I recently wrote this email to a friend who reached out for advice on starting a meditation practice. Since I get a variation of the question every now and again, I offer this response.
Hello! I’m glad you’re interested in starting a practice. It has been a real value to me since I started (nine years ago!). Here are the steps I took, feel free to copy me, or (of course) to do something completely different:
1. I signed up for the Open Heart Project.
All the way at the bottom of their web page, sign up for the free email. I’m pretty sure this is still at “an email every Monday, most of which contain guided meditations,” but sometimes it’s just an email, sometimes something else happens. Who knows! But it’s a great way to get started.
The videos tend to have two parts: a brief chat by Susan about some aspect of meditation or mindfulness, which can last anywhere between 5 and 25 minutes; and then a 10-minute guided sit. The latter of which, of course, you can reuse over and over again as you get used to the practice. (This is Samatha-Vipassana meditation, i.e. breath-awareness meditation, if anyone asks you. Which they will.)
2. I downloaded the Insight Timer app.
I only use this as a timer. I like it because it tracks consecutive days and does a mood check in, not that either are indicative of a good or useful practice, of course. I have never used any of the guided meditations or other pieces of content within the app, but they might be great, and they might be all you need!
The reason I use a timer is that I do not follow a guided session every day. I tend to practice with either a recorded guided session, or live with the Open Heart Project, once or twice a week. The rest of the days, I conduct the practice myself, using the timer for opening and closing bells.
3. Eventually, I signed up for the Open Heart Project Sangha to deepen my practice.
This is the paid membership to the practice group in step 1 — $30/month. I signed up in 2020 because Susan was offering wide-open, free daily meditation sessions to anyone who wanted them as a pandemic support; and I thought it was worth supporting that. You get a lot more stuff here — daily guided meditations, a variety of weekly and one-off classes, a Friday check-in, the monthly Creative Congregation (basically a 5-hour shared writing/creative session).
This eventually led to me taking refuge in Buddhism and widened my practice quite a bit; although, I am definitely not as serious about it as some as my other Sangha-mates, who are very, very into this shit. It’s fun to practice with them and to grapple with the various ways people approach this, and the obstacles they set for themselves.
Some bonus stuff:
There’s a 21-day Meditation Challenge running in the Open Heart Project, which started January 1. This one costs $54, but if you really wanted to jumpstart a practice, this would be the way to go. Daily guided meditations, starting at 10 minutes, then going to 15 for week 2, and 20 for week 3. It’s not a contest! The amount of time you spend sitting does not matter!! But, I always enjoy starting the new year like this.
Books:
- Start Here Now (Susan Piver)
- Shambala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)
- Lincoln in the Bardo (George Saunders) – not actually about meditation, but, it’s great
- In Love With The World (Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche)
I also listen to the “Mindfulness for Beginners” podcast, half because it’s quite good and half because I simply can’t get enough Irish voices speaking in my ear. Shaun opens with a brief talk and then does a 20-minute guided meditation. It’s weekly. Sometimes I do the practices with him, or sometimes I just listen to the intro!
That’s it for now! Let me know if you have any more questions.