Bliss More

Bliss More Plot Summary

Introduction

Have you ever found yourself struggling to quiet your busy mind? Perhaps you've tried meditation before but became frustrated when your thoughts wouldn't cooperate, or maybe you believed that your restless nature simply made you unsuitable for meditation. Many of us carry these misconceptions—that meditation requires perfect stillness, an empty mind, or monk-like discipline. In reality, these misunderstandings may be the very barriers keeping you from experiencing the profound benefits that await on the other side of a consistent practice. The truth is that meditation isn't about fighting against your thoughts or achieving some perfect state of mental emptiness. It's about learning to work with your mind exactly as it is. The approach you're about to discover turns conventional meditation wisdom on its head, offering a counterintuitive yet remarkably effective path to inner peace. By embracing rather than resisting your natural thought patterns, you'll find that meditation can become not just manageable but genuinely enjoyable—something you look forward to rather than force yourself to endure. This journey begins with understanding that your supposedly "busy mind" isn't an obstacle but actually the perfect vehicle for meditation success.

Chapter 1: Discover Your Comfortable Meditation Position

The conventional image of meditation often involves sitting cross-legged on the floor with a perfectly straight spine, hands resting on the knees with thumbs and forefingers touching to form circles. This posture has become so synonymous with meditation that many believe it's the only "correct" way to meditate. However, this rigid approach to positioning often creates unnecessary discomfort that can sabotage your meditation experience before it even begins. Light Watkins, after years of struggling with meditation himself, discovered that comfort is actually paramount to successful meditation. He shares how his own early meditation attempts were hampered by following the monk-like approach: "I had notoriously tight hamstrings, which prohibited me from being able to sit with my legs crossed and back straight for more than a few minutes without writhing in pain." This physical discomfort made meditation feel like torture rather than a path to bliss. It wasn't until he met his meditation teacher who suggested sitting comfortably with back support—on a couch or in a chair—that his meditation practice transformed. This revelation might seem trivial, but it fundamentally changes the meditation experience. When your body is uncomfortable, your mind remains hyperaware of the discomfort, making it nearly impossible to settle. Watkins recounts teaching a yoga instructor who arrived at his studio with a meditation cushion, determined to sit in the traditional cross-legged position despite Watkins emphasizing the importance of comfort. When asked where he sits when binge-watching TV, the instructor indicated his comfortable couch position. "That's how I recommend you sit for meditation!" Watkins advised. Though skeptical, the instructor tried this approach and reported that the meditation was significantly more relaxing than any he had experienced in yoga class. To find your ideal meditation position, consider where you naturally feel most comfortable when relaxing. Your meditation posture should involve sitting with your back supported, whether on a couch, in a reading chair, or any place that feels effortless. You can stretch your legs out, use pillows for extra lower back support, cross your arms, or wrap yourself in a blanket. The goal is supreme comfort and coziness. This approach doesn't just make meditation more pleasant—it's actually necessary for success. What about the environment? While internet images might suggest you need a serene white room, a cliffside vista, or a Japanese garden, real people meditate successfully in ordinary places: on their couches, in bed, at work, or in the passenger seat of a car. The ideal meditation environment is simply anywhere you can sit comfortably with back support. By releasing the notion that you need perfect silence or serenity, meditation becomes portable, and mobility leads to consistency. Remember that meditation is never about how it looks from the outside—it's about how your body feels on the inside. When your body is comfortable, your mental experience will follow quite effortlessly. Position yourself as if you're settling in to watch your favorite show, and you'll be perfectly positioned for meditation success.

