How I came to meditation-Part 2

So here’s PART 2 of how I started practicing meditation. See below for the other part of the story.

My formal meditation practice started about 6 years ago, when I made the New Year's resolution to "cultivate a sitting practice." I wrote it down just like that in one of my notebooks.

I didn't know anything about meditation really, except what it looked like on the outside. All of the pictures I had seen over the years of monks sitting cross legged on the floor with their eyes closed. I had been practicing moving meditation through my yoga practice for over a decade but sitting quietly like that was not something I had ever tried in all earnestness. So one January day in that new year, I literally just sat down and committed to "cultivating" a practice.

In hindsight, I think one of the wise things I did was to consider the practice as something I was "cultivating".

Cultivation implies time and effort.
There's preparation. 
A loosening and breaking up to create space and allow growth.
There is fostering. And tending.
A bit of trial and error, exploration and investigation.

There’s somewhat of a goal, a direction you are heading in.
And then there is also excitement, curiosity and letting go of the end result.
You really don’t know what you’re going to get out of it.
Just like planting seeds in your garden,
you really have no idea precisely what or how anything is going to blossom.

You plant the seeds that you would like to foster and to grow.
Sprinkle in a little faith and trust
that natural forces invisible to the naked eye
will step in and do their part.
And then you wait to see what happens.

And in the case of meditation, all sorts of transformational things have blossomed for me. It hasn’t been easy. The practice of meditation is simple but it’s not easy. On the surface it can seem like a big waste of time this sitting quietly, practicing non-doing. I get it, especially in our culture that rewards achievement and the cultivation of external agency. Those first few seeds I planted included a desire to continue to find comfort in my own skin. To show up in my life as myself, as truthful and honest and authentic as I can be in any moment.

One of my favorite quotes from the 12th century Persian poet Rumi says:

​As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.

Meditation is just like that. You start walking and you see pretty quickly that there is power in sitting quietly; a beautiful, life-changing way starts to form. And then you just can’t help but to continue to put one foot in front of the other. To continue to “cultivate” the practice, to see what blossoms in all aspects of your life.