100 Days of Meditation
If you caught my earlier post, What I Quit In Isolation, I mentioned a few things that I started or rather recommitted to in isolation, one of them was my meditation practice. As I mentioned in that post, I have been meditating off and on for close to 20 years, but consistency in my practice was not my strong suit. I’d do a few weeks of 3-5 days in a row or maybe 5-7, but I always skipped around and did it when I felt like it, or when I was in a beautiful place I wanted to connect with. Sometimes I’d have a really long run, but I have never done so many consecutive intentional days before. Without doubt, this has been my longest consecutive stretch. But do not be fooled, I’m not sitting for an hour every day, this particular practice has been a very accessible (to me) 10 minutes a day.
As I got deeper into this experiment, I found myself naturally sitting for longer or multiple times a day simply because it felt good to do so. Other days it was a STRUGGLE to get through 10 minutes. You’d be surprised how many times you can look at your timer in 10 minutes (not kidding). Overall though, I began to look forward to my practice every morning and still do.
Here’s how I made it a priority and what helped.
The Insight Timer - I’ve used the insight timer basically since it first showed up in the app store. However, sometimes, especially in the last few years, I didn’t bother to put it on when I sat down to meditate. This app has come miles from where it was when it first started. It has so many new features including guided meditations from renowned teachers if silent practice isn’t your thing. Plus the tracking and “journal” part of it is much better than it used to be. The tracker game-ified it and let me tell you, the human brain loves a game.
Starting with a goal - I started with 10 minutes a day for 40 days, mostly out of curiosity to see if I could do it. Then when I hit 40, I thought that’s not so bad, let’s see how long I can keep going. Now at 100 days, I don’t even think about it anymore, I just sit down and do it. I only know how many days because the app tells me automatically when I use it.
As someone who works well to an organizational process that I have created (yes there are so many things to say about that :), finding a place for it in my day helped a lot. For me that is in the morning very soon after I wake up, like 5 minutes after. I found that it becomes less likely I will do it if I wait. Everyone has different needs, schedules and days, so the best is to look at your day and see where it would fit for you. As BJ Fogg, Ph.D, says in his book, Tiny Habits, placing it after something that is already a part of your established routine helps too, “After I do x, I do y.” Consider your day like a puzzle and put the meditation piece in the space where it fits. I’d also recommend starting with 5 minutes if you are brand new to meditation.
The question I am sure you are asking is, "But what did it actually DO for you?” That is what our current culture (I’ll have more to say on that as we go along) asks of us, “what’s the result, what’s the purpose, did you get to the destination, did you have success, etc.” Here’s the thing, the goal/intention was for me to sit and stay curious, that’s it. Everything else that came out of it was a bonus. Each person will have a different response to meditation and need a different type or method. So as I say with yoga, if you don’t find a match the first time, try another method and keep trying until you find something that aligns with you as a person and then practice. We all need something different depending on our unique circumstances, personalities, and experiences. We all resonate with different practices.
This experimentation “worked” for me because it allowed me to challenge my conception not only of myself and practices that I have had for a while, but it allowed me get quiet and listen during a time when there was so much noise and uncertainty (and still is). These simple minutes of pause created space through the rest of my day to stop, listen, breathe, and often times make a different choice in situations of high stress and adversity. That is what meditation does and has always done for me, makes space. It makes space between my rambling thoughts, ideas, the doing in the world, the rushing around, and all of the being human of part of this life.
( A closing note here - be kind with yourself. You are building a new muscle and sometimes that muscle gets fatigued and needs a break. It’s ok to take a day (or 10) off. Not every practice has to be done everyday. Do what is best for YOU and the way your life shows up.)
