“The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.” ~Robert M. Pirsig
I know meditation is good for me. I know it can do wonders for my mind, body, and spirit. I deeply desire having a daily meditation practice. Yet I can go months without meditating. I’ll think randomly, “I should really meditate sometime,” but when it comes down to it, I don’t.
My thing is this: I know meditating is good for me, and yet I don’t do it. I suspect I’m not the only one who feels this way.
I’ve read countless books on how to meditate. I have gone to so many meditation retreats and classes it’s not funny.
I know the meditation routines. I know the old staring at a candle flame one. I know the stilling your mind thing. I know the nose-breathing-in-and-out thing. I know about making your own visualization.
I also know that they feel like work. They feel like something I have to work at. It feels hard.
I know I’m not lazy. If you’re like me, I know you’re not, either. It’s just that we haven’t found the right way of meditating for us yet.
Here are some ways to make meditation less of a chore and more like a fun, doable thing for you.
1. Try the 100 breaths technique.
This is a highly complex meditation technique!
I take 100 breaths. I count them. I try not to think about anything else.
Yup. It’s revolutionary. And it also really works for me. It gives my brain something to do (wee! counting!) while the rest of me is just hanging out, inadvertently meditating.
The lesson here is this: There are so many ways you can meditate. Explore them to find a way that’s really easy for you, and just do that.
2. Take a meditationap.
Be careful. This one is complex. Oh, yes—it’s the love child of a meditation and a nap.
Lie down on a bed, couch, or sun lounge, or pile your (empty) bath with pillows and blankets.
Close your eyes and do nothing. Maybe you’ll fall asleep. Maybe you’ll have Zen inspiration. Maybe you’ll just happily float along. Either way, it will be sublime.
My favorite meditationap consists of a sun lounge, a blanket, an afternoon, and my ipod filled with lovely music. If Zen master meditation retreats consisted of this kind of meditating, I could totally do them!
The lessons here is: Meditation should be enjoyable. We only consistently do things we actually like doing!
3. Use the alarm clock meditation.
If 100 breaths isn’t going to cut it for you, set a timer for five minutes. Then meditate until the timer goes off. This way, you don’t have to wonder about how long it’s been, or how much longer you should meditate for. It’s like meditation on cruise-drive.
The lesson here is: Make your meditation as cruise-drivey as possible.
4. Get comfortable.
I started looking at things that annoyed me about meditation, the stuff that held me back from doing it. And one of the annoying things was this: I don’t like being uncomfortable.
I don’t think anyone does. And sitting cross-legged in lotus with a straight back and poised mudra fingers doesn’t spell comfortable to me. It spells pins and needles, sore butt, and achy back.
Maybe when I’m a woo-woo yoga guru master it won’t, but for right now, I’m not, and it does. So for me, it’s an exercise in getting comfy without falling asleep.
What this looks like for me is sitting in a comfy armchair inside, lying on a sun lounge on the back deck, or leaning against a wall outside. What comfy looks like to you might be totally different.
The lesson here is: Meditating isn’t an exercise in feeling uncomfortable. It’s a place of rest, stillness, and comfort. So get comfy.
5. Start small.
When I really, really need to meditate and I don’t feel like I have time, I make a little pact with myself. I say to myself, “Okay, we so don’t have to meditate for any pain-in-the-butt time at all. Let’s just do ten breaths.”
And my logical brain says:
“Ten breaths? You think I have time for ten breaths of meditation? Are you kidding me! I have stuff to do lady! We’re not on retreat you hippy!”
And I say, “Oh. I know you’re really busy. I really feel like I need this. You and me. Besides, it’s only for ten breaths.”
Logical brain: “Fine. But only ten. And I’m counting.”
And then we do our ten breaths and it’s nice. And we either stop there because we feel like we’ve refreshed just enough, or we keep going for another ten or twenty because it just feels so good.
The lesson here is: Start small. Everyone has time for 10 breaths. See what happens. It’s a little way of moving around resistances.
6. Make it a reward.
Meditation should be fun and easy, and it should feel good for you, not excruciatingly boring or painful. Work out the thing about meditation that makes it really, really useful for you. Not “I should meditate because everyone says so.” Not even an “I should meditate.”
Find a way that makes you think, “I want to meditate.”
Here’s the meditation pay-off for me:
Whenever I take 100 breaths, it’s kind of boring for the first half. But after that, it feels like nirvana. I don’t know if it’s a rush of oxygen to the head or just because I finally relax then, but whatever it is, the second half is good.
And it makes the beginning so very, very worth it. My little reward is the second-half release.
