Welcome to the Meditation Wases 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.

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 become and peaceful.

But common piece 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 how close your eyes.

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

Bring your attention to the belly and allow your belly to relax.

Now take another deep breath and let it go right into the belly.

And again, relaxing into the exhalation of the breath.

And now just letting the breath go on its own.

Life breathes the breath.

Breathing happens without effort.

You can be as effortless as the breath.

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