This post about meditation is by Dave Wellstood, who is currently in our Yoga Teacher Training Program. In this post he shares a simple but very helpful instruction that turned his meditation practice around.
I find my meditation practice to be very rewarding. When I tell people that, they often respond by telling me that they are no good at meditation or that they simply can’t do it. I remember when I felt just like they do and I want to tell you about the small change I made that turned it around for me.
When I first started to meditate, someone told me I should sit quietly and pay attention to my breath. In hindsight that instruction was where things started to go wrong. It gave me completely the wrong idea about what I was supposed to do.
I thought that meditating was like doing tree pose. In tree pose, the goal is to balance on one foot. Success means standing on one foot for longer and being more stable. Sometimes you lose your balance and that’s expected but not desirable. Similarly, I thought that success in meditation meant being able to keep my attention on my breath for longer and longer.
Continue reading “Stop Worrying About How Long You Can Pay Attention To Your Breath”
The Branches 