100 Day Meditation Challenge

Kevin, one of Wildmind’s Community members, writes very movingly about why he meditates.

I sit so I can stand.

I am a novice meditator, having stumbled upon the practice while looking for some strength and solace in the face of an enormous emotional trauma. I can say without reservation that my practice has kept me sane and perhaps even alive. I do not claim to be an expert meditator, whatever that may be. Many days, much of my time on the cushion is spent trying to find a comfortable posture. I can’t do a body scan to save my neck. My mind races and the emotions sometimes utterly overwhelm me. Sometimes it feels like I should post a sign in my meditation spot that reads, “Please keep your hands and feet in the car until the ride comes to a complete stop.” But still I sit — every morning, so far.

I sit because occasionally I do experience moments of profound peace.

I sit because I can tell it’s working, slowly, gradually, imperceptibly. My mind is being trained.

But the main reason I sit came to me recently during an otherwise difficult sit. My mind was racing, the emotions were surging, my narrator was chattering away. But in the midst of it all came this clear thought:

I sit so I can stand.

Yes. I sit so I can stand — not physically, but emotionally, mentally, spiritually. I sit so that no matter what happens the rest of the day, I can stand.

I sit so that no matter what painful thoughts come or emotional storms howl, I can stand. The storms do not and have not stopped, but I can stand in their midst and not lose myself — at least occasionally.

I sit so I can stand.

Since joining the Wildmind Google+ community, I have discovered that there are many more folks like me who have found and are finding strength and solace for their emotional wounds in practice. What I have found is that not only do I sit so that I can stand, but that WE sit so that WE can help each other stand. Every day at least a few of us need that help to stand, need a little metta and tenderness. This is sangha. We sit so we can stand.

David St. Michael, from Wildmind’s Google+ Community, looks back on where his practice has taken him so far:

I enjoy my morning meditations. It’s a ritual that is deeply a part of me. I used to, for many years, wake up feeling depressed and angry and stuff. Most of that is crap I learned from childhood abuse and growing up in a messed up family.

However, about three years ago, I started morning meditating in direct response to my demons, as it were. I wanted something to do that would help calm my mind, but not put me to sleep, and meditation fit the bill. It’s perfect, really.

Anyways. In the last three years I’ve grown a lot and have really learned tons about Buddhism. And one of the main things I’ve learned? Harsh judging of everything isn’t necessary. For every person, place, or thing there is, I can simply observe it and, maybe, learn.

The time and energy that I used to devote to passing harsh judgements and sustaining them, I can now use for other things. Like being. Which gets me back to meditation. During meditation, I can just be. I love that.

From Lisa L., on Wildmind’s Google Plus Community [sadly, Google shut down their social network in 2019]:

Meditating daily as part of the 100 day challenge has been very powerful for me. Practicing daily makes it clear that good sits and bad sits happen, which makes it much easier to sit even when things are difficult. I don’t worry anymore if I’m in the ‘right frame of mind’ to sit. I don’t worry about whether I’m ready to face the focused mind in my sitting. I just sit, and bring whatever I’ve got/dealing with, with me. And some days are a real struggle, but not necessarily the days that I expect to struggle. Some days are a joy, but not necessarily those days I expect to have an easy time.

Sitting on easy days and hard days means that I am able to deal with the good and the bad through the techniques I’ve learned from Bodhipaksa Dharmacari and others. When I was just sitting when I felt ‘capable’ of having a good sit, I didn’t give myself the opportunity to work through difficulties with these tools.

The biggest difference I’m seeing is actually in my life off the cushion. I’ve noticed that I’ve started applying the same curious beginner mind to investigating what’s going on in my own life. When my parents offer me some well-meaning advice I do not immediately assume this is meant as a criticism, and I am more patient and listen better. In a recent conflict with my partner, I was able to recognize that this one encounter was just one moment, and I didn’t let my feelings snowball, nor did I fantasize about how this might affect our relationship.

And all this happened in just 22 days. I can’t imagine how things will be in another 78.

How’s the 100 Day Meditation Challenge going for you?

I confess we rather threw this project together at the last moment. Someone had mentioned in Wildmind’s Google+ Community that they’d just completed 100 straight days of meditation, and someone else said “Hey, what about a 100 Day Challenge,” and I said yes. This was all in late December!

One thing I didn’t take much time to think about was the stated purpose of the challenge. One soul on Facebook thought we were running some kind of competitive meditation event, but it certainly isn’t that! The original aim was to encourage people to set up a habit of meditating daily by sitting every day (or aiming to sit every day) for 100 days.

One problem with this is that it’s a rather daunting undertaking for some people — those new to meditation and those who haven’t had anything close to a daily practice for some time — to think about sitting for 100 days. And feelings of failure can arise, which isn’t helpful

I think next time I’d frame the challenge rather differently. It would be over the course of 100 days, to have established a daily meditation practice. This allows for some initial difficulty in getting on the cushion, and takes some of the strain out of participating. But you have 100 days to get your #$@& together.

For people who already have a half-way strong practice, it would be feasible to aim for sitting every one of those days, but again there would be less of a tendency to think we’ve “failed” when we’ve missed a day.

This whole thing is about building a habit. Not about attaining perfection.

Here’s a quick “How it’s going for me” from Peter, who is involved in Wildmind’s Community.

A little over 7 months ago, I lost my partner (of 44 years) to cancer. I struggle with my grief and realised I needed to find some spiritual solace.

I had meditated on an occasional basis over the last few years, mainly trying to deal with any anxiety that I found in life. I tried returning to my childhood Christian tradition, but found this did not answer my need.

I returned to meditation which had always been guided by Bodhipaksa (his ‘Guided Meditations’ from 2005), and found greater peace and some quietening of my anxiety through this.

Some 6 weeks ago, fate drew me to the Wildmind website, where I discovered a community that was devoted to helping each other through the adventures of meditation. Three weeks ago we started the 100 Day Challenge, to see if we could meditate daily.

It has been an enormous learning experience.

I’ve missed 3 days so far, but that is the nature of being human and compassionate – it doesn’t matter.