Chapter 2: Allow Your Mind to Wander Freely

One of the biggest misconceptions about meditation is that success depends on your ability to quiet or control your thoughts. This mistaken belief has led countless people to conclude they're simply "not good at meditation" because their minds feel too busy. Think of how many people would respond to the question "Would you be good at meditation?" with doubt about their ability due to their "busy mind." Yet this is as absurd as suggesting you're too out of shape to exercise. The surprising truth that Watkins discovered is that your supposedly "busy mind" isn't an obstacle to meditation but actually the vehicle for its success. To understand this, consider a simple experiment: close your eyes and try to focus exclusively on polar bears for thirty seconds. What happens? Most people experience a scattering of unrelated thoughts interspersed with polar bear thoughts. Now try the opposite—think about anything except polar bears. Suddenly, polar bears are everywhere in your mind! This phenomenon, which psychologist Dr. Daniel Wegner studied extensively, demonstrates that whether we try to focus on something specific or attempt to ban a thought, the result is mental activity, not stillness. George witnessed this firsthand as a struggling playwright in Chicago. When he began meditation, he worried his wandering thoughts would prevent success. However, he discovered that embracing rather than fighting his stream-of-consciousness thinking actually made him a natural at meditation. His acting background had already taught him to surrender to thought flow. After consistent practice, George experienced remarkable benefits—his chronic foot pain disappeared, his hypertension improved dramatically, and his gut problems resolved. All this occurred not by controlling his thoughts but by allowing them to roam freely. The E.A.S.Y. approach to meditation that Watkins teaches stands for Embrace, Accept, Surrender, and Yield. Rather than practicing exclusivity (trying to block out "distracting" thoughts), this approach celebrates inclusivity—treating all thoughts, sensations, and emotions as 100% legitimate parts of meditation. When you embrace whatever arises, accept that whatever is happening should be happening, surrender your expectations, and yield to the natural flow of your mind, meditation becomes effortless rather than laborious. This counterintuitive approach is like learning to swim. As Watkins shares from his own experience learning to swim as an adult, fighting against water makes it your enemy, but moving in concert with water allows you to glide through it efficiently. Similarly, meditation isn't about stopping your thoughts, but learning how to navigate them. When you stop resisting what naturally occurs in meditation and instead embrace it all—even boredom, random thoughts, or physical sensations—you'll find your mind naturally begins to settle. The practical application is simple: during meditation, when you notice your mind wandering (which it will), don't judge yourself or try to force your attention back. Instead, gently acknowledge the wandering and passively return to your meditation technique. This gentle approach, practiced consistently, leads to a profoundly settled mind and, ultimately, the bliss that meditation promises.

Chapter 3: Practice with Your Settling Sound

At the heart of the E.A.S.Y. meditation approach lies a powerful tool that has been used for thousands of years in various meditation traditions—a settling sound, or what some traditions call a mantra. In India, generations of sages and gurus have spent millennia researching and refining techniques specifically designed to settle the busy human mind, with sound vibrations being one of their most effective discoveries. The settling sound recommended in this approach is "ah-hum," pronounced as "ah" (like when sticking your tongue out saying "Ahhhhh") and "hum" (as in humming a tune). This sound isn't chosen for its literal meaning (though in Sanskrit it happens to mean "I am totality"), but rather for its vibrational qualities that can help even the busiest mind settle with ease. Think of this sound as creating a form of inner "white noise" that produces a gradual settling effect on your mind and body. Mona, a self-described "health nut" and vegetarian who had been meticulously caring for her physical health for decades, experienced something quite unexpected after incorporating the settling sound into her meditation practice. About two weeks after starting, she began to taste and smell cigarette smoke during her meditations. The sensation was so strong that she repeatedly interrupted her practice to check if someone was smoking nearby or if smoke was entering through a vent. After experimenting with different meditation locations and finding the sensation followed her, she realized it was an internal phenomenon. When discussing this with Watkins, Mona revealed that although she currently lived a very healthy lifestyle and avoided secondhand smoke, there had been a brief period in her early twenties when she occasionally smoked cigarettes—over forty years ago! The settling sound had somehow accessed this long-forgotten experience stored in her cellular memory. This demonstrates how the settling sound works as a kind of "Drano" for the mind, helping to dissolve and release old stress patterns that have been hidden away for decades. Using the settling sound is surprisingly simple. Unlike what many associate with mantras, you don't chant or focus intensely on "ah-hum." Instead, you think it passively and softly, almost like a whisper in your mind. To practice, try elongating the syllables: "Aaaaaaaaaah-huuuuummmmm." Think it slowly and gently, without forcing or straining. If you notice the sound naturally syncing with your breathing rhythm, that's a good sign you're using it with the perfect tone and cadence. During meditation, expect your settling sound to fade away periodically as your mind wanders to other thoughts. This is completely normal and actually indicates correct practice. When you notice the sound has disappeared, simply return to thinking it passively. There's no need to feel frustrated about losing track of it—this coming and going is part of the process. In a typical meditation, you'll only be aware of the settling sound in spurts—thirty seconds here, a minute there—with random thoughts in between. The settling sound serves as a gentle guide that helps direct your mind away from focused thinking and toward the settled-mind zone. As you practice consistently, you'll find that this simple tool creates a reliable pathway to deeper states of relaxation and awareness. Remember that the effectiveness of the settling sound increases with practice, so be patient with yourself as you incorporate it into your meditation routine.

