The Three Goddesses

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Top 10 Myths About Meditation
May 28, 2005
1. You need to sit in a lotus position.
"The Buddha talked about meditating in any of four postures: sitting, walking, standing, and lying down. If you can't do sitting meditation, you might do walking meditation. If you're in a wheelchair, you might do wheeling meditation."

2. You need absolute quiet.
"Our practice is based on mindfulness, or paying attention to your experience. Rather than feeling you have to meditate in your closet, trying to block out everything, incorporate the experience of sound as something else to be mindful of."

3. You need to study first.
"Many teachers will suggest that you not study in the beginning but that you plunge right in. It is a very powerful experience, for once, to pay attention to what is true for you and no one else."

4. If you lose focus, you are doing something wrong.
"Our minds will perpetually wander, and progress can be measured in terms of our ability to let go and begin again. Nasty, bitter thoughts aren't a call to blame yourself, and thinking isn't a sign that you are failing."

5. Meditation makes you passive.
"It doesn't mean letting people walk all over you. Instead, you discover that it helps you make informed decisions. You come to a place where you can recognize what you are feeling, and you can make a choice: 'Do I want to send that angry e-mail or do I want to wait?' It's up to you."

6. You'll become unemotional.
"When the Dalai Lama was in New York City recently, he burst into tears. He was sitting there weeping on stage and everyone was like, 'Oh, God! What should I do?' But he was simply moved by something. Meditation hasn't removed me from the ups and downs of life, but I can roll with the punches more, with less sense of disappointment and personal failure."

7. You can't meditate if you have an active life.
"When my colleague Kamala Masters began her practice, she was a single mother, working two jobs to make ends meet. At first, her teacher, Munindra, strongly encouraged her to set aside a portion of each day for formal meditation. Kamala kept pointing out that there was no way she had time. Finally Munindra asked her what she did more than anything else. She thought, and then she responded: 'Wash dishes.' Munindra went over to the sink with her, and together they practiced mindful dish-washing. You can work meditation into your day, no matter how busy you may be."

8. Meditation is too hard.
"We all can do it for a moment or two. Think of your meditation practice like learning to play the piano, and try to have more reasonable expectations. If we were taking piano lessons, we would realize that it's not going to sound great right away, and we have to persevere."

9. Meditation is a selfish activity.
"If somebody said, 'You can do this thing for 20 minutes every day, and it will help your friend,' we would do it. If we say, 'It would really help you,' we think, 'Oh, it's not worth it.' But it is."

10. Meditation is a religion.
"A Trappist monk came often to Barre, and he would say, 'Meditation is like going to outer space; you see your home planet in a different way.' Many Christians and Jews learn meditation without the intention of becoming a Buddhist. There are skills that can be taken from any belief system or dogma, and they help make you a better human being."
from Organic Style, March 2004

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