You press play. A soft voice tells you to close your eyes and notice your breath. You do. And then, somewhere around minute three, you realize you've been planning tomorrow's dinner while the voice talked on without you.
It happens to almost everyone who uses audio meditations. The voice keeps going at its own pace, whether you're with it or not. And once you've drifted, it's hard to find your way back in.
There's an older, quieter way to be guided: a meditation you read.
What a written meditation is
A written guided meditation is simply a meditation on paper. Instead of listening to someone lead you, you read the words slowly, pause where you need to, and let the images form in your own mind. Some are short scripts. Some take the form of a letter, written to you, inviting you to notice, breathe and imagine.
It isn't new. People have meditated with written words for centuries: prayers, psalms, the reflections of philosophers, poems read slowly by candlelight. What's new is that we've forgotten we can.
Why reading can work better
1. You set the pace. If a sentence moves you, you can stay with it for a minute. If your mind wanders, you go back one line. Nothing moves on without you. 2. Your attention has an anchor. Reading asks your eyes and mind to do one thing. It's harder to drift while your eyes are following words. 3. You choose the voice. In your head, the meditation speaks in whatever voice you need today: soft, slow, your grandmother's, your own. 4. You need nothing else. No screen, no headphones, no battery, no notifications sliding in halfway through. 5. You can return to it. A paper meditation can be reread next week, next year. Some lines start to feel like old friends.
How to read a meditation
Find a quiet corner and read the first lines once, normally. Then go back and read slowly, at half your usual speed. Pause at each full stop and take a breath. When the text describes an image, close your eyes for a moment and see it. When you reach the end, sit still for a minute before doing anything else.
That's all. No technique to master, and no way to do it wrong.
Try one
If you'd like to experience it, The First Letter is a short written meditation on receiving a letter: the envelope, the paper, the handwriting of someone who thought of you. You can read it, or listen to it if you prefer, and it comes with a sample of my magazine, "(meditating) On Art". It's free. Read it slowly, and notice how different it feels.
Remember to take as much time as you need, and meet me at the next one.
Love, Evi