Book Puts Drivers in Calm Lane

--If negotiating Los Angeles’ freeways puts your blood pressure in overdrive, brothers Kevin and Todd Berger’s book “Zen Driving” offers a sort of psychic road map to inner peace. “Zen driving is a heightened sense of awareness and mindfulness,” said Todd Berger, a psychotherapist from Marin County. “If somebody cuts you off, you simply acknowledge your anger and then let it go. You’re aware of the experience, and you experience what you’re aware of.” In other words, you simply accept the SigAlert and become one with it. Todd Berger said that his philosophy of “moving meditation” was born of spending three hours a day commuting from home to work near Los Angeles. It left little time to practice his “zazen,” the technique of sitting meditation that is the core of Zen Buddhism. So he decided to do it on the road. “Not only did my driving ability improve, but I got to work feeling a lot less up-tight,” he said.