what is meditation good for and what is it not good for?
seems important to know
a little while ago i was in a huge tizzy trying to think my way into an answer regarding how i want to be concretely helpful to people in my work. i was all “should i get into like, global food insecurity work?? should i become an expert conflict mediator???” i really wanted to find a way to avoid feeling like i was just part of some self-help pyramid scheme, or that i wasn’t really getting anything important done.
with some reflection though, i realized that of all the things i could try focusing on next, teaching meditation was far and away the one i felt most excited for and most qualified for. this left me with the question - is teaching/learning meditation “important” work? what is meditation good for? what is it not good for?
what’s all that sittin around accomplish
daily meditation practice is an indispensable component of my mental and emotional wellbeing. when i miss a day or a few days, my ambient stress, how much reactivity is in my system, the degree to which i need to rely on coping mechanisms, how much space i have for my own feelings and those of others, all noticeably degrade. how helpful my practice is in a day-to-day way is part of why the goal for my upcoming class is to help participants establish a daily-ish practice. it’s one of those things like sleeping well or getting some exercise that can be a bit tricky to change habits around, but ultimately is possible to be a enjoyable part of the day that makes everything else easier.
and, of course, the way practice deepens over months and years adds up to a whole lot more. i’ve recently been appreciating more and more how, when it comes to inner transformation, “slow and steady” doesn’t just win the race, it’s more or less the only option. yes, there are potential high impact interventions, and stories of dramatic transformations that come from such-and-such medicine or group experience or therapeutic modality. and i’m all for those (given appropriate caution)! but almost always, even then, the experience is part of a much bigger arc that unfolds most successfully with some amount of sustained dedication over time.
which would travel further - getting launched off an olympic ski jump, or just walking in the same direction every day for merely 10 minutes, over the course of a month (let alone a year!)? ultimately, we’re all experiencing 24 hours of existence every 24 hours, which means, on some level, that every day is an equally powerful opportunity for becoming free.
alright, so here’s what i’ve noticed has grown over the years of my meditation practice, that i see being practiced day by day, and that i attribute to the practice:
love. i know where my heart is. i feel it through my whole body and i know how to let it touch more and more. it can touch my judgement, my shame, my goofiness, my intellect, my anger, my gratitude, strangers, friends.
authenticity. it hurts to not be me. and when i sit with myself, by myself (or with others but in silence), there is more and more space to see what me is, and more and more clarity about the pain of anything else.
space, spaciousness. i can’t describe how precious this is. to have the availability to respond, rather than to react. for what arises in mind… to be ok
internal awareness and intimate connection with the body. the body is the most extraordinary instrument for navigating the world. it is wondrously rich with information. it is wisdom. it is pleasure. it is the seat of intuition. it is of infinite fascination and beauty. it rewards carefully cultivated attention with ever more gold.
metacognitive awareness. knowing the difference between being wholly consumed in a story and a witnessing a thought as a simple phenomenon. becoming familiar with the patterns of this mind, not through analysis, but through direct observation.
the availability of calm, and of a collected, contented mind. growing trust, born of experience, in the precognitive knowledge that happiness is here, not elsewhere.
presence with myself and others. less need to squirm out of an uncomfortable silence. easier connection. more empathy. less judgement.
clarity with each of the senses, and steadier attention. a higher-fidelity experience all around.
patience. acceptance. non-judgement. equanimity. compassion. gratitude. determination.
doesn’t it also have something to do with waking up to the fundamental nature of consciousness and reality or something
it does seem to be pretty helpful for this aim, yes. i’m wary of writing too much here because i make no claims of being an enlightened being, and i prefer to write from my own experience as much as possible. i will say that descriptions of awakened consciousness — famously impossible to describe — make more and more deep sense to me, especially in last few years since i’ve had extended retreat practice.
maybe it will suffice to say that, based on my practice, my study, my contemplation, my life, and relationships with my friends and mentors, i think that the four noble truths of buddhism are essentially correct (as much as anything is correct), in that they are pointing at something quite real (as much as anything is real).
there is a deep view that almost everyone is walking around with, characterized by the buddha as avijjā or “ignorance,” that leads to a pervasive quality of existence he called dukkha and we can attempt to translate as “suffering” or “unsatisfactoriness.” (this quality can be extraordinarily subtle at times, and other times it can be unfathomably painful.)
