VIEW FROM THE GROUND FLOOR: With all the hustle and bustle of everyday life, anything that promises to calm the mind and relax the body is worth a try, writes Sheila O'Flanagan

The day began stressfully because I'd forgotten to set the alarm clock. In fact I had set it but forgotten to switch it on, something I used to do occasionally back in my office-working years and which guaranteed spending the rest of the day annoyed with myself and in a state of permanent tension because I'd arrived late for the morning meeting and felt I might have missed something. (Naturally I usually hadn't missed anything at all but that wasn't the point; when you're late you always spend the rest of the day playing catch-up.)

Anyway, it was kind of ironic that I shot out of the bed spluttering the opening dialogue of Four Weddings and a Funeral because I was off to a meditation session at 7:30 a.m.

Clearly getting out of bed late and panicking my way into the city centre wasn't the best way to start the meditation process but I suppose that at least I was setting it a good test.

The reason for my foray into my spiritual self was that the invitation from the Tara Buddhist Centre to attend one of their classes (which I previously shredded in one of my own stress relieving moments) was re-extended to me.

According to the letter from the programme co-ordinator, Anne Crehan, meditation has the effect of calming the mind, relaxing the body and bringing about concentration on the positive aspects of life - which, in fact, I did on my somewhat frenzied journey into town, since the traffic wasn't half as bad as I expected (have people stopped going into work at seven in the morning - must be a good thing) and I realised that I wasn't as late as I thought, which was definitely a positive. In the end I actually reached the centre with 10 minutes to spare, so I had time to study the leaflets exhorting me to attend a whole variety of different events all guaranteed to turn me into a better person.

Apparently there aren't many Buddhists in the Republic - the mailing list is about 150 people, and the monk who gave the class had actually been sent over from Britain - but non-Buddhists go to a number of different meditations held at various times in the centre. (I was amused by the story that, on Ash Wednesday, aficionados turned up festooned with black ash on their foreheads. Although the love-your-neighbour aspect of Christianity and Buddhism are similar, the beliefs are quite, quite different!)

There aren't many people at the early morning classes - five would be a crowd - but it is peaceful and serene. The last time I tried meditation the instructor told us to imagine ourselves walking down a stairway to a place where we wanted to be. The only stairway I could imagine was the one in Brown Thomas (when it occupied the premises now used by Marks & Spencer).

For some reason, though, I always mentally tripped on my way down the stairs, ending up in an undignified heap on the floor. I'm sure Freud would have a field day with that. The previous time I tried, I simply fell asleep. Just as good for me, I guess, but not what they had in mind.

Anyway, the four of us meditated, with the monk telling us to concentrate on the action of breathing and to empty our minds. Naturally it was impossible.

Every time I tried to empty my mind a thought that I'd pushed to the very back of it came bubbling up again. The monk suggested we think of our minds as a turbulent lake becoming calm, which was pretty good imagery, actually, until I started seeing a boat appear on the lake. Why? Can't I simply follow instructions? Anyway, I did eventually relax and allowed my head to droop, which I don't think I was meant to since the monk sat ramrod straight the whole time.

Then we went onto something far more radical, meditating on equanimity.

Basically, we had to believe that people wanted pretty much the same from life and, therefore, we should treat both our friends, our enemies and those that we hardly know exactly the same. This is, of course, easier said than done and afterwards the really nice monk (who's name I didn't ask) admitted that it's difficult to give the same vibes of love and affection to those whom we no longer trust.

He did seem to think that if we were nice to people we don't like that they would sense this and be less horrible in return. He's clearly never worked in dealing or in publishing!

The other people who attended the class were men, which was interesting given that I've written before about the more empathic nature of women, and so I'd imagined that there would be more women than men meditating too. One of the participants was working as a chef, although he had worked in other more Celtic Tiger jobs, while another was studying sociology while working in a call centre. Both were interested in the meditation process although (thankfully) both found it as difficult as me to empty the mind of unwanted thoughts and fill it with nice ones about people who've stabbed you in the back.

The class lasts an hour, which would be good for anyone who thinks that they might need to clear the mind and become a nice and decent person before engaging in the hurly burly of our capitalist society. And there's no doubt but that you leave feeling the world would be a much better place if we all cared about each other even a little bit more (evidenced by the fact that I didn't blast the horn at the suited idiot who cut in front of me in Westmoreland Street on my way home).

But whether the effects of meditating on the essential goodness of anyone else would last much beyond them jamming up the photocopier and deleting an important file from your hard disk is really anyone's guess.

• The Temple Bar Natural Healing Centre is at 2 Temple South; e-mail: taracentre@ ireland.com; website: www.meditateinireland.com; tel/fax: 01- 8334560; mobile 086-8300448.