With meditation, like other healthy habits (exercise, for example), you want to find the right mix between familiar, reliable tools on the one hand, and newness, variety, and growth on the other. If you’re constantly flitting among practices and teachers, you’re unlikely to get into a groove. But if you don’t mix things up, that groove can become a rut.
The ratio of routine to variety is different for each person – you’ll probably experiment for a bit before finding the right balance for you. In terms of ingredients, though, here are five suggestions for finding your fresh:
Off the Cushion. If you have a regular meditation practice, keep it up, and add to it by practicing mindfulness “off the cushion”– i.e., when you’re not formally meditating. For example, you might resolve for January to eat one bite of each meal mindfully, noticing the sensations in your mouth, noticing when you feel full, noticing whatever comes up. Or you might add in just a few steps of walking meditation each day, paying attention to the feelings of your feet on the floor. There are instructions for these and many other non-meditation meditations in the app.
Exercise! If you live in a cold climate, as I do, moving your body is extra-important in the winter. I suggest multitasking, doing both exercise and mindfulness at the same time. Check out Jeff Warren’s instructions on running meditation (search “Rhythm” in the app), or try Oren Jay Sofer’s guided walks. Or try it your own way, however you like to move, simply adding mindfulness to whatever you’re already doing: notice what’s happening, nonjudgmentally, moment-to-moment, and you can check two items off your list at once.
Let it RAIN. To keep meditation vital, consider paying more attention to emotions. There are, again, lots of instructions in the app for how to do this, but briefly, you can try Michele McDonald’s famous “RAIN” practice. See what emotions are coming up (sometimes they’ll be banging at the door, sometimes you might need to go looking), and then Recognize them, Allow them to be as they are, Investigate them with kindness, and Naturally be with them rather than identify with them. So, for example, you might Recognize self-judgment, or joy, or anger, or fear – whatever’s coming up; then just Allow it to unfold, and Investigate it a bit (What does it feel like in the body? Where might this emotion be coming from?); and then just rest in the Natural awareness that surrounds the emotional experience and is not controlled by it. Again, instructions are in the app.
Switch teachers. This is an easy one. Unless you’re listening to my guided meditations, which of course are perfect in every way, it’s always helpful to try a new teacher and get a different perspective, even if the meditation is on the same subject as what you’ve been doing. One of the great advantages of Happier is our diverse array of teachers. Take a look around and try out someone new.
Do Something. As the Dalai Lama said in a recent Teacher Talk, the ultimate source of happiness is altruism. Be selfish – help others! It’s the best, fastest way to become happier. With mindfulness as your ally, commit to volunteer, visit a lonely or sick person, call up a friend, get active in politics, register people to vote (especially people who have been thrown off the rolls), or do one make-the-world-better act each day. And if you run short of inspiration, cultivate more compassion in your meditation time. Believe me, you won’t run out of reasons to feel it.
So, there are five ideas – there are plenty more in the app, of course. I think the most important element is to try this exploration with self-compassion and humor. You’re not mixing things up because you’re a terrible meditator suffering from the winter blues and pandemic anhedonia, desperate for any fleeting spark of novelty. (I mean, we all are, a little.) You’re mixing things up because variety is the spice of life and this is how we thrive. Keep your meditation practice fresh, and you’ll keep doing it. I think you’ll be glad you did.
