Faking ZENsations: How I Taught Meditation Without Actually Meditating
Once upon a time, in a land that's not so far from your nearest yoga studio, there was an eager meditation "guru" who was thriving in The Deep Center. Little did those unsuspecting meditation seekers know that their so-called Zen master was as much into practicing meditation as a cat is into tap-dancing.
That isn’t really true. I was meditating once a day instead of twice a day. ( it is in that second meditation that life really upgrades )
Let me introduce myself, the accidental meditation teacher who could talk the talk but had trouble walking the walk.
How did I end up as a meditation teacher, you ask? Well, it started when I picked up a few meditation books so I could stop my mind from racing faster than a Formula 1 car. I began dabbling in some workshops, found an amazing teacher in NYC, and started meditating twice a day for YEARS. But as l the story goes, I started skipping that afternoon session. Before I knew it, the universe conspired to place me at the helm of a meditation class. Fake it 'til you make it, right?
Here's the thing - I did know something about meditation, or at least what to tell others to do. But when it came to actually practicing like I was preaching it in my personal life, not so much. So why did I try to teach something I didn't genuinely do myself? You see, it's human nature to aspire to be better versions of ourselves, and something about teaching meditation made me feel like I accomplished that… or so I thought!
Teaching meditation without practicing it was a journey filled with challenges and moments worth chuckling about. I mean, how can one honestly explain the nuances of a practice that requires sitting still when your inner self feels like you're sitting on a bed of nails?
Student questions often led to me diving into fake depths of wisdom, pulling out grandiose answers that sounded a lot like, "To breathe is to inhale the entire universe and exhale peace back into the world." Meanwhile, my mind was racing, thinking about what I needed to get at the grocery store.
During one class, I gave an exceptionally in-depth talk about the importance of maintaining a consistent meditation schedule to create meaningful progress; of course, my own afternoon meditation sessions were as regular as sightings of Bigfoot. Ah, the irony!
Now, dear readers, let me offer you some sage advice on how to avoid being a faker in your own life:
1. Embrace the "I don't know" – Be honest with yourself and others. Admitting you don't have all the answers is much more endearing than trying to wing it.
2. Keep growing – You don't have to be an expert right out of the gate but continually invest time and effort to learn and improve on the skill at hand.
3. Laugh at yourself – Look, we all stumble or fake our way through situations from time to time. When you can laugh about your mistakes, you'll find it easier to keep things in perspective and move forward.
In conclusion, my experience as a meditation faker has taught me that it's better to be true to oneself and embrace personal growth. Though admitting that I didn't practice meditation twice daily as I preached wasn't easy, it's better than being caught in the web of deceit.
Comment, Brave One. Have you ever faked something you regretted? Drop in the comments.