Chapter 4: Transform Stress into Peaceful Energy

One of the most valuable yet counterintuitive aspects of meditation is how it helps transform stress into peaceful energy through a process called "de-stressing." When your body experiences high-quality rest through meditation, it naturally begins to release accumulated stress—often in ways that might initially seem strange or even uncomfortable. Dr. Herbert Benson, a Harvard cardiologist who pioneered research on meditation in the 1960s, made a remarkable discovery while studying meditators. He found that meditation induces a physiological state distinct from waking, sleeping, or dreaming—what he called "the relaxation response." This state is characterized by significant decreases in heart rate, oxygen consumption, respiratory rate, and blood pressure. Twenty minutes of meditation, Dr. Benson observed, produces rest equivalent to an hour of deep sleep, making meditation an extraordinarily effective tool for combating stress. Cole, an assistant basketball coach at a large southern university, experienced this stress-transformation power firsthand. At just 27 years old, Cole was diagnosed with dangerous hypertension (150/80) due to the high-pressure environment of Division I basketball coaching. His doctor offered three options: aggressive drug treatment, retirement from coaching, or meditation. Though skeptical, Cole chose meditation as his only viable option to maintain his career. Within his first year of consistent practice, Cole saw his blood pressure drop to 135/70 without medication. Even his doctor was amazed at how quickly this happened. What makes this transformation process interesting is that it often manifests in unexpected ways during meditation. You might experience weird sensations, memories from your distant past, strange sounds or smells, racing heart, body temperature changes, spontaneous emotions, or even negative thoughts. These symptoms aren't signs that meditation isn't working—quite the opposite. They indicate your body is actively releasing stored stress. Johnny, a twelve-year-old with severe ADHD, demonstrated this principle dramatically. During his first meditation sessions, Johnny experienced extreme physical jerking and jumping—movements so violent that both he and his mother grew embarrassed and frustrated. Rather than viewing these movements as failures, Watkins encouraged Johnny to embrace them: "If you're not jumping around, then you're not doing it right." By accepting rather than resisting these physical manifestations, Johnny was able to experience profound stillness in subsequent sessions. His mother later reported that his ADHD symptoms diminished significantly outside of meditation as well. The reason for these sometimes bizarre experiences lies in how the body stores stress. Whenever we experience distressing emotions like fear, sadness, or anger, our bodies produce powerful chemicals designed to help us escape danger. These chemicals, while useful in truly threatening situations, become toxic when produced regularly in response to everyday stressors. Moreover, our bodies store "stress triggers"—sensory memories associated with past traumas that can activate the stress response when encountered again. Meditation works like a washing machine for these accumulated stress triggers. As your body relaxes deeply, it begins releasing old stress patterns, sometimes causing you to temporarily re-experience associated sensations or emotions. While this may muddy individual meditation sessions, the real measure of success is how you feel outside of meditation—more rested, less reactive, and better able to adapt to life's challenges. Remember, when you experience a particularly thought-filled or sensation-heavy meditation, try reframing it from "My mind was too busy" to "Wow, my body just released a lot of stress!" This shift in perspective will help you celebrate the healing process rather than judge your meditation experience. The real evidence of meditation's effectiveness isn't what happens during your practice but how you show up in life as a result.

