Meditation: The Art of Paying Attention

What is Meditation?

Meditation is nothing more than showing up. Right here, right now. Fully present. Feeling just this moment. Thinking only of this. Experiencing this. Not looking for anything else, not trying to escape or achieve, but simply being. Meditation is deep listening, a full-bodied awareness, a curiosity to see what is—without judgment, without resistance.

Over thousands of years, systems and techniques have been developed to help guide people into this state of attention. Many of these systems were designed for young men in monasteries—structured practices built upon the insights of those who sought to make the path to presence clear and repeatable. But the core truth remains the same: Meditation is about touching the highest part of ourselves, the part that sees clearly, that is unburdened, that is awake.

This is not separate from the part of us that seeks God, if we experience God as an external being or force. No matter our framework, we contact that force through something within us. Meditation, then, is the refining of our inner antenna, the dusting off of our ability to perceive clearly, so we can more fully sense the reality of our lives and respond skillfully.

Put simply, we better understand what is happening when we pay more attention. Meditation is the study of paying attention. It is literally attention itself.

The Currency of Our Time: Attention

Attention is the most valuable resource in existence. It is what the world fights for, what businesses buy and sell, what entire industries are designed to capture. We are told that money, paper, or digital transactions run the world, but in truth, where attention goes, energy flows, and that thing grows.

You can see this in your own experience: Whatever you look at fills your eye, and whatever fills your eye fills your mind. This is simple consumption logic. So meditation, at its core, is about choosing where to place your attention.

It is not about controlling outcomes, not about forcing effects—it is simply about seeing. Because in reality, every single event in our lives has incalculable causes. A reverse firework of influences leads to every chance meeting, every car accident, every unexpected moment of grace. We want to pinpoint single causes, to find blame, but a wise mind understands that no one cause ever exists in isolation. Judgment, therefore, is always an error.

Meditation trains us not to judge. Not just because judgment harms others, but because it harms us. Every judgment against another is a judgment against the human experience itself, and some part of us, deep inside, takes offense. Meditation teaches humility—the humility to understand that we will never have all the information. If we did, we would never resist what is happening. No matter how frightening, painful, or unjust it may seem from our limited view, with full knowledge, we would see it differently.

Equanimity and the End of Fear

Another result of meditation is equanimity—the ability to see beyond our labels of “good” and “bad” into the wholeness of life itself. Meditation brings a quiet contentment, not swayed by cravings for happiness or avoidance of pain, but instead satisfied in the simple presence of being.

This is why, in scripture, we are called to rejoice in what is given. Meditation is training in how to rejoice—not in a forced or performative way, but because when we truly see what is happening, when we listen deeply, there is always something to rejoice in.

When we stop scattering our attention, when we stop chasing every impulse of fear, worry, and distraction, the chaos settles. The noise dims. The light of understanding emerges, and we realize:

• We are okay.

• Life is neither against us nor for us; it simply is.

• Bad and good will come and go, but we are resilient.

• Peace is not found through force or avoidance, but through openness.

Meditation is, at its heart, the path to the end of fear. And if there is any true purpose to the study of Jyotish, or to any yoga, it is this: to be fearless.

To live without fear is to be truly free. Not arrogant, not proud, not combative—just free. Unshackled from the constant push and pull of the world. Meditation is the path to this kind of freedom.

The Oak Tree and the Human Mind

When an oak tree grows, it does not question itself. It does not wonder if it is doing it right, if it is becoming the right kind of oak. It simply follows its inner blueprint, responding to the conditions around it, adjusting as needed, but always growing as it was meant to.

Meditation helps you listen for your own inner wisdom, so that you don’t have to question whether you are “getting it right.” You simply become what you are.

My Path with Meditation

My first formal meditation training came from my mother, Kama, who taught me body scans from the youngest of ages. She remains my greatest teacher. At 19, she sent me to study Transcendental Meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Later, I used Buddhist meditation techniques during childbirth and in my training as a writer.

In 2016, I returned to formal practice in the Soto Zen tradition and have also trained in Shambhala lineage practices at the initiatory level. Each of these approaches has shaped my understanding of both what meditation is and what it is not.

There is deep value in learning the systems and styles of meditation. While meditation itself is not a system, there are systems that teach meditation. Some train focus and concentration. Others train the ability to return the mind when it wanders. Over time, this strengthens the gap between stimulus and response, giving you more space to choose skillful action instead of reacting impulsively.

There are also forms of guided meditation, visualization, and deeply imaginative states that can be used for spiritual growth—though these, too, can become distractions if not approached with a light hand.

In the basic meditation class I offer once a week, students explore different traditions and techniques, giving them the chance to try what resonates. After about a year, most will have a solid foundation in multiple forms of meditation. But my main recommendation—the distilled essence of everything I have learned—is to focus on the simplest, shortest, and most effective practices for people with real lives and limited time.

For those who want formal training, I recommend a Vipassana training app if studying on your own. or study with our Kriya breath teacher. These are among the most powerful ways to truly experience meditation in its purest form.

Meditation Is an Invitation

Meditation is not a task. It is not a duty. It is an invitation.

An invitation to see clearly. To listen deeply. To be here.

To realize that nothing needs to be changed—only understood.

And in understanding, we find a peaceful way forward.