Many meditators will have started their practice with the inclusion of short concentrated meditation sessions in their daily routine. Most meditation tutorials will have the meditator sit cross-legged with a straight spine, relax, close their eyes and concentrate on something (breathing, thoughts, sensations, messages, mantras or visualizations) for some time. As their practice evolves, meditators will increase the time of meditation to around 20 minutes or multiples of 20 minutes (unit of meditation time - it’s the time it takes for an average incense stick to burn). There might not be much variation in the actual method of meditation.

There are many merits to having a daily meditation routine, regardless of the specific type of meditation one decides to practice. A person who sticks to their routine will certainly develop a higher level of calmness, awareness | consciousness and inner peace. During the rest of the day, when one is not meditating, the level of chaos in the mind will slowly increase but that’s acceptable. There’s always the rewarding calm of the next session at the end of the day or at the start of the next day. The meditation practice becomes a grounding beacon of stillness in the chaotic movement of everyday life.

There are many ways in which a meditator can deepen their practice outside of the dimension of session duration. For example, one can meditate in different environments with different levels of distractions that allow a practitioner to build concentration strength. One can play with doing their meditation outside in a park, where people walk by or eventually in a crowded mall where different smells, noises and the idea of interrogating eyes might pose interesting hurdles to overcome. One can decide to leave their phone notifications on and see if they can still attain perfect stillness. Sometimes I like to meditate in the same room where my children are playing and hear them argue about who owns what toy. This type of distraction is more personal compared to a busy mall and thus builds another level of detachment.

All this is very useful for a meditator but at this point they can still be identifying their meditation practice by using a certain method that is executed on a routine basis with a certain frequency. There is meditation time and there is no-meditation time. Many people refer to this no-meditation time as ‘real life’, which is an interesting idea as well. We might identify as a meditator for some part of the day and have some kind of profession during the rest of the day, for example. Effectively we’re still stuck inside a structure, a belief, a spiritual practice with an identity and are building an egoic structure around it, albeit a spiritual one. Wasn’t letting go and breaking down the ego the entire point of the practice? So how do we now break out of this new structure we just built around us?

At the end of the day - the routine execution of any technique will create a new structure. That’s fine, by doing this routine we have crossed over towards a platform where we can be still and concentrated for extended periods of time, where we can accept everything as it is and observe things keenly without being attached to them. Now that we have crossed that river, we are free to step out of the boat that brought us there - the practice itself.

It is now time to drop the boundary between life and practice - such that everyday life becomes meditation and meditation becomes everyday life. No more technique, no more practice. At the end of the meditation, open your eyes, start moving and continue the meditation. Stay aware of everything while going through the day. Accept everything that happens, whether you are observing some thoughts, whether your boss shouts at you or whether some calamity hits the city. Observe the yin and yang of things and never consciously stop the meditation - and when you realize thoughts have taken over - accept that and continue building awareness. Find the space between sentences and in any transition from here to there.

One might ask this question - am I ready? When do I start deepening my practice to this level? Should I not improve my awareness and stillness to a higher degree? A possible answer could be: in any event it is what it is and you are where you are. If you are interested in deepening your practice then arguably you’d have to start somewhere and sometime. What better place than here? What better time than now? Give it a try and then - stop trying.

Just realize where you come from:
this is the essence of wisdom.