The lesson here is: Find your personal treat from meditating. And keep remembering it. Use it as a reward for getting yourself there.
7. Use help when you need it.
When I need extra help in meditating, I use CDs. They’re like my own little personal guides into sweet-calm-space.
Try out different CDs, guides, and meditation techniques, and see what works for you. And what works for you, make that the golden wisdom in your life.
The lesson here is: Don’t think you have to go it alone. Everything’s easier with a little support.
8. And most of all…
Remember that the reason you aren’t meditating right now is not because you are lazy. It’s because you haven’t yet found a way to meditate for you that is fun, easy, and comfortable for you. Find the way that does, and then it’s much, much easier.
Remove the annoying parts from meditating. Try out all the different ways you can to make it as lovely an experience as possible.
And remember: you are the expert on you. Find the wonderful things that work for you, and ignore the rest.
There are six billion paths to bliss, and your path is your own. Make it a happy one.
About Goddess Leonie
Goddess Leonie is an incorrigible optimist, serial gigglesnorter & a fairy who is living her dreams in tropical paradise. She's also the international best-selling author of the My Shining Year Workbooks and a mentor to highly sensitive hippy oddballs around the globe. Visit her at leoniedawson.com.
Though I run this site, it is not mine. It's ours. It's not about me. It's about us. Your stories and your wisdom are just as meaningful as mine. 
i totally concur with what you’re saying! thanks for sharing and hope to hear more tips from you on mediation. i’ll try to do what you’ve shared above and let you know the results!
Wow, amazingly useful post! Thank you so much – I also want, want, want to meditate, I know it is good for me, but somehow it’s TOO HARD… I even subscribed to a guided meditation class, and hope that would feel good. However, upon reading your post, I combined 2 things – the comfortable posture (my back has temporary problems and keeping it upright kills it all, indeed), and the 100 breaths technique (plus meditation music). Well, that worked miraculously! It was so “doable”, and then I felt so goooood, that I think I’d have the motivation to do it this way again, and again!
Thank you for this!
This post is awesome! Thank you!
Thank You!
HA!! So that’s why I can NEVER seem to find the time to meditate 😀 Thanks it has helped out a ton! Great post…
Great article! Thank you so much for this. You have motivated me to try again!
Great post, it makes me laugh a little bit – the reason I don’t meditate is because I just can’t calm down enough to sit still. How funny is that? I have a desk job. 😀
“Meditating isn’t an exercise in feeling uncomfortable.”
“it’s an exercise in getting comfy without falling asleep”
I don’t directly oppose these statements but I think they reveal a pretty weird attitude about meditation. Meditation, in my view, is very much about finding comfort, or at least, contentment, within the things that make you uncomfortable. In my practice, once I got over the initial challenge of staying still, the real challenge is quieting my mind. The further I’ve progressed, the more the things that keep bubbling up are less distractions and more issues I’ve been dealing with for a long time. Through meditation, I confront these issues, and hopefully, learn to accept them. What I mean is, meditation is a practice of dealing with discomfort, which is very valuable. It’s kind of hard, and it’s supposed to be. I have no doubt that listening to a pleasant CD and lying down on a bed with your eyes closed is very relaxing, and I don’t want to criticize anyone who is just looking for a way to relax because there is value in that. But I don’t really consider that meditation.
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It’s the first time that I read such an interesting article about meditation: good job!
Almost every day I have to stay 1 or 2 hours on the train, so I’ve learned to relax myself, with meditating music in my Ipod, while breathing slowly and looking out at the landscape: It works! 🙂
This is PERFECT. Like every Type A person, I long to meditate but I can barely sit still long enough for the dust to settle. I already figured out the strategy to set a timer or negotiate 10 breaths. All the other tips are so smart; I really appreciate your sharing them. Now if I can just detach from the outcome! Pam Picard http://www.reinventing64.com
Thank you for this response, as it succinctly and diplomatically expressed what I felt after reading this list.
What follows is somewhat of a conversation via a friend and I through FB….I don’t want to post what she said because I didn’t ask her permission so I ad lib.
