I Just Can't Meditate

The next time someone says this to me, I might just have to scream!

When did we decide that being a monk, and meditating like one, was what we need in our very busy lives?!

Most of what's offered to us in terms of meditation practice falls into one of two camps: still the mind so you can find peace and tranquility, or since that's proven so troubling to "achieve", turn to mindfulness as a pathway instead.

Mindfulness is important, but to call it meditation isn't quite right.

The style of spiritual practice focussed on stilling the mind was designed for monks, with the singular goal of reaching enlightenment. Their entire lives revolved around that pursuit.

Worldly treasures were relinquished. This was renunciation, the deliberate release of household life, of possessions, relationships and ambition in exchange for hours of silent retreat and ritualised days.

Monks, usually men living apart from the world, with one singular goal: enlightenment.

We are householders

That is not our lives. We are householders, humans living fully in the world, with desires and needs and intentions. Raising children, running businesses, tending relationships, moving through monthly and life cycles.

And into that life, we're handed a practice built for a mind trying to escape the world entirely and asked to sit still, and quiet a mind that is, quite literally, designed to think.

Of course it feels impossible. It was never built for us.

This is not a failure of discipline. It's a mismatch of practice to person.

What is so clear to me is that our body holds so much for us to inquire into.

The mind is abstract. The body is right here. Your breath, your pain, your pleasure, you can feel all of it.

This, I believe, is where the treasures actually lie. When you allow space in your system; nourished, supported, expressed, the quiet that follows is incredible. Giving attention to your biology, to your body, allows for the mind to find an ease that it simply cannot find on its own. This is how we reclaim our attention.

With all my years of trying to meditate I now know that when my body is moving, when I'm engaged with sensation and experience, that's when my mind settles.

What's your experience with meditation?

If something here speaks to you, you can work with me in person at my clinic in Preston and at The Yin Palace gatherings in Melbourne, or online through my qigong community and Rage Rising. The Three Treasures Pathway is offered both in person and online.

With Love,
Anny 🌹