ABC’s of Creating a Meditation Practice

Abolishing

Barriers &

Chasms

Section 1 – Your Assertions.

One:
You have said that you value meditation.

Two:
You have told me that you don’t meditate.
Or, at least, not regularly enough.

So, there’s a thing that you value:
A regular meditation Practice.
But, you don’t do it.
Thus, there’s a disconnect.

I refer to that disconnect as either a Barrier or a Chasm.
a Barrier
Something is standing between you and your Practice.
or
a Chasm
There’s such a distance that getting to the place of Practice is rather impossible to imagine..

And maybe it’s both. Oh my.

In either case, Barrier or Chasm, you’re at some point removed from that which you value.
In this case, what you value is a regular meditation Practice.

Need help valuing meditation?
See, the epilogue to this article.

 

Section 2 – Building Your List

So, your homework (Yes, homework. Nothing worth having has ever been easy.) is to list the reasons that you don’t get across that Barrier or Chasm.

Why is this your homework?

Because you’ve said that it’s valuable.
Actually, everyone says that it’s valuable.
Also:
It’s free.
It can be done most anywhere.
It’s portable.
It demands little of your time or body – and often even less of your mind.

And you’ve said that you don’t do it.
Maybe you don’t value it as highly as you could, but you do value it.
Maybe you do practice, but it’s not sufficient.
Perhaps it is insufficient in terms of its Quality, or its Duration, or its Frequency.

So either way, there’s a separation of those two.
What we value and the evidence of our actual values as represented by our actions.

So now we come to the assignment.
It’s a simple assignment.
Exhale now, here it comes.

Write a list of the reasons that you don’t Practice as you’d like.

Some common examples:

"I don’t have time."

"I always forget."

"I don’t know how to sit correctly as far as my posture is concerned."

"I don’t have the proper Buddha statues, so there’s no point in even trying or beginning."

Whatever the reasons are, write them down.
This list is for you, not another.
It won’t be judged by another.
(So, there’s no point in judging it yourself.)
What we’re looking for is an honest and comprehensive list.
It may take some time.
That time will be well spent.
Breathe and focus.

 

Section 3 – Revise your List

The writing of those lists, I’m going to guess, will take you at least a few days.
Because you’ll think about something over the time you allow yourself to write the list.
“Let me add that” or “Let me rephrase that.”

Just remember that you’re just writing the list for yourself.
It could be shorthand.
You know what you mean. The writing itself doesn’t have to communicate to others what your Barriers and Chasms are.
The list is for yourself. Just jot things down in a manner sufficient to the task.
It only has to make sense to you.

Well done!
Your list is complete.
Maybe it took a few days.
Maybe a few weeks.

Let’s consider this list as a first draft.

Our task now is to re-order the list.
Let’s triage that list.
Take some time to consider the items on the list.
Perhaps talking over what is on the list with a trusted friend or loved one.

Figure out what’s the greatest challenge to your Practice.
It may be the most intractable.
It may be the most frequent.
It may be the most insidious.
It may be the most psychological.
Whatever you determine to be the greatest challenge is what we are after.
On someone else’s list, different things may constitute their greatest challenge.
But those lists are for them.
This list is for you.

Now then:
The biggest Barrier or Chasm to your Practicing regularly goes to the top of your list.
So, probably not “having the right Buddhist statues” isn’t number one on the list.
But it does belong on your list.
But not likely right at the top.
But who knows? Maybe it is.

As we spend some days or weeks detecting the complete order of the list, some things may get added to the list, re-ordered after further reflection, or come off the list.
Excellent work!
In time, the biggest reason that you don’t Practice will be the number one on your list.
The second biggest reason that you don’t Practice will be number two on your list.
And so on.
Maybe your list has 19 things.
Maybe it has four things.

We’ll be starting at step one – the biggest reason you don’t get through that Barrier or across that Chasm is number one.

 

Section 4 – Abolishing your List

You’ll recall that you’ve said, “Okay, I’d like to have a discipline of a meditation Practice, which I don’t.”

