Once I released these stories I was holding on to, I gave myself permission to start small and messy. I got on Spotify. Put my headphones in. Listened to a guided meditation. Sat on my couch and breathed. Was it perfect? No. Did my mind wander? Constantly. Did it change my life? Gradually, yes.

Because here's what I discovered: meditation didn't make my problems disappear. It didn't make motherhood easier or sobriety simple. But it gave me a way to be with myself through all of it. It created tiny pockets of space between stimulus and reaction. It helped me find my center when everything felt chaotic.

And it can do the same for you. No special cushion required, no empty mind expected, no perfect circumstances demanded.

Meditation isn't a single practice. It's an umbrella term covering dozens of different techniques, each designed to work with different types of minds, bodies, and personalities. Asking everyone to meditate the same way is like asking everyone to learn the same way in school. Some of us need to see it, some need to hear it, and some need to move through it. The meditation practice that changes your life might not involve sitting still at all.

It took me a while to realize that this isn’t about “shutting off” your thoughts. Rather, it’s about changing your relationship with them. And while the outline or exploration of the process might seem simple, it can take time to have breakthroughs, time for a ha moments, time for realizations. But like we say in yoga, “practice and all is coming”.