There’s a kind of meditation I like to call “Time Meditation”. It’s a meditation where you take time, aim for 60 minutes, and you do nothing. I’ll write in this post my understanding of it and how I think about it, then link the source that taught me this meditation at the end.
In this meditation, I avoid any external activities or stimulation. No screens, no toys, no audios like audiobooks or music or anything. No looking out the window to the passing cars and cats. No fiddling with anything around me. I’m free to get up and walk around, but no distracting myself with things on the wall or anything.
In this meditation, I don’t focus my mind, I don’t focus on breathing, I don’t try to calm the mind. Any thought that appears in my mind, I let myself think it, I don’t resist it or do anything to it. I don’t try to achieve a calm mind or a sense of peace or anything. I don’t try to “relax” or anything. I just be.
This is my intention. To spend the next 60 minutes not doing anything, nor stopping myself from doing anything. I’m free to move around and wander, but stay within the house.
What usually happens are things that when described sound like normal meditations you hear about everywhere, nothing new or exceptional.
I tend to start thinking thoughts. Feelings start to arise. Bodily sensations. Tensions. Each has its turn to come up and take my attention. I let them take all the attention they demand. Eventually they stop demanding my attention once they get what they needed, and I end up relaxed and calm, breathing slowly and deeply without effort, and my mind settles in a way that no other meditation does to it.
But sometimes none of that happens. Sometimes I don’t settle or calm down or anything. Sometimes I feel I end the meditation in the midst of tension. Sometimes I get too tired of doing nothing (which is sooooo straaaaange to think about, how can I get tired of doing nothing, wot).
Either way, I gave myself and my body time to settle and do whatever it needs. Even if no result is reached, it is still good.
I learned this from Naval Ravikant, who spoke about this in a podcast episode he did with Joe Rogan, and he clarified the whole idea completely in a Twitter thread I very strongly recommend you give the twitter thread a read. It is absolutely brilliant and concise.
Good luck 🙏 !
The Mshary 