Daniela answers what meditation is for with a story she tells at Sacred Sunday. Picture yourself as a photographer at a cabin by a lake, sure you heard a loon: you set your alarm, walk down the hill at 5:25, check your lens cap, sit and wait, and the loon might come by and it might not. Meditation is similar: if we keep coming back to our seat, at some point something is going to happen.
'The loon might come by and it might not.'
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More from the course
The Eight R's of Meditation as Taught by Lorin Roche, Part 1
3:00
The Golden Thought: Celebrate the Moment You Notice You Drifted
1:28
The 5 Koshas: Why Each Layer of You Moves at Its Own Speed
1:29
Questions people ask
What is the purpose of meditation if nothing seems to happen?
Daniela compares meditation to photographers staying in a cabin by a lake, hoping to photograph a loon at dawn. They set an alarm, make a cup of tea, walk down to the shore, take off every lens cap, and then sit and wait. The loon might come by, and it might not. The purpose is to keep showing up, so you are there when it does.
Why keep showing up to meditate?
Daniela says that if we keep coming back to our seat, our cushion or the wall we lean against, at some point something is going to happen, just as photographers who keep going down to the lake shore will eventually see the loon. She also notes there is no 1 right way to sit for meditation.
Where does this story come from?
Daniela tells it in the bonus on the Eight R's, as taught by Lorin Roche, in the Effortless Meditation Course. The article The Eight R's of Meditation retells the photographer and the loon, along with the golden thought and the whole circle of the Eight R's.