Why Meditate?
MY MEDITATION JOURNEY
There’s really not a good reason to start meditating. Sure, you hear all the science about the benefits, you see the countless magazine articles and instagram ads telling you to calm your mind, and you have all these apps telling you to get enlightened for only $3.99—how much is Headspace anyway? But my story is a little different.
I started meditating just before it got cool, when only hippie boomers were doing it. I had never heard of mindfulness before, but I had heard of meditation. In the fundamentalist Christian household I grew up in, it was considered satanic.
For me, it was suffering that brought me to meditation. It’s a primary pathway for a lot of people. I was in my early 20’s, feeling lost, hopeless, and not sure if my life was really worth living. I was in a relationship that wasn’t going well. I had lost touch with my friends. I felt alienated. I was studying something that was dead to me. I didn’t ever really think I could be happy or that happiness was even attainable. In other words, I was depressed. College style.
And one day, my sophomore year, I woke up and I just wasn’t depressed anymore. Just like that; the depression that had been present my entire life vanished as if it never existed. It was a really startling experience. I remember looking in the mirror, touching my face, and not recognizing the person looking back at me.
From that experience, I became thirsty. I became what is sometimes called a seeker and dedicated my life to this transformation thing. If I could just wake up one morning and be happier, what was happiness? ‘cause it surely wasn’t what I was taught: that if you do the right things, make the right choices, sacrifice in the right ways, then you find happiness. But here it was, right in front of me, without me having to do anything to get it. It hurt my brain in a way that is hard to describe, if happiness is just here, how do I get it when I don’t feel it?
After that opening, I had a sense I should start meditating. I googled meditation, found my way to a book called Mindfulness in Plain English, written by a buddhist monk. I started meditating every morning and evening. And I never stopped. I found my way to zen and sort of dedicated my life to this meditation thing, to transforming the self-system. I tried a lot of what is offered in the spiritual marketplace—meditation retreats, solo experiences in nature, fasting, psychedelics, working with gurus, lots of therapy—after all that I’m still not a very good meditator.
So what have I gotten after spending my entire adult life meditating? Not much. And that has been the true gift of meditation. Among the many things meditation provides, it allows you to tap into an aspect of your experience that does not need to be improved, to be changed, to be streamlined, to be hacked. A place where you can find the you that is already okay with whatever is happening. So when shit does hit the fan, because let's face it, life is hard and it's going to hit the fan, through meditation you can learn to carry a little slice of no problem-ness with you. And if you learn to step out of the way a little bit, you’re going to respond to the situations of your life as best you can and be a little kinder to yourself along the way.
-Brandon Houston
DEVELOPING YOUR OWN PRACTICE
The path to meditation is different for everyone. Many of you have not come to it the same way Brandon did, nor will your experience with your practice be the same. Here are some common barriers to starting your own meditation practice and how a group setting can help.
Common Barriers:
There are so many types, where do I start? You may have to try a few different types before you find one that works for you. Many find it helpful to start with concentration meditations where you focus on an object, word/mantra or your breath to stay in the present.
Time and accountability. Finding the right amount of time and time of day that works for you will take some experimentation. Setting a calendar reminder, or a visual cue that it’s time to sit can help. Meditating with a group can also be helpful when you are building a new habit.
How do I know if I’m doing it right? To be honest, there really is no right or wrong way to meditate. With practice you will be able to catch your runaway thoughts and to notice your own mental process. If you are taking the time to sit, quietly with yourself, you really are most of the way there. The rest will develop with experience and practice.