What You Don’t Need to Meditate

Meditation is something of a mystery to most of us. We don’t quite know how to do it or understand why we need to do it. I included meditation in the 30 Days to Grace practice because it has great value, especially in today’s busy, frenetic, and multitasking world. I want to simplify the practice of meditation for you and have you appreciate the complexities of it at the same time.

Meditation typically involves sitting quietly with our spine erect and focusing inward. There are many different forms of meditative practice, and the technique itself is less important than the act of inward attention. It is the inward attention that calls forth the meditative state.

John Kabit Zin, author of Wherever You Go, There You Are, says it simply: “Meditation is stopping and being present, that is all.” He says meditation is feeling the way you feel. It’s not about making the mind empty or still; it’s about letting the mind be as it is and knowing it in this moment. That is possible for us all.

Most of my clients tell me they aren’t very good at meditating or that they can’t do it at all. Anyone, though, can be present to their breathing and their mind when they choose to be. Often, we are challenged at “being” because “doing” is much more familiar and comfortable, especially to people raised in the West. If you are willing to just “be,” even for five minutes, you can meditate—and the benefits are nothing short of amazing.