there is a proximate cause for dukkha, which he called taṇhā, and we might call “craving” or “thirst.” sometimes it is said “the cause of suffering is desire” which is terribly misleading, not only because dukkha is a much broader concept than suffering, but also because “desire” as we sometimes understand the word is actually innocent, and what’s more, it is an extremely useful and important factor of mind. taṇhā can be thought of, rather, as a way we habitually *attach* ourselves to desire, a way we think reality will be mistaken if it does not conform to our desire.
there is the relinquishing of taṇhā, which in turn leads to the cessation of dukkha. i don’t feel qualified to elaborate on the third noble truth in great detail, again, as i prefer to write from experience. certainly, i have seen many times how with the releasing of my attachment to an aspect of experience being a certain way, the dukkha pertaining to that matter ceases to be. but the third noble truth seems to point to a categorical, rather than situational, relinquishment of craving and end to dukkha. what this really means isn’t expressible in language, and even a simple phrase like “the end of dukkha” is extremely prone to misunderstanding. i will claim to misunderstand it much less than i used to, but to claim full understanding is to claim to be a fully enlightened being. on top of this, different texts, different traditions, different living teachers, describe this quite differently, and it’s not for me to say if they are all describing the same “thing” or not — especially because in the end, awakening isn’t a “thing” at all. nevertheless, it does seem clear that as long as we are still operating from avijjā (“ignorance”), an utterly profound, utterly liberating, (and utterly ordinary) transformation of experience (that brings us nowhere other than where we already were) is available.
there is a way that leads to the cessation of dukkha, and that way is another list called the noble eightfold path. for me the headline here is that there is anything at all we can do about this state of affairs. i won’t go through all of the eightfold path here, but i do believe it is a deeply elegant and very powerful framework, and will mention that meditation is a vital component of it. personally, i am not fully convinced that the *exact* makeup of the eightfold path is a natural law in the same way that taṇhā causing dukkha is. or one might say - the eightfold path may reliably lead to awakening (especially if one also agrees that it may take more than one lifetime), but it is not necessarily the only framework and way of practice that is conducive to awakening. this seems borne out even by the examples of mahayana and vajrayana buddhism, which do not negate the eightfold path (well, actually the heart sutra negates everything) but do treat it less centrally.
ok jeez, kinda scary to put my own statement of and views on the four noble truths out here in a public essay! big undertaking! 🤪 anyway, i see it as relevant to the essay because ultimately this is the context of buddhist meditation practices. this is very much “what meditation is good for,” and may be motivating for some readers. it certainly is for me.
for descriptions of the deep end of the path from those who can speak from personal experience, i would recommend “awake: it’s your turn” by angelo dilullo, “near enemies of the truth” by christopher wallis, “the science of enlightenment” by shiznen young, “the noble eightfold path” by bhikkhu bodhi, and “seeing that frees” by rob burbea.
how bout the science
honestly i haven’t read the science, but in the interest of making this a comprehensive piece i want to at the very least nod to the fact that the tools of scientific investigation seem to be finding a lot of interesting and compelling things about various forms of meditation practice, including a large variety of cognitive, neurological, psychological, and physiological benefits.
one could read “altered traits” by daniel goleman and richard davidson for an in-depth look at the state of the research (as it was in 2018, anyway).
so! moving on:
how can meditation go wrong?
there are more than a few failure modes and pitfalls to watch out for. ultimately, i would say that meditation practice can directly or indirectly strengthen the very skills needed to avoid all of these issues — but that doesn’t mean they can be ignored.
spiritual bypassing
it is possible to get so good at concentrating the mind that one can use it as a sort of pacifier, a way to avoid things that need attention. it is possible to get so good at essentially taking the suffering out of phenomena that one can also ignore things that need attention. it is possible to (mis)use various concepts from meditation instructions and from buddhist philosophy to be misaligned with the greatest good.
spiritual materialism
it can be hard not to take “being a meditator,” or having attended such-and-such retreats, or having worked with so-and-so teacher, as fuel for building up one’s ego. one can become focused on claiming attainments and defending their status as an attained being, or as a teacher (please call me in if you see me doing this). one can also have actually experienced significant openings and still misuse the idea of them in this way. some amount of identity-formation is normal and i would argue a healthy part of the process, but in excess, it can stall one’s progress greatly, and it may lead to unskillful interactions with others as well.
