Am I meditating right? What your first few weeks actually feel like

In their first weeks, almost every beginner says one of two things. I can't slow my mind down, how do I do that? Or: I don't know how to meditate, and I don't think I ever will.

Both come from the same idea of what meditation is supposed to feel like. And both go away once that idea changes.

Meditation is not a way of doing something to your mind. It is an act of awareness. You are not trying to slow your thoughts down at all. You are simply noticing them. That one shift takes away most of the pressure.

When researchers asked meditators to press a button every time they noticed their mind had wandered, brain scans showed a repeating cycle: the mind wanders, you notice, you come back, you stay a while. The noticing is its own moment. It is the practice, not a sign that you failed at it.

This is where sound makes such a difference. In a sound bath, the tones do a lot of the calming for you. You feel the benefit of the experience even on a morning when your mind will not stop racing.

Learning alone from a recording is like learning to lift weights from a video. It can be done, but there is nobody to tell you that what you are feeling is normal.

We think of ourselves more like personal trainers. We are with you live, twice a week, week in and week out, and we guide you through every part of it.

Sit, lie in bed, or walk around the room. You do it however you feel comfortable, and we guide you from there.

Because it is live over Zoom, you can take it anywhere. Some members join lying in bed. Some join while they walk through a park.

No member has told us meditation made them feel worse. But it is honest to say that it can happen. Across 83 studies, about 8% of people reported an unwanted effect at some point, most often feeling more anxious or low.

If that happens to you, tell us, change what you are doing, or stop for the day. If you have a history of trauma or serious depression, it is worth talking to your doctor before you start.

Every morning ends with time to share. Beginners often expect questions about technique, but mostly people talk about life, and about the theme of the morning. Whatever comes up for you is welcome, even if it has nothing to do with the topic.

It is called Meditation Club, but really it is an awareness club: a place to think about the things we are working through, together.

About 80% of our members had never meditated when they joined. We built this together, and the people who once said they would never be able to meditate are now the ones welcoming the new faces.