ME: I think this is a sticky thing. This aversion is so very subtle – one of the many reasons being able to discuss these things with a teacher and the Sangha is good. We don’t like to meditate because our egoic mind tells us so many things about how it’s not so good, makes excuses about how little time we have, tells us we already know how to do it, that we don’t get much out of it, or whatever. They’re all just thoughts. This clinging to even this notion of making it “easy and fun” is still clinging and wanting control…this is still the small mind. Don’t intend to discredit her. Monks, lay people, practitioners have these “discussions/debates” all the time. I do totally understand what she’s saying through my own experience. Having to do some sort of trick really isn’t the answer even if it helps to get started with daily practice. In the end, this notion, this concept, also must be let go of to transform. This adversity is part of the mental phenomena Buddha spoke about at length. Yes, it’s easier with support…thus the sweet gem of the Sangha. Yes, we don’t do it because we’re lazy…we wouldn’t leave the house without brushing our teeth, why do we without meditating? “Removing the annoying parts from meditating”? Hm…can we really remove anything from our lives that’s annoying? Or is it acceptance? Starting with this builds confidence. Just doing it. Making it a habit, no magic trick, just noticing the strength of the big mind to make it not a big deal. When we do this we see how it changes our life…then you can’t not sit. 😉
FRIEND: Makes a comment about this being for beginners and that it helps it’s good. She said a bit more but again, don’t want to post that without her permission.
ME: Hm…Oh, I totally understand what she’s going for here but it’s very misleading (especially to those that are new to the practice of meditation) to involve concepts of this nature. I’ll explain: Yes, for …someone that hardly ever meditates these things can work and probably will. For how long? Then is it back to the guilt cycle all over again? Or is quitting then the option? Inventing something new for the mind to do? Her comments on what meditation “should/shouldn’t be” are faulty at best. Meditation is and can be boring, painful, etc… Starting out with these “shoulds” doesn’t help. This is the sticky part right? I’m not opposed to making meditation enjoyable at all. I actually like and have used some of her “lessons” in my own practice. Example: I love our altar, so enjoy incense, chant until I can’t chant anymore, even have the softest blanket ever to drape over my shoulders while doing it. It feels great! But not all the time. And while I’m not so concerned with what Buddha himself would think…the way she talks about it doesn’t address the small mind that continually searches and wants more/something from the practice. It’s very focused on being comfortable and getting started, I understand why she’s writing in this way…after all it’s on a blog, yes. Even for beginners though I think these are essential things to immediately address. This is very subtle, sticky, gooey ego stuff. The Heart Sutra says it best: “no attainment, and no non-attainment…no wisdom…and no path”. We so want to think there is attainment, wisdom, and a path! These 8 ways are standing on the same side of the illusory bridge, right next to stinky and hairy ego…the dualistic mind. The many pitfalls are deeply rooted early on and are often approached later as an “obstacle”. Cutting through that crap right away helps. The truth of the matter is that meditation is often the hardest “work” we may ever do albeit the most heart opening and essential to a joyful life. Another reader made a comment about this as well (perhaps I will too instead of writing to you about it ad nauseam)….she basically says that meditation is not about comfort. While I’m not into being uncomfortable at all she has understanding here. It is about accepting it, uncomfortable or not. I know the need to feel confidence with meditating very well. It’s very important and I am the loudest cheerleader I know when it comes to it…growing up how I did and all. And yes, sometimes “faking it until you make it” is key. Inquiring is important here, even with posts of this nature. I think it’s very odd for her to not mention the ego at all or how these things have the potential to conjure illusory confidence and create more obstacles.
one needs to meditate on ones own terms – what feels good to them – there is no right way or wrong way to meditate- someone telling someone else that their way of meditating is wrong is just silly.
It’s that attitude that deters people from meditating because they think there is some magical way of doing it.
Great article!
As a beginner who struggles with getting both body and mind to just sit down and shut up for a few seconds, this was incredibly helpful. I realize there’s more to it than that, but I can’t even get there if I can’t develop the habit. Thanks for the tips!
That’s interesting, with that same logic, one could meditate while on crack. I don’t think anyone here has told anyone that their way is the wrong way. There are however different methods. It is the ego that deters one from meditating. There really isn’t anything anyone can do to deter anyone. This “attitude” puts a heck of a lot of responsibility, and guilt, on those outside of oneself. Meditation is about looking inward, perhaps those that are caught in the web of blame towards the outside are not ready to sit with themselves in silence. If it is in their karmic path, they will find it eventually, if even not in this life. If one is meditating as a stress reduction program, well, then stress be relieved! If one is meditating with the aspiration to relieve all beings from suffering, or to wake up to this life, as Buddha did himself and many others have and still do, then these suggestions leave a lot more to discuss.
I love this. It’s honest and open. I find that I’m in the same boat. I should meditate every day, but I don’t. I get side tracked in so many silly things. I’m going to try the “10 breaths” approach. Thanks!
Great article. Counting breaths is a brilliant idea – even I can manage that!
