The three things that fix most sitting problems

After eighteen years of teaching, nearly every problem a new meditator brings me comes down to one of three things.

Posture. If your back is collapsing, your mind will follow. Sit on the front edge of a cushion so your hips are above your knees. That single change resolves more restlessness than any technique.

Expectation. You are not trying to stop thoughts. The noticing is the practice. A session where you caught yourself wandering two hundred times was two hundred repetitions of the actual skill.

Duration. Ten honest minutes daily beats an hour on Sunday. Consistency builds the groove; heroics do not.

What I never say: that this will cure anything. It will change your relationship to your own attention. That is enough.