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Meditation is Not About Enlightenment, It’s About Transformation
I have a confession. For years, I, and almost every other meditation teacher for that matter, have been touting the benefits of meditation-happiness, a sense of calm even in difficult situations, inner peace. It is true, meditation will give you all these things, but it’s not the whole picture. Meditation is not about the goal of attaining some idealized version of you where you never snap at your kids and your jeans always fit, it’s about the very raw, dynamic, at times ugly-crying, not-always-pretty process of transformation.
It’s the process, not the goal
When we as meditation teachers emphasize the results of a consistent meditation practice, it sounds wonderful-you’ll sleep better, look younger, feel bliss seeping through every experience. While this is not wrong, it can give students a very goal-oriented approach to their meditation. When this happens, there is confusion and frustration when a student finds themselves barking orders at their partner, or breaking down in tears at the state of the world. They wonder, “Why am I spending all this time meditating if I’m still feeling and acting this way? Where’s the bliss? Why am I not just happy all the time? It’s not working, I must be doing this wrong.” It is not only perfectly normal to have these kinds of feelings as a meditator, it’s often part of the…
