Perhaps they've heard of it through certain celebrities who are adherents, or from a yoga teacher who spent three weeks in Nepal and keeps talking about "mindfulness." Maybe they've seen the Dalai Lama on TV. How would you feel if everyone was talking badly about you? When you feel ready to leave, say good-bye to your special place. I don't want to say exactly how many of these habits I share, what is yoga but at least most of mine don't really bother anybody but me (my family and friends might tell a different story). Throughout this quiz, we want to get to know you as well as your closest friend. If you steal money from your elderly grandma to buy a new car and immediately get in a wreck, that's karma catching up with you. Traditionally, though, Buddhists understand karma as the universal law that determines the form that transmigration will take. The Western concept of karma usually means instant retribution for bad behavior.

But perhaps the most conventionally "religious" aspect of Buddhism in Western eyes is its preoccupation with the afterlife. Buddhist religious texts and folklore tell tales of the Buddha overpowering rivals by flying through the air and shooting fire from his head. For starters, one of the goals of Buddhist thought and practice, like other mainstream religions, is "transcendence" or achieving a state of being beyond the self. The Buddha spent his life teaching the Noble Eightfold Path in different ways to different people, and those teachings are recorded in Buddhist scriptures like the Pali Canon and countless writings attributed to the Buddha's first followers and spiritual giants throughout the ages. Understanding the core teachings of Buddhism takes a lifetime, or several lifetimes. And other actions trigger consequences that, thanks to the continual cycle of death and rebirth, will ripple across lifetimes. Failing that, have some sort of accident in a science lab that results in you gaining x-ray vision. NPR Staff. "You bug me. Now science explains why." NPR Morning Edition.

Now picture yourself in this heightened state of alert over many hours of each day and you'll understand why stress turns into distress. Schocker, Laura. "This Is Why You're Late All The Time (And What To Do About It)." Huffington Post. I have all the time in the world so why not? Contie, Vickie. "Breaking Bad Habits: Why It's So Hard to Change." NIH Medline Plus. Grohol, John. "MIT explains why bad habits are hard to break." Psych Central. Warrell, Margie. "Why you procrastinate, and how to stop it. Now." Forbes. Quast, Lisa. "5 Ways to Stop Negative Office Gossip." Forbes Magazine. If it's difficult to stop gossiping (because it just feels so good), try putting yourself in the subject's shoes. Good grab-and-go breakfasts are a banana or a bag of dry cereal such as oat squares (oats lower "bad" LDL cholesterol levels). This bad habit isn't all bad, though; some researchers believe that fidgeting reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Stress causes the body to secrete adrenaline and cortisol, the stress hormone responsible for the "fight or flight" response. Under different teachers, he learned how to enter deep states of meditation and to deny his body all but the most basic sustenance. Unsatisfied that meditation and acetic self-denial alone were the keys to liberation, Siddhartha accepted some food to regain his strength and sat beneath the Bodhi Tree to meditate on everything he had learned and experienced. What that does is increase your bone density, your muscle strength and your flexibility, as well as boost your mood and your cognitive function. The benefits of regular exercise -- including reducing your risk of chronic and debilitating illness such as diabetes and arthritis while increasing your cardiovascular health and lung function -- far outweigh the excuses for not adding it to your life. Others may opt to become a volunteer in one of the park's botanical gardens leading tours, restoring and maintaining plant life and helping out at special events.