Translating the value of “sitting” (meditatng) works in different ways for different people.  As we sit,  what are we waiting for?  Most of us have had the feeling that there is “more” to our lives and feel thwarted at not being able to access this “more”.

I  seriously tried to find my answer to this question in the 80′s.  I had the good fortune of a friend, Robert, who had taken the leap to study meditation for awhile.  He encouraged me to go on a meditation retreat.  The steps were: 1. buy airfare (in the 80′s residential retreats were on the east or west coast) 2. week before when you’ve caught the flu, still go.   Well, that’s exactly what happened and I went and I’ve been going since.  The residential retreat provided  a teaching format including: honoring silence, 45 minutes of seated meditation sessions, walking meditation, great meals, considerate roomates, Dharma talks, personal interviews and what seemed like, at times, too much information about you from the repetitive themes streaming through your mind.  That was the very beginning of learning to build a different relationship with the contents of my mind.

When I read Jon Kabat-Zinn’s books and mindfulness meditation, I loved the idea that teaching deep body awareness (relaxation), yoga asanas, walking meditation and breathing exercises are bridges to becoming a meditator, in fact, each of them is a form of informal meditation.  I might have practiced more as a beginner had I known I could count on these bridges are a form of meditation.

This is the approach I take when I teach beginner’s meditation at Yoga Springs Studio or the Yellow Springs Dharma Center, come find out what your practice is.