Christopher shares the most important thing to understand about meditation: it is similar to sleep. You can't make yourself fall asleep, you let go of the shore and let the river carry you, and meditation is a letting go into a process you already know. He points to moments you have already lived, like drifting just after waking, a short nap that leaves you refreshed, or the quiet at the top of a mountain.
'You can't make yourself go to sleep. You allow sleep to overtake you.'
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More from the course
Meet Christopher Grant and Daniela Hess: Why We Teach Meditation
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From Hot Mess to Meditation: My First Sit at Cornell
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Why We Call It Effortless Meditation
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Questions people ask
How is meditation like falling asleep?
Christopher says you cannot make yourself go to sleep. You allow sleep to overtake you, letting go of the shore of the river so the river can carry you. Meditation is like that. It is a letting go into a process you already know, and he says it is not a doing.
Have I already experienced meditation?
Christopher suggests you have, many times. He points to the drifting moments just after waking, the in-between space as you fall asleep at night, a short rest in a chair that leaves you refreshed, or the quiet that settles over everyone at the top of a mountain after a long climb. These are moments of the same natural process.
Should I try harder to meditate?
In this approach, effort works against you, the same way trying hard to fall asleep keeps you awake. Christopher's teaching in Lesson 1 of the Effortless Meditation Course is to set up the conditions and let go into what happens. What Is Effortless Meditation? explains the approach in more depth.