Welcome to the Meditation Oasis podcast.

This is Mary Maddox.

The essence of meditation is effortlessness.

This guided meditation will help you to experience greater ease in meditation

by learning to let go of effort.

There are three main reasons why we try to harden meditation. by learning to let go of effort.

There are three main reasons why we try to harden meditation.

One is that we're trying hard to do it right.

The first thing to understand is that there are no mistakes in meditation. Think of meditation more as self-discovery than as an actual practice with instructions that you have to follow.

The second is, we're resisting something that's going on in our experience,

resisting something that's unpleasant or that we feel

shouldn't be there.

The third reason is that we're trying to make ourselves feel a certain way, trying to make

ourselves be calm and peaceful.

But calm and peace come about when we're at ease, not when we're trying.

Now we'll begin the meditation.

Take some time to find a comfortable position, either sitting or lying down.

So we want to start with as much physical ease as possible.

Let your body move the way it wants to move and settle down and

let yourself find the most comfortable position.

And now close your eyes.

Take a nice, deep breath and relax into the exhalation of the breath.

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