Welcome to meditation for people who hate meditating.
All right,
Before we do anything else,
Let's be clear,
You don't have to like this.
You don't have to feel calm.
You don't have to relax.
You don't have to get into it.
If you're here because someone told you that you should meditate,
Or because you feel like everyone else is getting something you're not,
And if you're already feel a little resistant and a little skeptical or quietly annoyed,
That's actually important because most people don't hate meditating because they're bad at it.
They hate it because of what happens when things finally get quiet.
When the noise slows down,
The distractions fade.
That's when the mind starts bringing things forward.
Thoughts you've been avoiding,
Restlessness,
Impatience,
That vague sense of something being off,
And no one tells you that part.
So,
If meditation has ever felt uncomfortable,
Frustrating,
Or like it made things worse instead of better,
That doesn't mean you failed.
And noticing is the practice.
You don't have to close your eyes,
But if it feels okay,
You can,
Or just soften your gaze.
So,
Let's drop the biggest myth right now.
Meditation is not about stopping your thoughts.
If that were the requirement.
Avoiding them is exhausting,
So today we're not trying to fix anything.
We're just letting things be seen.
Begin by noticing your breath.
If your mind jumps in immediately,
Commenting,
Judging,
That's a healthy brain doing its job.
Now notice where your body is.
Notice the points of contact.
You don't need perfect posture.
You don't need to sit like someone who meditates.
Let gravity do the work.
If a thought shows up that says,
I don't like this,
And honesty is more useful than calm.
Now bring your attention to sound.
Now check in with your body again.
Restlessness.
You don't need to get rid of it.
Just notice where it lives.
If impatience shows up,
Boredom is often the mind losing its grip on stimulation.
Take a slow breath in.
Not because you're supposed to,
But because breathing out happens anyway.
Now notice your thoughts again.
Not what they're saying,
Just that they're appearing and disappearing.
Like notifications you don't have to open.
If you catch yourself thinking,
This isn't working.
This is what meditation actually looks like.
And awareness doesn't require effort.
It requires permission.
Take another slow breath in.
Has anything shifted?
Maybe not calm.
Maybe not relaxed.
But maybe you're slightly less tangled inside your thoughts.
As we begin to close,
Remember that most people don't hate meditation because they can't do it.
They hate it because it asks them to be themselves without distraction.
And that's a skill.
Begin to bring awareness back to your body.
Open your eyes.
If you didn't enjoy this,
That's okay.