Interesting article though I am not in total agreement with some of the points. Meditation is about becoming aware of what your mind is doing, and it is both extremely simple and extremely complex at the same time. Meditation isn’t about “laying around and being comfortable”, and it is absolutely not about falling asleep. Like anything else in life, you have to put in the work and effort to reap the rewards. For me, once I become aware of my mind – the constant activity, and sometimes the pure craziness that went on just beyond the direct observation of my daily life – there was no turning back. That is the first step. I do understand the frustration – over the years I tried different books, programs, and one teacher. In the end I found something that worked for me (meditationshift.com) – but I also realized that nothing would work until I was ready. Be ready, put in the work, and the reward will be beyond your wildest dreams. Meditating has literally changed my life. Good luck!
[…] Tiny Buddha shared this thought on 8 simple ways to meditate. […]
[…] 8 Ways to Make Meditation Easy and Fun | Tiny Buddha And sitting cross-legged in lotus with a straight back and poised mudra fingers doesn't spell comfortable to me. It spells pins and needles, sore butt, and achy back. Maybe when I'm a woo-woo yoga guru master it won't, but for right Yes, we don't do it because we're lazy…we wouldn't leave the house without brushing our teeth, why do we without meditating? “Removing the annoying parts from meditating” Hm…can we really remove anything from our lives that's annoying? […]
Hi lovelies!
Thanks so much for your comments…
it’s been beautiful reading through all of them.
If you’re already a meditator, that is absoloodely wonderful… it sounds like it has brought such huge blessings and awarenesses into your life.
I guess my intention with this article is to make meditation as easy as possible to access for those who aren’t already… better a little bit of meditation than none at all, I say 🙂
And so grateful that this has helped any soul out there!
Blessings,
Goddess Leonie
[…] by Goddess Leonie/Tiny Buddha […]
[…] were part of longer responses with more detail. Note: Earlier this week I published a post titled 8 Ways to Make Meditation Easy and Fun, and I somehow messed up the URL in the bio. I highly recommend checking out GoddessGuidebook.com […]
I love this, because I too struggle to get myself to meditate even though I am a psychotherapist and I regularly teach my own clients to meditate and encourage them to maintain a meditation practice of their own. In fact, my own struggle led me to write a book filled entirely with techniques for building fun – often even absurd – mindfulness practices into the nooks and crannies of our everyday lives. Thanks so much for spreading the word that meditation and mindfulness don’t hve to be dauntingly complex and demanding!
Andrew Peterson
author of “The Next Ten Minutes: 51 Absurdly Simple Ways to Seize the Moment”
http://www.thenexttenminutes.com
[…] 8 Ways to Make Meditation Easy and Fun | Tiny Buddha Meditation isn't about “laying around and being comfortable” and it is absolutely not about falling asleep Like anything else in life, you have to put in the work and effort to reap the rewards. For me, once I become aware of my mind . […]
[…] De originele, Engelse tekst staat op http://dev.tinybuddha.com/blog/8-ways-to-make-meditation-easy-and-fun/ […]
Thank you for this article! I heard Oprah say the other day, “Try meditating for one minute per day.” That stuck with me because I also know the benefits of it but haven’t been doing it. But I have started the one minute per day meditation at the end of the day. And low and behold, each day is getting longer and longer.
At first i did it with my husband sitting next to me in bed and that didn’t work because he was freaked out by my Ujjayi breath (learned in yoga). He said I sounded like Darth Vader and that it was “weird”. Now I meditate while he is brushing his teeth so that I can be “weird” by myself! 🙂
I LOVE THIS ARTICLE!!!
isn’t saying someone’s comment is silly the same as someone else saying the other’s method is wrong? the meditation ideas presented here are more like Bernie Siegel’s techniques to help healing. and, they work. how you meditate, i think, depends on why you are trying to. when i find a resistance to meditating i also ask myself why i don’t want to have an unlimiting experience. frequently, the answer relates to the answer to what am i afraid will happen if i meditate? i sometimes don’t find the answer which would be the most helpful insight to free myself but i can always remind and motivate myself when i think of the personal benefits as well as the broader benefits of connecting to an experience of inner fulfillment.
learn dharma, than you’ll realize.
