Hello friend, today I invite you to consider a conversation I’ve heard play out numerous times which goes something like this: “So do you meditate?” “Yeah (insert other semi unrelated but concentration intensive activity) is my meditation”. And then I internally scream with all the misplaced adolescent rage in my chest “BUT THAT’S NOT MEDITATION, YOUR ANSWER IS NO” While this may really not seem like a very equanimous or mindful answer, it is really just a reaction. I’m really just advocating for a separation between bringing mindfulness or a meditative approach to an unrelated activity and actual meditation.
This tiny frustration of mine springs mostly from hearing Joe Rogan continually reply “being in a float tank is my meditation” when asked if he meditates on his podcast. While I think it is certainly possible to meditate in a float tank, I think that this give undue weight to activities like this. I think it might make people think that actually meditating is much easier to do and is much more relative to just whatever the fuck you want to call it. Which I really do not think it is. I think that it is very important to distinguish the time you spend on the cushion or doing any other kind of meditation from the mindfulness which you can bring you much more ordinary interactions in your day to day life.
Meditation is absolutely hard, and it should be, otherwise you aren’t doing it right. Difficult emotions are bound to arise, and dealing with those is one of the big hurdles of actual meditation. Not that difficult emotions don’t arise all the time in regular life, but I think that saying something like “running is my meditation” is not doing justice to actual meditation, though it may give people a bit of a reference point for certain meditative states of mind.
This is not to say that people should not endeavor to bring the lessons of meditation to their everyday activities, just that the practice of meditation is a very specific thing, and that things generally can become more meditative from that. I would be surprised if someone came out of their first meditation retreat saying “Wow that was sure easy from all the practice I had running every day”. /End Rant