“I don’t have a meditation Practice.”
Okay, here’s your Practice.
Your Practice is to abolish number one on your list.
Your Practice is to shift your focus to number one on your list…clarity of purpose.

For example, you might have at number one on your list
“I always forget.”
Ok.
If that’s number one on your list, then you get to work on it.
Perhaps you set up reminders on your phone’s calendar.
Perhaps you enlist a friend, co-worker, family member, or neighbor to remind you.
Clarity looks like simplicity.
Things have gotten simple.
One item of one list = one task.
You address yourself to that task; whatever that looks like in your case.

Of course, once we’ve abolished number one and resolved it as an issue, we move on down the list.
When you’re done with the list, you can tell me,
“I value meditation. And there’s no barriers, so I do it.”
(Warning: Here comes the seemingly harsh but honest and direct Teacher part.)
It is (only) then that I will (finally) believe you.
Because you’ve given me CAUSE to believe you.
Before this point, I may have wanted to believe you.
Before this point, you may have believed yourself.
Before this point, you may have wanted to believe that you value.

This would apply to any kind of Practice, whether it’s doing your form Practice or push-ups, it doesn’t really matter.

Students will often tell me, “The reason I haven’t is…excuse, excuse, excuse, excuse, excuse…and that’s why I find myself in this place”
So I’ll simply respond to them, “That’s fine. Your Practice then is to remove that excuse. It’s not doing push-ups, it’s dissolving the excuse(s.) Congratulations, you now have a Practice.”

Show me that you value what you say you value with evidence of having ticked things off your list.
This Practice leads to a life Practice and a life Practice leads to Benefit.
From roots, shoots.
From shoots, fruits.
Also, save the seeds.
I’ve said to abolish the items on the list.
In truth, I’d preserve a record of them.
The specifics of your list may not (often) apply to others but the general categories of items on your list are highly likely to overlap with the experience of others.
They are likely to support you later when you find yourself:
Tutoring or Teaching.
Seeking to empathize with another’s challenges in getting started on or getting back to a Practice.
Helping you to remember what to keep watch for in your own life, as far as habits go, that may resurface on your path of Practice ahead.

 

Section 5 – All Practices are suited to this Practice of Coming into Practice

And this Practice can lead you to the Practice that you began with.
Meditation.

This Practice will lead you Across any Barrier and across any Chasm.

And, there’s help with that list abolishment.
I’d help you.
If you’re sincere, then you’re writing down things that actually are a barrier.
You’re not writing a list to be performative.
The list is those things that truly stood in the way of your establishing a Practice.

Some things you might write down and it turns out they’re not like the “I always forget” example we mentioned.
Truthfully, it probably doesn’t take a lot of effort to overcome that excuse.
You know, like, “Okay, so I set up a reminder on my work computer and I wrote something on my bathroom mirror so I see it every morning.” Pretty easy to figure that out.
Some of the items populating your list are quite challenging or entrenched.
They may require creative efforts to overcome.
They may require long-term efforts to overcome.
They may require a village to overcome.

 

 

Epilogue

Here’s a concise list of scientifically-supported benefits of regular meditation, based on peer-reviewed research:

 

1. Stress Reduction

- Lowers cortisol levels

- Reduces anxiety symptoms

- Improves stress response

 

2. Brain Changes

- Increases gray matter density in areas related to learning, memory, & emotional regulation

- Reduces activity in the default mode network (associated with mind-wandering)

- Strengthens attention networks

 

3. Mental Health

- Reduces symptoms of depression

- Helps manage anxiety disorders

- Improves emotional regulation

- Increases self-awareness

 

4. Cognitive Function

- Enhances focus and concentration

- Improves working memory

- Reduces mind-wandering

- Better information processing

 

5. Physical Health

- Lowers blood pressure

- Improves immune system function

- Reduces inflammation markers

- Can help with pain management

- May improve sleep quality

 

6. Social & Emotional

- Increases compassion and empathy

- Improves relationship satisfaction

- Enhances self-compassion

- Better emotional awareness