What is Do Nothing Meditation All About?
The Do Nothing meditation is a way of experiencing “contentless awareness.” It has analogies in many traditions. Do it with our free worksheet below.
And don’t forget to check these 6 Mindful Breathing Exercises. Since the breath provides the oxygen required for every cell in our body to function optimally, we might consider tuning into it more frequently with care and consideration.
The idea behind Do Nothing Meditation
Many spiritual traditions, including Buddhism and Hindu Advaita, teach that the deepest state of awareness is already present in our minds at all times. Many meditation techniques, by contrast, aim to create a special state that wasn’t there before and fades afterward. The worksheet asks a simple question: if that state is always present, could we notice it without inducing any change? The Do Nothing meditation is described as an “un-technique” built around that question.
How to practice Do Nothing Meditation
- There is no need for any particular posture, unless you feel like one.
- Not positioning attention in any particular way, and letting whatever happens happen.
- Any time you notice yourself doing something intentionally, stopping. Anything you can voluntarily stop doing, you can stop. If you can’t stop something, it isn’t intentional, and there is nothing to try to stop.
- Examples of things to stop: intentionally thinking, trying to focus on something specific, trying to have equanimity, trying to keep track of what’s going on, and trying to meditate.
- Continuing to do nothing for at least 10 minutes, or as long as you like.
Background and cautions
The worksheet says the experience is roughly similar to Krishnamurti’s “choiceless attention” and related to meditations in the Tibetan dzogchen tradition and to many lineages of Hindu Advaita, including the teaching of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. It is also close to neti-neti (“not this, not that”) and to the Self Inquiry taught by Ramana Maharshi. Many traditions consider it an advanced or difficult meditation, though some teachers have noted that beginners can do it.
It may be hard to tell the difference between this practice and a restless, racing mind. If that happens, a more structured technique, such as mindful breathing, may suit you better.
