For years, I thought I had a dedicated yoga practice. I was getting stronger, more confident, and more aware of my body. I practiced asana regularly, added pranayama and kriyas into my routines, and felt so calm at the end of every class.

But as soon as I left the studio, it was back to reality. I was still stressed out every day. I still had road rage on my way home from yoga. I still burst into tears multiple times a week because life felt like too much for my sensitive system.

It wasn’t until I finally stopped avoiding meditation - and actually made it part of my yoga practice - that things shifted. Suddenly, I wasn’t just calm in yoga class. I was calm through the rest of my day.

It didn’t happen overnight. There were a few key realizations, and a lot of giving up and starting again, before I figured out how meditation could work for me.

The truth is, I was using yoga as a way to escape my stress, not become more present with it. And that’s why I kept avoiding meditation : it was so uncomfortable to sit with myself because I didn’t want to look at all the stress I was carrying.

Everything changed when I integrated meditation gradually, in ways that I could handle at the time, and was finally able to sit with myself.

Now I feel “yoga class calm” all day long.

Why Many of Us Start With the Physical Practice

Yoga in the West emphasizes shapes, flexibility, and aesthetics. It’s understandable - the postures catch your eye. For many of us, asana is the entry point to Yoga.

For the first few years I was in the yoga world, I readily said “I do yoga,” while smoking cigarettes, drinking (too much) alcohol, and doing a few sun salutations a week.

10 years later, I had a dedicated yoga practice with pranayama and kriya routines, but still avoided sitting in stillness.

I had avoided being still with myself for so long that the thought of sitting cross legged on the floor with my eyes closed for an hour at a time seemed insurmountable and overwhelming.

But good news: you don’t have to start with an hour, and you don’t have to start with stillness.

Accessible Meditation for Beginners: Redefining What Counts

Traditional meditation - sitting on the floor with your legs crossed and eyes closed - isn’t the only way.

Stillness and silence are important to work towards, but it’s not all or nothing.

Any mindful practice that acts as a stepping stone towards traditional meditation is a valid practice.

I used a variety of short, moving meditations to start being comfortable with being present with the inside of my head before I regularly sat for traditional meditation. 

If you really can’t sit still today, don’t force yourself. There is a gray area here between gritting your teeth and pushing through - and skipping the practice altogether. I found accessible meditation techniques that incorporated mindful movement and/or counting breaths for as little as 2 minutes, and considered this a big success.

It can be really helpful to meet yourself where you’re at, and bridge the gap with short or moving practices rather than forcing yourself to strictly change the way of being that feels natural at that time.

Mindful Movement as Meditation

Meditation isn’t only about stillness - it’s about being present with your experience. If your current situation is far from being comfortable sitting still, find this mindful presence through movement for now. Do work towards stillness rather than avoiding it, but if today requires movement, go for it. 

A couple meditative-activities I appreciated when I was starting out on this journey were:

• Mindful walking - counting steps and timing my breath with my pace. You can use Sama Vritti here - inhale four paces, hold four paces, exhale four paces, hold four paces. Enough going on to focus your attention on the present moment.

• Silent slow flow yoga - no music, no mirrors, no sweating - smooth, easeful, steady postures - cultivating true presence with sensation, not avoiding your internal experience

• Art - drawing mandalas - again, with no music, just focused on drawing - became a go-to practice for times I was feeling anxious and overwhelmed

You can start cultivating mindfulness when sitting still feels out of reach. You don’t have to wait until you’re comfortable sitting still to start meditating!

Stillness Isn’t Always the Answer (and that’s okay)

If the goal of meditation is self-awareness and observing the present moment, let’s use discernment in our practice of meditation.

That means using critical thinking skills to choose whether forcing stillness will benefit you, or if it would be better to observe your Self while moving.

Sometimes stillness is the medicine that serves me. Other times, having a 60 second dance party is what I need most.

Learning to know what you need is an important part of being present with yourself.

If traditional meditation is asking too much today, try yin yoga - holding a posture with sensation for a few minutes at a time. You give the mind a bit more stimulus to focus on rather than sitting comfortably and observing thoughts. This is in that grey area - it is relative stillness, but involves more input than traditional seated meditation.

Be open minded and explore a variety of different options. You will find your favourites, and have a short list of go-to practices to try depending on your situation.

Your Practice, Your Way

If you take one thing from this article, let it be this: you don’t need to wait until you can sit perfectly still to start meditating. You need to start where you are. The practice can meet you whether you are in motion, restless, tired, or overwhelmed, and grow with you as you become more comfortable spending time with yourself.

Want to stop reading about mindfulness and actually live it?

 I created the Zero to Meditator Program. The 30-day challenge to help you go from avoiding meditation to looking forward to your quiet time. I’ve condensed my years of trial and error into a shortcut experience for you, designed for yogis that don't like to sit still.

Gradually throughout the month of daily practices we will increase length of time and decrease the amount of stimulus, giving you the perfect on-ramp to a confident self-guided meditation practice. This is everything I use to embody mindfulness off of my yoga mat - and it all starts with deciding to integrate meditation into your day.

✨Price for the program is $11 - super accessible, but just enough that you need to commit to the process. Daily trainings and 2-10 minute meditations, as well as group accountability, will all happen inside a private Telegram group.

👉Click here to join the Zero to Meditator Program. We begin October 1st.

Your yoga class calm doesn’t have to end when you roll up your mat. Let’s make it your new baseline.