age, shit gets real.

I picked meditation back up about five years ago with morning and evening sessions. This practice has made a huge impact on my ability to stay calm and weather the storm of life and deal with things beyond my control (i.e. everything).

When things are getting particularly heinous during any given day, I will take a meditation break at work. It lowers my blood pressure, anxiety, stress, worries or whatever emotional distress I am experiencing. And it's a hell of a lot healthier than a smoke break.

If you're interested in trying meditation or adding something different to your existing practice, some of my favorite meditations are:

• Jai-Jagdeesh Kaur's I am Thine
   
• Gabrielle Bernstein's Climbing Meditation
   
• Doreen Virtue's Chakra Clearing Meditation