Unlearning Meditation: What to Do When the Instructions Get in the Way

What to Do When the Instructions Get In the Way

Too often we find that our meditation sittings don’t go as we’d hoped. Our mind wants to do something other than the meditation instructions. And when that happens repeatedly, we may feel frustrated or stuck in a rut-even to the point of abandoning meditation altogether. Jason Siff invites us to approach meditation in a new way, one that honors the part of us that doesn’t want to do the instructions. He teaches how to become more receptive to what we experience in meditation and to become more tolerant of intense emotions, sleepiness, compelling thoughts, fantasies-the whole array of inner experiences that are usually considered detrimental to meditation. With keen interest in the workings of the mind in meditation, he brings to light what can develop in a meditation practice that is gentle, flexible, permissive, and honest. It’s an approach that has been wonderfully effective for students in Jason’s workshops and retreats, opening up meditation for people who thought they couldn’t do it, and injecting a renewed energy for practice into the lives of seasoned meditators.