Day 1 · Just Sit
You Already Know
Meditation is already within you: nothing to learn, nothing to gain. You really can just sit.
Sit. That is the whole practice. What follows below is only to help you understand why it is enough.
Over seven days, I will teach you the basics of meditation. Each day: a couple of minutes of guidance you can listen to, then you sit.
Today, the voice comes in more often, naming what pulls your attention so you can practice the return. From tomorrow, longer silence. For now, the point is simply to just sit.
The Form
A chair is fine. A cushion is fine. You do not need to sit cross-legged. Sit however you can stay awake.
Eyes slightly open, if you can. Let your gaze rest a little ahead and down. No staring. Not looking at one thing. Let the room be there.
One easy breath, then let the breath be ordinary. Don’t try to guide the breath. Hands in the lap.
If something hurts, stay with it for a while. If it still hurts, change a little.
That is enough form for today. Just enough to get you started.
The Practice
Nothing to gain. No mantra. No goal.
Feel the weight of your body, where it touches the ground. That is where you come back.
Thoughts will come. Sounds. What you see. Feelings inside and outside. Do not chase. Do not fight. Come back to the weight of your body, where it touches the ground.
That return is what you are learning. Whenever a distraction arises return to the seat of the body.
Already Within You
In Soto Zen this is called just sitting. Only sit. Not a method to get somewhere.
Dogen wrote the school’s sitting instruction in the thirteenth century. He opens with this:
The way is originally perfect and all-pervading. How could it be contingent on practice and realization?
Meditation is already within you. Nothing extra to learn. Nothing to gain. You sit still.
Already within you does not mean you skip the sit. It means you sit without trying to get anything from it.
What gets in the way is attachment. Wanting a better sit. A quieter mind. Doing it right. Let that go.
Shunryu Suzuki said: “Just remain on your cushion without expecting anything.”
Then You Sit
Give yourself permission for this moment. You have arrived, just now. In being present for that arrival, you have already started. It is good that you took this time today.
Five minutes is already a real sit. Ten is plenty. No striving. No goals. You just sit.
Sometimes you will miss a day of sitting. That happens. When it does, you sit today. Do not carry yesterday as a debt. You are here now. That is enough.
The Present Return
This is the core technique that will help you in daily life. I will come back to it again and again. Master it.
One minute for everyday life. It is a small return you can practice throughout your day: in a line, before a call, when you need a moment for yourself.
Six breaths. Your fingers keep the count, so you do not count in your head.
Let your index finger hover above your thumb. On a breath in, let them touch gently. Then middle finger, ring finger, little finger, and back the same way. When your index meets your thumb again, that closing breath completes the loop. About one minute. Your hand holds your place. No counting in your head.
Let the breath be easy. If a slightly longer out-breath helps you settle, that is fine. Learn this once with the audio guidance. Then try it on your own during the day.
What May Show Up
People sit for a calmer mind, more focus, better sleep, less stress. Those benefits are real, and it is useful to know they exist. The benefits tend to show up when you stop chasing them.
The reason I insist on teaching you the Present Return early, as a side-quest in your meditation journey, is because I want you to feel those benefits early.
Try It Today
Practice your Present Return once today, whenever it fits in your daily life: in a line, before a call, when you need a moment for yourself. Six breaths. Fingers keep the count. That is it.
And also try to do one sit, even if it is just turning on the audio, listening and sitting for a few minutes. Building a meditation practice is done one step at a time. And this is only your first day.
Thank you for sitting. Sitting today is the whole thing. You did it. Congratulate yourself! No regrets about the past. No plans for the future. This is it.
