What meditation is really for

I hope this finds you well, or at least finding your way.

This week, I have a new kind of video for you to check out. It’s the latest episode of my new-ish podcast, Buddhism Beyond Belief where I talk about the real-life meaning of being a meditator.

For example!

Lately, I’ve been feeling a little grumpy (yes, truly) about how meditation is often presented in our culture. It’s described as a way to calm down, reduce stress, and be more productive. All true—and all wonderful—but also incomplete.

Something essential gets left out: the heart of the practice.

Meditation was never meant to be a self-improvement project to perfectionism. It’s not about polishing your inner mirror or biohacking your mind. It’s about opening—first to yourself, then to others, and then to the world.

We practice not to escape life, but to become more intimate with it.

In a recent podcast, I talk about what gets lost when we treat meditation as a purely personal pursuit, and what becomes possible when we remember that awareness naturally leads to connection, compassion, and being of benefit. I also explore how tuning in to the energy of others—through presence rather than theory—can deepen both our relationships and our practice.

And I bring in one of my favorite frameworks for understanding how we relate to one another: the enneagram.

You can watch here.

Thank you, as always, for being part of this community and for continuing to practice—even, and especially, when life feels hard.

P.S. At the end of this episode, I added a special new feature: music! I love to talk about music! In this particular episode, I share a bit about the late blues guitarist Peter Green whose tone somehow carries the same tenderness and spaciousness as meditation itself.