Should I meditate every day? Many people who start meditating feel like they should practice every single day. And most of the answers online actually advise you to do so. Once again, I might have a different opinion.

Meditation is trendy

Meditation became mainstream. Everybody talks about it, everybody advises it. If you want to make more money, you should meditate. Do you feel like controlling your mind? Meditate! Looking for a way to control your life? Meditation is the answer!

Don’t get me wrong, I find meditation absolutely fabulous. But I meet many people who end up meditating even if they don’t really feel like it. That’s the same phenomenom as yoga. So many patients actually hate yoga but believe that it is good for their back.

Some days, it is difficult to meditate

What people discover when they start meditating, it is the fact that many things happen in this object the space they call their body. It turns, it moves, it reacts. It can feel empty, heavy, dry, sad, angry, tensed. And, if you meditate with me, you might also experience Stillness.

The more you meditate, the more you experience the Stillness that lies within us. But learning how to do no thing is a practice that becomes easier with time. It takes years. And if you believe that the path will be pure bliss, you might like to think again.

We are trained to do things. We are trained to think fast, to find shortcuts, to label things. And meditation is about the opposite. It is about sitting down and listening. Because of that, we might first experience a lot of thoughts instead of an infinite silence. And somedays, meditation might even feel impossible.

Meditate every day

That’s the main advice you’ll find on the internet. It makes sense. The more your practice something, the better you become. The more you play golf, the better you become, or the more you draw, the better you become. So it could sound like a great idea to force yourself into practicing every single day.

A good way to do that would be to decide of a time and to allocate 10 minutes or more to your practice. One could even set an alarm on their phone. This is usually advised by people practicing mindfulness meditation. Which is not what I share with my clients.

Should I meditate every day?

My meditation is simple. I sit down and I listen. I listen to what happens, obviously, but listen even more to the space in which things happen. And I hold space for myself.

This is not something I practice to become better at it. This is not something I do. Actually, it is the opposite: it is doing no thing. It just feels good. It’s like sitting at the back of the bus and let Life drive.

Some days, even after years, it feels impossible to go further than just aknowledging that it feels difficult. And sometimes, it is easy. With time, you really become used to the sensation of Stillness. It is not the absence of thoughts. It is not an idea or a concept and it has a texture that can be felt in your body.

And with time, your practice changes. At first you might believe that practicing is about feeling that Silence. And soon you’ll realise that it is feeling that Silence as much as feeling its absence. That’s why I start yoga with meditation.

My opinion about practicing every day

Just don’t force it. Don’t make meditation a thing. Don’t break it. Meditation is free. Keep it pure.

Some days you meditate, some days you don’t. Some days it is easy, some days it is not. It doesn’t matter. Maybe, you’ll meditate 3 hours on Monday, and not at all for the rest of the week. That’s actually the way I function.

I don’t force myself into meditation anymore. Often during the week, I feel like it is what I need to do, so I just listen a bit more. Something starts in my shoulder for example, it moves, it changes, it goes down to my left hip etc. The work occurs for a few minutes or for an hour. And finally it is done for today. Just like when I treat a patient.

So keep it easy, give yourself some space, and trust thyself.