Learning how to adult is a challenging prospect. There is so much to do, and so many different skills needed to successfully maintain a household, pursue a career and have successful relationships, all of which involves learning life skills, that we may not have been taught…

‘‘We have only now, only this single eternal moment opening and unfolding before us, day and night.’ – Jack Kornfield

Knowing if you are meditating correctly is uniquely challenging. Unlike most other pursuits, it is completely internal, and the results are entirely subjective. You could watch two people sitting, one in deep meditation and the other lost in a daydream, and not be able to tell who was doing what. In fact, the day dreamer may emerge from their sit appearing more refreshed and relaxed than when they began, whereas the meditator may appear exhausted….

Mindfulness is the awareness that arises from purposefully paying non-judgmental attention to the present moment.

This brief definition hides a significant amount of wisdom, so it is worth unpacking. Mindfulness is the awareness, not the act of meditation. We practice meditation to become mindful, first on the meditation mat, and then increasingly in our everyday lives. We do this by paying nonjudgmental awareness to the present moment. This sounds simple enough, but it can be deceptively complex. It involves observing the contents of consciousness, both internal and external, for what they are, as they are; without overlaying additional judgements, labels, thoughts, concepts, wishes, desires, or anything else.

"Clearing the mind is practically impossible, and really not the goal of the meditation session. Rather the benefits come from calmly returning to the sensation of the breath..."