one can also become fixated on meditative attainments as the only worthy goal in life, or a necessary goal to be achieved sometime in the future, which takes one away from the actual intent of practice which has more to do with fully arriving in the now. one can get lost in always chasing a newer and shinier technique, tradition, or teacher.
spiritual idolization
one can think (or be told!) that meditation automatically makes one a better person, in terms of worth or in terms of moral behavior. one can think that an enlightened being or meditation teacher is always right, is incapable of causing harm or of acting abusively. one can think a community of meditators is immune from prejudicial systemic biases or other organizational maladies. of course, none of this is true.
spiritual dogmatism
one can become convinced that a particular lineage or a particular teacher is the “one true way” to practice, and thus become defensive in response to any views or questions that would challenge the views espoused by that tradition. in the extreme, this can lead to violence, as has happened in various times and places throughout buddhist history. less drastically but still of great consequence, one can miss the wisdom that is available to them from various viewpoints, and one can insist to others that they stay away from any other tradition, when, in fact, another teacher or tradition may be very fruitful to others.
i am not meaning to say in this passage that i think every practitioner must engage with a variety of traditions — indeed it is quite common for many practitioners to practice mostly or totally within one tradition. it’s more of a question of how tightly one holds the views of their tradition. (this is one reason i love the heart sutra, which systematically lists every major buddhist framework and declares them each to be empty, empty, empty!)
psychological risks
it is possible for a variety of adverse effects to manifest from meditation practice. some risk factors include certain mental health conditions, trauma history, sudden significant increase in practice intensity, unstable life conditions such as navigating major grief or stress, and lack of guidance.
cheetah house, an organization dedicated specifically to supporting meditators in distress, lists a variety of possible adverse symptoms, categorized into the affective (emotional), cognitive, somatic, perceptual, sense-of-self, conative (relating to motivation), and social domains.
one tool i have learned to mitigate risk is to watch for any signs of hyperarousal or dissociation that may be occurring. if one has a narrow window of tolerance, it is possible (especially with the help of a trained guide) to safely learn to stay within the window of tolerance, and eventually to expand the window of tolerance.
the psychological risks of meditation practice increase along with the “dosage” of meditation one is engaging in, with significant adverse effects being a less common occurrence outside of silent retreat practice. as with any practice or medicine, i always think it’s wise to start slow, see how the body and mind respond, to be in conversation and community with friends and mentors who have experience, and to increase dosage as desired at a moderate pace.
some meditation techniques are also more prone to be destabilizing than others. for example, one technique is designed to help a practitioner see the rapidly fluctuating, insubstantial, and existentially unsatisfactory nature of all sensory experience (more prone), while another technique is designed to help a practitioner hold themselves and all beings with a heart of compassion (less prone).
in addition to cheetah house, david treleaven’s book “trauma-sensitive mindfulness” is an excellent resource.
what is (early buddhist) meditation not good for? (or, not usually sufficient for on its own)
since meditation operates on the nature of conscious experience, and everything we experience is definitionally within the realm of conscious experience, there is a sense in which meditation is good for everything. at the same time, there are a whole host of internal and external human endeavors that meditation is not exactly the go-to tool for. AND, meditation can often be very helpful in increasing the efficacy of the thing that IS the go-to tool.
what counts as meditation is a fuzzy line, which makes delineating what meditation is and isn’t good for also fuzzy. in this section, i am going to include some areas that fairly “standard” meditation practices, especially from the theravada and insight traditions, don’t address, but that may be addressed by other types of meditation that are slightly off the beaten path.
relational skills
while all of the qualities i listed having developed from my own meditation practice are immensely helpful in relating and being connected with others in my life, i have found that relational skills also need to be practiced directly. there are a huge number of avenues and modalities for this, including circling, authentic relating, non-violent communication, VIEW from “the art of accomplishment,” insight dialogue, and others.
attachment wound healing
while lovingkindness meditations in particular can help ease some of the difficulties around avoidant, anxious, and disorganized attachment styles, it is also possible to accrue quite a lot of meditation practice experience and benefits without addressing this area.
there is a meditation technique designed specifically for attachment healing however, known as ideal parent figure protocol (or IPF for short). it is a visualization exercise in which one imagines themself as a young child, having all their needs for secure attachment (such as safety, attunement, being delighted in, being comforted) met, and feeling this in the body.
