Anytime Anywhere Meditation

What is meditation, and how do we define it? Meditation is the art of nurturing awareness, love & compassion, and wisdom. It can be used as a practical tool to transform destructive emotional patterns, to cultivate positive qualities like wisdom and compassion, and to and to connect with our innate well-being.

Where can we find true happiness? In the modern world, we are surrounded by unparalleled levels of material wealth and comfort, yet our sophisticated exterior often masks feelings of dissatisfaction, anxiety, and depression. Ironically, it often seems that the more “progress” we see in the world around us, the less content we are with our lives. So, what are the benefits of meditation, and why should we meditate?

One of the primary benefits of meditation is that it shows us that true happiness is found within. The feelings of contentment and wholeness we often seek outside ourselves are actually part of our basic nature. Unfortunately, we have become so habituated to looking outside of ourselves for happiness that we often do not know how to discover this “inner wealth.” Though we all have the potential to find a deep and lasting happiness that does not depend on external circumstances, simply hearing that we already have what we need to be happy is not enough; we need practical methods to uncover our true nature — practices that will enable us to move beyond the cultural conditioning that perpetually tells us that we are incomplete.

Another one of the primary benefits of meditation is that the practice of meditation awakens us to the joy of the present moment. By cultivating attention and awareness, even challenging situations like chronic pain, destructive thought patterns, and difficult emotions can be transformed into sources of inner peace and joy. This inner transformation does not require us to retreat from the world. On the contrary, daily life is filled with endless opportunities to use the practice of mindfulness to find the preciousness of every moment. Meditation is not meant to remove us from the world but to open our hearts and minds to the beauty of what we already have.

For centuries, various forms of meditation have been taught and practiced in virtually all of the world’s religions. While there are important differences between the techniques found in each tradition, they share the belief that true happiness cannot be found in the shifting conditions of the external world but rather by turning inward and exploring the landscape of the heart and mind.

In recent years, meditation has also received a great deal of attention from the scientific community. Researchers from Harvard, MIT, the University of Wisconsin, and many other renowned institutions have explored the effects of meditation on everything from high blood pressure to peak states of consciousness. Their research has shown not only the profound effects that meditation can have on the brains of advanced meditators but also how practicing meditation for only a few minutes a day can create a dramatic increase in the parts of the brain associated with happiness and well-being. Meditation has also been shown to boost the body’s immune system, improve the brain’s capacity to concentrate for extended periods and be an effective treatment for many psychological disorders.

Anyone can practice meditation. The practice of meditation is a process of turning inward to learn about the workings of the mind and how thoughts and emotions shape perception. It does not require one to believe any particular religious doctrine, though many of the world’s greatest sages and saints have used meditation as a way to deepen their understanding and experience of their own faith. Currently, meditation is taught and practiced in healthcare settings to relieve stress and cope with chronic pain, in the corporate world to develop authentic, value-based leadership, and in the educational system to help students concentrate and center themselves.

There is no one approach to meditation that works for everyone. Indeed, the “best” approach is simply the one that works best for you.

Anytime Anywhere Meditation (AAM) captures the essence of meditation practice in a simple, easy-to-apply approach that focuses on the transformative effects of meditation. Through a focus on fundamentals, the AAM course provides participants with an easily understood journey to well-being. Accessible to people of all cultures and faiths, AAM makes meditation practice approachable and effective.

By the end of this workshop, you will:

1. recognize that meditation is a tool for self-discovery, and how awareness, love and compassion, and wisdom are innate qualities within yourself
2. discover how applying short periods of meditation in daily life builds the foundation of a daily meditation practice
3. learn to integrate meditation into your busy life by using challenges, distraction, and judgment as part of the practice
4. begin to develop a personal meditation practice that works with your unique interests, skills, and time
5. experiment with utilizing anything as a support for meditation and gain a deeper understanding of how meditation can support greater well-being

To learn more about the style of meditation practiced in the Tergar community, the easiest way to begin is to take our free, self-guided Intro to Meditation course on the Tergar Learning Community (TLC). You can also read our Top Eleven Books for Beginning Meditators and Best Buddhist Books for beginners, or visit our TLC library, which is full of recommended books, downloadable audio files, videos, and more. Additionally, you can find valuable content on the Mingyur Rinpoche and Tergar Community YouTube channels to further your understanding and practice.

If you feel drawn to our approach, you’re in the right place! If you have questions, feel free to contact a community leader or email us via our contact page. We’d be happy to tell you more about our approach to meditation and help you get started in practice.

The ultimate goal of meditation practice is to be fully in touch with our innate qualities of awareness, love and compassion, and wisdom. This means not just the time one spends in a formal meditation session, but to live fully every moment of one’s life from the innate qualities. That said, setting aside time each day to engage with formal meditation practice is an indispensable part of the process. Most people find that the more time they devote to meditation “on the cushion,” the easier it is to apply meditation to their experiences “off the cushion.”

When beginning a daily meditation practice, it is important to meditate in short, frequent sessions. In AAM, we emphasize the importance of both informal meditation and daily application, along with formal meditation practices. To start, we recommend meditating for 5-10 minutes a day. Consistency is key—it’s more important to meditate daily than to focus on the length of each session.

Research shows that even a daily 5-minute meditation can bring significant benefits to your well-being. By incorporating meditation into your daily life, you can gradually increase the duration as you become more comfortable with the practice.