Our 15-Day Meditation Refresh begins Wednesday, October 28, weekday mornings from 7 to 7:30 am ET on audio-only Zoom. Join us here. Read on for the story behind it.
This fall I’ve been doing something I never pictured when I wrote Blooming Into Mindfulness: reading the whole book out loud for an audiobook. I’ll share more when it’s ready. For now, I want to tell you about one chapter that had me laughing at my younger self.
So Many Questions
In the early days of my meditation practice, the years I chronicled in the book, I worried constantly about whether I was doing it right. Some mornings I skipped it altogether. And when I did sit down, my head filled with questions:
The book says to rest my tongue against my top front teeth and keep my lips open a little. But do I breathe through my nose or my mouth?
What happens if my mouth fills up with spit? Am I allowed to swallow?
And my personal favorite: When (not if) I have a hot flash, am I allowed to adjust my clothes, or is focusing on the pools of sweat just an advanced meditation move?
As I wrote back then, “Meditation was stressing me out.”
What Helped
What finally helped, back in 2012, came from a friend who had stumbled onto my blog, where I was sharing my mindfulness mishaps. He sent me a TED talk by Andy Puddicombe, co-founder of the newly launched Headspace app. Andy’s guidance was refreshingly simple, and for the first time I stopped worrying about getting it wrong. Still, there were mornings when I wished I could ask him my own question after a session, or know who else was out there meditating at the same moment I was. Plus, the app was always available, which made it easy to put off until later. And of course, later rarely came.
A few of the lessons I wrote down in those years:
There is no single “correct” technique. Play around and see what works for you. It’s normal for thoughts to distract you. The moment you notice you’ve wandered into the past or future, you’re already back in the present (so pat yourself on the back). And if you fall off the wagon, just get back on without judging yourself.
The lesson that surprised me most came when I kept thinking this would all be so much easier at a peaceful retreat somewhere. If we’re secluded, I came to understand, we don’t see what sets us off. The real world is where the practice takes root.
And it did. “As my meditation practice progressed, I became calmer, happier, and more open to those around me. My creative output increased. The tiniest details of life elicited gratitude. And I yelled at my kids a lot less (though parenting will always be the source of my greatest mindfulness failures).”
Rereading these pages now, more than a decade after those mornings in 2012, what strikes me is how much still holds. The practice never needed to be perfect, or on a mountaintop. It needed to be regular, and it needed to be gentle with me on the days I stumbled.
Practicing Together
That early lesson about playing around is why we explore different meditation techniques together in my morning programs. Each approach strengthens the neural circuitry that supports focus, awareness, and mindfulness, and along the way you learn which practices to reach for depending on what the day, or the chapter of life, asks of you.
What I couldn’t find on my own, though, was the energy of a morning circle. There’s something about knowing others are showing up at 7 am, settling in and breathing alongside you, that makes it easier to get out of bed and onto the cushion. That gentle accountability carries you through the mornings when motivation runs low, and there’s space afterward for the questions that inevitably come up.
The 15-Day Meditation Refresh begins Wednesday, October 28. We meet weekday mornings from 7 to 7:30 am ET on audio-only Zoom, so you can join from your favorite chair, in whatever you’re wearing, questions and all. I’d love to welcome you to the circle.
Join the 15-Day Meditation Refresh
With gratitude,
Martha
