You do not need an app nor signing up to a course to start meditating

Meditation has been so overrated, that more than a spiritual practice it has become more of an excuse for business and making money. In some way or another, whenever you search about meditation, almost everything is guiding you to download an app, subscribe to some meditation course or buy books. This has complicated the understanding of meditation, which in modern times it has been sold as a tool for achieving things. And it has been great for business, apps like Headspace, Petit Bambou, Calm, Insight Timer, etc. which are just marketplaces to sell you the promise that by subscribing to them, you will achieve meditation mastery or whatever goal you want to achieve through the practice.

I do not blame anyone from downloading an app and spending money to learn about meditation, actually I have done it before and have found it useful at times. But your meditation practice should not depend on a subscription or an app download to succeed.

Meditation should come naturally, since it is a state every human being should be able to achieve without spending money.

Meditation is simpler than you think

Meditation is very simple, and you do not need to read books, signup to a course nor have a special training to achieve it. I have been doing meditation for over 20 years, I’ve had periods of intense and regular practice and periods of long breaks.

Going back to myself is not sticking to any method, it is just finding my way into getting into the zone.

I have been influenced by a lot of methods like, zen meditation, mindfulness, TM, Kundalini, karma yoga, etc. All of them have been useful, but in the end I go back to myself. Going back to myself is not sticking to any method, it is just finding my way into getting into the zone. And basically the zone, which is what most meditations have in common, is the connection with oneself, the connection with the present moment. That is meditation.

The connection with the present moment

Only when we close the senses and learn to focus or attention on the conten of consciousness itself do we begin to see that there is much, much more to who we are.
Eknath Easwaran, Essence of the Upanishads

Starting with meditation is about building the attitude necessary to feel comfortable in your practice. The main attitude is confidence in that you are doing it right, and with practice you will find your own way to connect with yourself.

Meditation is the true connection with the present moment, in which we try to connect with what that present moment brings to our feelings, emotions and thoughts. The connection cannot be forced, it just has to be breathed in and out. Thoughts and mainly judgement are what keeps us disconnected from the present moment, thoughts about the past, fears about the future immediately take us to that place of unease, preoccupation and anxiety.

Meditation apps, are they useful?

Do you need an app to connect you to the present moment? Probably at the beginning when you are trying to find out what meditation is about, an app might be useful. The only thing that I dislike about these apps is that there is a business behind them, and in order for that business to succeed, the app is designed in a way to be used as if your life depended on it. So they are built around a dependency creating and reward system where you go through an endless path of achievements, level-ups that reward you for the time you have spent in the app, time that is paid with subscriptions. I have nothing against these apps, but in a way I consider them unnecessary, since they can be based in meditation practices that are probably not the best suited for you.

You are the only one who can find out what is the best way to meditate

There are tons of meditation methods, they are usually based on what worked for the master or the teacher who created it. For Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha, the method was a type of zen meditation, where you sit cross-legged and just try to empty your thoughts. This is probably the foundation of most meditations in the world and the basis to most guided meditations too.

Meditations do not need to be guided, the best guide to your meditation is whatever is going on in your present moment. The only purpose of meditation is to allow the present to live and to fully connect with the experience of the here and now. You can meditate in any position, time or place, it is just the ability to stop and listen and witness your existence in full without having to come up with a theory nor having an explanation for it.

Meditation is the art of trust

Meditation is just the art of doing nothing, is to float and not swim, as Osho said. It is the ability to just throw yourself into the river of existence and flow with it, trusting that you will float and that it is perfectly O.K. not know where that river is going to end up taking us.

Not knowing, is not thinking, not wanting to know is trusting. If you trust, there is no need to know if meditation should be done this way or another. If you trust whatever you do when you meditate is ok, ask long as you trust not knowing. Trust in the perfection of the present moment.

Thoughts are activated by questions from the mind that want to know answers, when curiosity disappears, trust arrives, and you immediately accept the present moment unconditionally. Meditation is the development and flow of trust in yourself. The mind needs to know about the future, and needs to understand the past. When trust sets in, those thoughts stop being important.

Trust allows you to be in the here and now

Many people are drawn upon meditation because of stress, problems with relationships or health issues. Many of these issues are the attachment to events of the past that create some sort of identification and fears of the outcomes of events in the future. The mind then is just trapped in a mechanism of fear that generates an endless and self-sustainable loop of suffering. Meditation has the ability to interrupt that loop and allow people to experience the present moment in the fullest. Meditation is just that moment where you allow space for trust to come in and let the here and now set in without having to worry about thoughts of the past nor future.

The art of doing nothing

We live in a world where we constantly feel the pressure of doing, doing at work, at home, at school. A society full of expectations and high pressure for achievements and results. A constant pressure to keep us on the side of success, and financial riches. However, not everyone is able to live and thrive professionally or financially, generating a lot of frustration for the ones who fail. Depression, anxiety, addiction, suicide sets in and the mind takes control of your life. The neurotic mind that wants to know outcome, reasons, explanations and predict the future.

Meditation will connect you with trust and trust will dissolve all the fears, self demands and anxieties that do not allow you to live and enjoy the present moment. Trust will dissolve the illusions created by the mind and connect you with reality, the true self you are.

Developing trust is about not doing, stepping aside, and letting the present moment guide you to encounter your true self. It will connect you with your true senses, your true essence. Meditation more than the art of not doing is the art of stepping aside and let your true essence shine.