I wasn’t even trying to meditate. I wasn’t searching for any great truth. I was just talking on the phone and then I recalled a scene from a movie called Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

In that scene, the heartbroken protagonist is distracting himself by taking surf lessons. The surf instructor on the beach is teaching him how to achieve a proper mount on a surfboard. The man, paying full attention to his lesson, lies on the surfboard on the beach. The instructor tells him “The less you do, the more you do”. “Let’s see you pop up. Pop it up!” He then not so graciously stands on the surfboard. “That’s not it at all. Try less.” he says, “Do it again.” “Pop up.” As he shakes his head with impatience, the surf instructor says “Remember, don’t do anything. Nothing.”

Great advice.

This is actually an analogy for the practice of meditation. You cannot do meditation. Meditation is the process of not thinking, of not doing. This scene is an analogy for meditation. The the instructor was actually echoing the teachings of an elevated yogi or an enlightened guru.

What we learn is that you cannot do meditation. It is the act of not doing. If you are doing a meditation, you’re doing it wrong.