ultimately, i think that practicing secure relating probably also has to happen in the actual context of relationships, not just alone in one’s mind.
trauma healing
while meditation practices can strengthen a number of capacities useful in trauma healing (such as nervous system regulation, expansion of the window of tolerance, development of self-compassion, increased internal awareness of the body), many people may find it helpful to engage with therapists and modalities who work more directly with trauma, including internal family systems (IFS), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), somatic experiencing (SE), psychedelic-assisted therapy, or many others.
bodywork
there are a countless number of bodywork modalities that may address issues that would be less likely to be resolved through meditation practice alone. a very incomplete list could include alexander technique, rosen method, hellerwork, massage, reiki or other forms of energy work (there’s a lot of hacks out there but it also seems like something real is going on), dance (i’m partial to ecstatic dance and contact improv), various types of breathwork, qigong, taichi, yoga asana, and of course things like aerobic exercise, strength training, and mobility training.
shadow work
while many areas of the psyche end up getting aired out and brought into the light through meditation practices, it is also possible for significant tangles to stay out of sight, even for highly awakened beings. it therefore may be useful to look directly at issues like gender, sexuality, money, prejudice, repressed emotions such as rage, grief, unworthiness, terror, or pleasure, and projections with others such as partners, children, or authority figures.
artistic sensibility, purpose, imaginal exploration
undoubtedly, meditative benefits such as increased sensory clarity, more access to compassion, and reduced rumination and neuroticism, all will be helpful in this domain. and, there are particular practices and frameworks, such as rob burbea’s soulmaking dharma, or offerings from bill plotkin’s animas valley institute, that are much more directly concerned with very deep aspects of the psyche that have to do with archetype, meaning, purpose, beauty, and expression. the artist’s way also comes to mind as set of practices that address creativity.
critical thinking skills
interestingly, it is possible to be quite wise in the sense of having seen through the delusions that shroud the true nature of phenomena, and still make simple errors in reasoning and logic. there are courses in logic offered at universities, or online. i’m told the philosopher’s toolkit is an excellent resource.
getting things done in the world
there’s a joke for meditators that goes “don’t just do something! sit there!” this succinctly points at a fundamental way meditation is of value for getting things done in the world. the reactivity we habitually have around all aspects of our lives typically is quite strong, and operates on many levels. when we are reactive, when we “just do something” out of habit (the habit of taṇhā, actually), the effects of our actions are much more likely to be misaligned with what our deepest desires truly are. by cultivating stillness, by “sitting there,” we can make space for more and more of the natural wisdom of life to flow through us, leading us to wiser and wiser somethings to do.
this said, there’s no question that the practice of sitting and seeing how much nothing you can do is different than the practice of being an active agent on planet earth. if you recall the very first paragraph of this essay, i am quite concerned with getting things done in the world that need doing. the art of accopmlishment, for one, seems quite good at helping people create the internal conditions that lead to external flourishing. and there are any number of skills and techniques that are focused on very practical matters of execution, such as david allen’s getting things done.
is teaching and learning meditation “important” work?
it’s definitely helpful. it helps people suffer less. it helps people care more. it helps people be themselves. it helps people see clearly.
all of those things matter intrinsically to me. and they also all have vital utility for the dream of seeing the better world our hearts know is possible.
i don’t think everyone in the world needs to or “should” meditate, that wouldn’t make any sense. people have healthy and beautiful and meaningful lives without engaging with buddhist meditation all the time.
and clearly, it’s not the right tool for every job. i don’t think any one tool could be right for every job. it feels honest and good to remember how much these particular practices are one piece of a very big puzzle.
but yeah, i think it’s important. i think it’s worthwhile.
all done
ok i think that more or less covers it! meditate if you want to! don’t if you don’t want to! if you want help, let me know, i like helping!
my online course, “meditation fundamentals: practicing for a free heart” is now launched and accepting participants! it’s an 8-week long program beginning april 12th designed to help beginners establish a regular meditation practice that is of benefit to their lives, and will also be helpful for anyone who already has meditation experience and wants the support of instruction and community as well.
the other essays in this series are on the questions “who the hell do i think i am to teach meditation,” “how do i want to relate to money and meditation teaching” and “what is my pedagogical philosophy around teaching meditation”
Why do you start sentences in lower case?
This is the most thorough + beautifully written expounding on meditation I've ever come across. Thank you, for taking the time to create such a resource!!