I met a young woman at a Women Together workshop and we had a good conversation about her desire to get back to a morning meditation practice. She said that she feels better when she meditates, yet was having a hard time fitting it in. She explained how little time there was and how the day is off and running as soon as she gets up. I told her that I often experience the same challenge, as have many others. It can take years to establish a regular daily practice.
I wrote this for that young woman — and anyone else who wants to find their way (back) to a meditation practice.
I came to meditation in the mid-90s through yoga and liked it immediately. I understood right away that it had the power to actually tame the circus of monkeys in my head. Also, I felt really good when I started off my day with it. I’ve been meditating off-and-on since then, in classes, on retreats, at home. Strictly speaking, though, it’s probably more off than on.
For months at a time, meditation becomes the cornerstone of my day — the first, and most wonderful, 5 to 25 minutes of the day (the more regularly I sit, the more time I somehow find for it). After taking care of my dog, I sit down on the two folded blankets waiting for me on a yoga mat in my bedroom, set the alarm on my phone, and start my practice. It’s just what I do.
I enjoy the routine and the soft transition from sleeping to waking. Some days are smooth, some are sleepy, and some days the monkeys are distracted and in charge.
Nevertheless, I persist.
And then something changes. I stop meditating. It seems crazy but it can take me days, even weeks sometimes, to realize that I’ve stopped. Again. During these phases, life is a smidgen more staccato, a tad more intense. There is no soft transition; I wake up and jump into my day (after getting the monkeys their coffee!) — from off to on with no dimmer switch.
It can be hard to sustain regular practices, even when they have such a powerful effect.
Over the years, the gap for me between not meditating and starting up again does get shorter and shorter. When I can, I attend a class, workshop, or retreat to re-motivate me. And when I can’t, I have a few things up my sleeve to get me back on track.
Morning meditation — Four things I do that have worked for me:
- Reason with myself — It’s only 10 minutes. Of course I can find the time, even if it feels like a graduate-school logic equation to do so. It is not possible that I can do so many amazing things in my life and am not able to lay claim to 10 little minutes just for me. What kind of person can’t give themselves the gift of 10 minutes? Even my own argumentative mind gives up fighting back on this one.
- Make the choice — There’s a difference in my body between the desire, “I want to meditate,” and the decision, “I’m going to meditate.” Sometimes my indulgent self takes over; she believes that wanting to is good enough, that at least it shows the right intention. That’s when I’m-going-to-meditate me needs to gently take the reigns and say, “Now that we’re oriented in the right direction, let’s step it up and move forward.”
- Keep it simple — You don’t need any special clothes or cushions or chimes to meditate (although an alarm helps). All you need is your body. You can sit on the floor or in a chair or in your bed. Voila. Of course, you can use accoutrements you enjoy and you can create pre-meditation rituals and routines — I like to do some mindful stretching before and after — but don’t let these things stop you from getting down to basics: sit, breathe, notice.
- Deal with mental resistance — The mind is tricky, built from core thoughts that reflect either attachment or aversion: I want and I don’t want. My monkeys just love to indulge in teen melodrama (Why does it have to be the morning? But I need at least a cup of coffee before doing anything else. The carpet needs vacuuming, no way I’m sitting on the floor with all those dust bunnies. What about that email? Let’s have a cup of coffee, vacuum, respond to the important emails, then … Or what if we just start tomorrow?). I deal with them the way I deal with a slightly recalcitrant adolescent: Honestly. “I really do hear you. And today we meditate.”
BONUS: Fill-in-the-blank — There are as many unique challenges as there are unique solutions. When you can identify them, they are easier to dismantle; because I am forgetful, especially in the morning before my brain turns on, I put up Post-it notes in a few key places (bathroom mirror, kitchen sink, and computer monitor). Not a morning person? Meditate at night. Can’t sit on the floor? Use a chair. Don’t know how? Find a class. Uncomfortable physically? Get some advice. In fact, getting good advice is probably the best thing anyone can do — from a teacher, a friend, a trusted resource, even YouTube.
Modern humans are not the only ones to be challenged by the vagaries of distractible minds, overwhelming emotions, and physical ailments. Thousands of years ago, meditation emerged as a solution to these very same, very human, frailties. That it has continued to be taught, learned, practiced, shared across millennia and throughout the world says something about its value: it works.
For me, morning meditation is the key to a sane and healthy lifestyle (it is also one of my foundational spiritual practices). It’s how I quiet the monkeys, sync my mind and body, and connect to a spacious simplicity that my everyday mind doesn’t have time to notice. Though the more regularly I practice, the easier I find it is to step into that spaciousness throughout the day — moments of mindfulness, of pause, of slowing down to take a breath, admire a view, engage in a conversation.
A well-known meditation teacher once said, “The most important thing is to remember the most important thing.” I return to meditation as the most important thing because it makes me feel better as a person and positively impacts my experience of life. All I need to do is remember. Easy, right?
Grace Welker is a writer, editor, and publisher who lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.
quiet moments for creativity-I love to write, I love to knit and make things. In my ideal world my first moments of the day would be to give myself time, quiet time, to write and to make things. when I work with my hands it is quite meditative and centering. the more I do the more I want to do. my wish is to not let myself get distracted in those moments
I just want to thank Grace for writing this. I’m struggling to do this too, and what she wrote is reminding me how much better I do when I take this time. After I feed the cat, of course!
Every day I do think of and write down what I am grateful for in my Blessings journal.
To keep connected to the wise and wonderful humans at Eileen Fisher. You get my vote for raising healthy consciousness, encouraging and supporting sustainable life “work.” Thanks for being here for us!
To live my life with gratitude and grace. I had a near death experience over a doctor’s mistake that could have ended everything. Since I was given a second chance, I live with mindfulness and meditation. I take nothing for granted and look for new adventures each day.
It’s important to me that I connect with nature. Having lived in the mountains among the big pine trees and now living in the city, I need to just slow down and reflect on life and the good in all places.
Now I sit on the beach or ride my bike along the board walk. Its easy to reflect on the good when you’re surrounded by beauty.
Grace,
A big thank you for this beautiful ‘conversation’ you shared with us.
For me , making a small flower arrangement with even one fresh flower nurtures me.
Addressing my art work or playing music itself is my meditation
Take that 10 minute meditation brake. Stop procrastinating !
It took me ten plus years of fits and starts to establish a meditation practice. Now I look forward to it every day because I experience the ease and focus it brings me, and I notice deeply the difference in my daily experience when I don’t do it. The key to my regular practice was keeping it simple. I gave up on cross legged sitting because I just couldn’t get at ease with it and I chose a more convenient spot in the house to do it. I learned as the writer said that while morning is good, I could do it any time of day. And I can meditate anywhere I can find a quiet spot. I simply sit quietly for 20 minutes, watching my breath move in and out and returning to it every time my mind wanders. Sometimes it is jerky jerky; sometimes it is smooth and easy; sometimes I struggle to stay awake. Always, it benefits me, my life experience and the people who interact with me.
I tell myself that I am enough…just as I am….
Grace
Wonderful article. I loved u bringing in the monkeys throughout the piece.
Simple but not easy. A truth.
How do we move thru resistance.
Thence for sharing this w me.
Peace and wild blessings
Catee??????⚓️????