MEDITATION is not about changing anything. I think there is a misconception out there about meditation — that it's about getting rid of thoughts and discomfort so that we may be perfectly calm and at ease. But much of our stress and pain comes from saying 'no' to life. We don't want to feel the sensations or emotions in our body; and typically we try to control our external surroundings as well. Unconsciously we work to push away our feelings and distract ourselves in any way we can — food, alcohol, television, technology — anything to avoid feeling unease, boredom, fear, sadness. We tighten, we clench, we grip. We say 'no'.

So I like to think of meditation as saying 'yes' to life! It's about being with exactly what is happening right here and now — the thoughts, the feelings, the sensations in the body, the sounds in the environment — and softening to them all. Bearing witness. Learning to be with what's here rather than trying to change it. It's about opening and relaxing and letting go of our resistance to life: softening, unclenching, ungripping and creating the space in our mind, body and heart to whisper a deep inner 'YES!'

Now that's how the ease arises.