When I first started meditating, I found it incredibly difficult to sit still and focus. It wasn’t clearing my mind that was a problem, or even trying not to judge my emotions. In truth, the most difficult part of meditation was lying there, in the dark, not moving.
My understanding of meditation was very often limited to the strict visual imagery of a person sitting cross-legged, eyes closed, with a peaceful expression. But that is only part of the story and excludes many of us who do not fit the perfect mould of a spiritual guru. Meditation, and in turn stillness, is a personal state of being that can exist beyond stillness and formal structure.
Meditation as Doing Nothing
Meditation is the “delicate and beautiful art of doing nothing”, according to spiritual master Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Many believe meditation involves focused concentration, but according to Gurudev, concentration is an outcome of meditation. As he proposes, it is as simple as doing nothing.
Alternative meditation techniques expand on this: meditation is the art of doing nothing, mentally. Mindfulness is not something that requires concentration or control; these are outcomes, not prerequisites.
This realisation allowed me to open up my expectations of meditation rather than restricting it, and such liberation brought greater peace than ever before.
Personalizing Your Practice
For me, stimulation of all four senses really gets me in ‘the zone’. Usually, I play some kind of beta wave frequency (there are brilliant ones online), brew a steaming mug of herbal tea, dim the lights, and put on my favourite freshly washed loungewear.
But meditation doesn’t have to look like this. These practices are unique to you. They don’t attempt to control the body, but instead involve listening and responding. Give yourself permission to adapt personal practices to your needs and rhythms.
Even as I write this, I breathe deeply and allow the words to flow freely. In many ways, this is meditation. Often, meditation exists within ordinary actions and is more about slowing down than stopping.
Glimmer Moments: Informal Meditation
Therapist Deb Dana coined the term “Glimmer Moments”. These are small, daily, often fleeting experiences—like hearing birdsong, feeling the sun’s warmth, or sharing a smile—that trigger feelings of safety, joy, and calm in the nervous system.
They are the opposite of triggers, helping to build resilience, reduce stress, and improve mental health. Glimmer moments function as informal, spontaneous meditation! Much like formal meditation, they regulate the nervous system and allow us to pause, reflect, and readjust if necessary.
Meditation as Insight
What I once thought was a struggle to meditate now feels more like insight. My inability to remain still in the dark was not a rejection of meditation, but a rejection of a narrow definition of it.
In releasing the expectation that meditation must be silent, motionless, and empty, I found something far more accessible and enjoyable. Meditation revealed itself not as a discipline to be mastered, but as a way of noticing—of recognising moments of safety, presence, and calm as they arise.
By understanding meditation as a flexible, personal practice, it becomes something that belongs within everyday life rather than outside of it. It can exist in warmth, sound, breath, movement, writing, and fleeting glimmer moments that ask nothing of us but attention.
In this way, meditation is no longer something we do correctly or incorrectly, but something we are already capable of. Letting go of rigid expectations does not diminish meditation; it liberates it.