I naturally pick up meditation about 25 years ago, without knowing what is meditation. The restless emotion or the “lazy emotion” that prevent you from meditating is actually what you have to meditate on. Its the ego self that is preventing you from going deeper, telling you that you are wasting your time, that you should sleep late rather to wake up 5am to meditate, because the ego self still want to call the shot! You must let go and meditate on emptiness. You must discard all concept of life, you must find a way to discard any concept that comes to your mind when it pop up and starting to give you suggestion. The more you throw out, the more your mind calms down, and the more you get deeper. Go to your emotion, feel your emotion, go back to your emotion, and meditate on it, it is emptiness. normally there are more than one emotion entangled together, break up anyone of them, it will disappear. One more thing, meditate on negative emotion. discard all negative emotion and you will end up having only positive emotion, you will then addicted to meditation. Then meditation is a way of life. To me meditation is managing your mind and emotion. Sometimes I meditate the whole day. Its a world you love to be. Clear samsara and you will experience inner peace, learn to discard your negative emotion and you get what i mean.
We can debate the finer points of what is or isn’t mediating. Or whether there is right or wrong ways to meditate (I would say there isn’t there are just different ways, for different people, for different reasons at different times). But here’s the thing – she is doing it!
All the wonderfulness of sitting with the discomfort and getting to know yourself isn’t worth a thing if you can’t get your self to sit in the first place. This is no small feat!
I think this post is a beautiful example of skillful means put into practice.
Great job! and Thank you.
[…] I go to bed, I close my eyes and focus on my breath. Then I read at Tiny Buddha to count to 100. That felt like something I could hang my hat on. Now I am up to about 4-5 minutes […]
[…] what appeared to be the universal generic resolution list: exercise more, eat more healthy foods, meditate daily, lose weight, call my mother, etc., etc., […]
[…] is the question I have found very useful to take into the heart in meditation, in daily life, and in relationships. In doing so, I come across a whole lot of forces, some of […]
I really appreciated your input! You explained meditation’s purpose in a way that I needed in order to understand. Thank you!
Working as a nurse is very tough and stressful. Everyday is full of stress. I used to manage my stress by taking time to relax and eating a healthy food and of course, by doing the meditation. I also tried the Yuen method with Paul (YM practitioner) and I am impressed with his work and what the Yuen method can do. I experienced renewed strength and a sense of well-being that I have not felt before. I admit that before I tried this energetic healing, I don’t have a real understanding of how this happens. But the way I felt after the healing session, I am extremely grateful for my positive outlook and the quality of my life improved. So I make it a routine daily that I perform both the Yuen method and meditation. Here are some video resources with learning tips that demonstrate the benefits of energy medicine, http://www.chineseenergetics.com/Energy-Medicine/
[…] mean that I’ve sat in meditation, watched the fears arise, and rather than react to them or allow them to become part of the stories […]
[…] thought I had relinquished anxiety after a few years of mindfulness and meditation. Then I had a baby. It is incredibly easy for us mothers to slide into permanent guilt and […]
[…] 8 Ways to Make Meditation Easy and Fun | Tiny Buddha: Wisdom … http://gk.pillowjungle.cjb.net/lotus-buddah-house-parts html Lotus Buddah House Parts [. ] 8 Ways to Make Meditation Easy and Fun | Tiny Buddha And sitting cross-legged in lotus with a straight back and poised mudra fingers doesn't . […]
[…] came onto the path of mindfulness, meditation, and spirituality when I was 16 years old. I saw the TV-series Ed where the main character started […]
I’ve been meditating for a while now, but i don’t understand how people reach this higher consciousness…how to get calmer, stop worrying and stuff like that. Would anybody care to explain please?
“cross-legged in lotus with a straight back and poised mudra fingers doesn’t spell comfortable to me. It spells pins and needles, sore butt, and achy back.” – every single thing has to be ‘comfortable’, ‘feel good’, ‘do what you love’ right? No wonder there are so many broken, dysfunctional families in America.
And a woo-woo yoga guru master? Could you sound more offensive? I like this blog- there are some good stuff in here but please, try not to take on such an nonchalant tone when it comes to something ancient and sacred like yoga. I don’t know what kind of a picture yoga masters in America project of themselves to the public still….
PS: I am not anti-America.
[…] came onto the path of mindfulness, meditation, and spirituality when I was 16 years old. I saw the TV-series Ed where the main character started […]
[…] need to do the things that we know nourish our hearts and spirits, whether it’s yoga, meditation, or walking on the […]
[…] what appeared to be the universal generic resolution list: exercise more, eat more healthy foods, meditate daily, lose weight, call my mother, etc., etc., […]
[…] I go to bed, I close my eyes and focus on my breath. Then I read at Tiny Buddha to count to 100. That felt like something I could hang my hat on. Now I am up to about 4-5 minutes […]
[…] I go to bed, I close my eyes and focus on my breath. Then I read at Tiny Buddha to count to 100. That felt like something I could hang my hat on. Now I am up to about 4-5 minutes […]