Sorry, Not Sorry: Smashing Your Excuses for Avoiding Meditation

I still remember the very first time I was exposed to meditation.

It’s a weekend in my hometown.

I am with my sister in a public gym for some event about Krav Maga. I don’t really remember anything about the content of that workshop.

What I DO remember is that at the end of it, the event leaders invite us to lie down on the floor and follow 30 minutes of guided meditation.

My sister and I give each either ‘the look’, meaning, ‘what is happening and which kind of hippie sorcery is this’.

We lie down, and the facilitator starts leading the relaxation. Everything happens in a couple of minutes. My sister starts snoring, full lungs echoing in the whole gym, and I have 30 very intense minutes of silent compulsive laughing, trying my best not to make any weird extra noise, contemplating my regrets for putting myself in that situation.

At the end of the day, I remember declaring out loud: “I am not deep enough for this sh*t”.

Fast forward to 10 years later: the fact that I am a life coach, a passionate mindfulness practitioner, student and teacher makes that episode in my memory even extra fun.

The purpose of today’s blog post is to demonstrate that you, like me, are capable of delving deeply into this hippie matter.

Here there are three rock-solid points based on real-life excuses people offered me in the past months.

BRING IT ON.

1. You’re not sure you’re meditating right? Yes, you are.

First: There’s no such thing as ‘bad meditation’. You’re sitting down. You’re taking time for yourself. Cheers to that! Be proud.

Second: Doubt is SUCH A COMMON mind trap. Many people experience it. As a novice meditator, I remember thinking, “Naaahh it’s not supposed to be like this; how come I am not relaxing?”.

But here there’s another perspective: mindfulness is about paying attention to what’s part of our experience right now.

If doubt is here right now, what if we take the opportunity to observe how doubt feels like? What am I exactly doubting? How does it feel in the body? What happens when I pay attention to it? This seems to have all it takes to be a beautiful meditation.

2. Your mind feels too busy to benefit from meditation? No, it doesn’t.

Everybody’s mind is busy. It’s nothing personal, being lost in thoughts is just the natural state of the human brain.

Managing to pause and noticing that it is the case it’s already a big achievement.

By practising the act of noticing to be lost in thoughts, we can gradually observe the space between our thoughts getting longer and longer.

3. Is sitting cross-legged for a long time uncomfortable? Then don’t.

Meditators come in every form, shape, tendency and ability.

Meditating while sitting, standing, walking, or lying down are all very beautiful options.

In this case, the golden rule is: find a pose that balances both relaxation and alertness.

During my Vipassana Retreat in September 2022, I was sometimes alternating the crossed-legged position with lying down AND bringing my forearms perpendicular to the floor, pointing my fingers to the sky. This helped me to keep my alertness high and counterbalance the natural sleepiness that was arising for me in that pose.

4. Is your day too full to have regular practice? No, it’s not.

Have you ever heard of that old Zen proverb: “You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day – unless you’re too busy; then you should sit for an hour.”

I like the message but don’t feel it’s beneficial for beginners.

Every brain is different. Every brain will need a different meditation. Different times of the day. Different duration.

You can start with as little as a minute a day and gradually increase your involvement.

Also, if you break your consistency, you can always begin again! Nobody will tell the Meditation Police.

Thank you for reading until here.

Much love,
Maria