Chapter 5: Build a Consistent Meditation Routine

Establishing a consistent meditation practice is like learning to fly a plane—you need to achieve "liftoff" by maintaining enough momentum to break through initial resistance. The magic number for breaking the habit of not meditating is ninety days of consistent practice. After about three months of daily meditation, you'll reach a point where most sessions feel blissful and meditation becomes something you instinctively prioritize rather than force yourself to do. Otto, a night-time radio DJ and daytime stadium vendor who had battled severe insomnia for years, illustrates the power of consistency. When Otto first arrived at Watkins' meditation training, he looked like "an actual vampire"—pale, wearing dark clothes and sunglasses, and admitting he had been awake for 72 hours straight. He typically slept only about ten hours per week, sometimes going an entire month where his only sleep came during fifteen-minute bus rides. Though initially skeptical that meditation would help when everything else had failed, Otto committed to the practice. The results were dramatic. After his first meditation session, Otto reported: "When you gave me my settling sound and I started repeating it, I immediately felt a restful feeling rolling over the muscles in my face." He went home and slept for about 15 hours, waking only to feed his cat. Then he slept another 15 hours. For the next three months, when not working, Otto often slept for days straight. "The summer of 2011, I slept through most of it, and it brings me joy to think about it," he later wrote. Though still considering himself a "recovering insomniac," Otto now sleeps regularly and has developed a noticeable "meditator's glow." To build your own consistent practice, start with these practical steps. First, mark your calendar by setting daily appointments for meditation in your phone or computer with repeating reminders. Create a rewards system—after seven consecutive days of practice, treat yourself to something special. Alternatively, use the "fine yourself for skipping" approach by setting a monetary penalty (perhaps $50) that you must pay to charity each time you miss a session. Make sure you have everything you need for comfort: a reliable timing device, perhaps a warm blanket, and a comfortable place to sit. If you meditate in your car, keep a small pillow for back support. When traveling, scout potential meditation spots in advance. Surround yourself with support by spending time with other meditators or starting a meditation group with friends. Track your results by keeping a simple meditation journal noting how you feel after each practice compared to before. The optimal meditation schedule includes one session in the morning upon awakening (before breakfast or coffee) and another in the afternoon or early evening, with at least five hours between sessions. Each meditation should last between ten and twenty minutes—no more, no less. This dosage has been carefully calibrated for maximum benefit without overmeditation, which can be counterproductive. Perhaps most importantly, don't be a perfectionist. Sometimes you may need to "phone it in" by meditating in less-than-ideal circumstances, or your session might be interrupted by a delivery or other distraction. Give yourself permission to have imperfect experiences—the only truly bad meditation is the one you skip. As Watkins says, "If you're constantly hitting the brakes, skipping days, and slowing down, you will feel as though you're expending a lot of energy without ever reaching that flow state that every meditator seeks." Remember that even when meditation feels challenging, this is often a sign of progress—your old habit of not meditating is creating resistance as the new habit forms. By persevering through these initial hurdles and maintaining consistency for ninety days, you'll achieve the "wheels up" feeling as meditation becomes an effortless, non-negotiable part of your daily routine.

Chapter 6: Enhance Your Adaptability to Life's Changes

One of the most remarkable benefits of consistent meditation is how it enhances your adaptability to life's inevitable changes and challenges. While meditation won't magically solve all your problems, it creates a buffer between stimulus and response that allows you to navigate life's ups and downs with greater equanimity and resilience. Jennifer, an artist in her sixties who had practiced meditation since her youth but fell away from it during adulthood, experienced this enhanced adaptability firsthand after returning to daily practice. Three years into her renewed meditation journey, Jennifer was walking to her sculpture class when a man on a bicycle raced toward her on the sidewalk. As she moved out of his way, he shouted, "Out of my way, you fat bitch!" Jennifer was initially shocked, but then noticed something surprising: "I was surprised because it didn't hit that place in my upper chest, by my heart, where you get that sinking feeling of the fight/flight response kicking in." Instead of feeling hurt or angry, she calmly reflected on the incident and even found a positive interpretation—taking it as a reminder to stay healthy as she aged. "That's a major improvement from how I would've handled it three years ago, before I returned to my meditation," she observed. Charlie, a college professor and swing dance instructor, experienced an even more profound transformation in his adaptability. For years after his older brother's suicide, Charlie harbored anger and resentment, labeling his brother as "coward," "weak," and "selfish." He would tell people he was an only child to avoid discussing it. After six years of consistent meditation practice (along with therapy), Charlie developed a completely different perspective. He gained insight into how his brother's death had affected his own behavior patterns, particularly his tendency to run from vulnerability in relationships. More importantly, he began to see possibilities beyond suffering: "Through meditating I started to believe that being happy is a possibility and something I can choose. If that idea is true, then the sooner I start to deal with things I've neglected the sooner I can be happy." This increased adaptability also manifests in relationships. Lori, a type-A lawyer in New York, initially felt that meditation wasn't providing the dramatic benefits she expected after a year of practice. However, her husband noticed what she couldn't see: after an argument at dinner that would have previously escalated dramatically, Lori simply moved on instead of dwelling on it. Her husband pointed out, "Three months ago you would have walked out of the restaurant after that discussion and now you just let it go." Though Lori hadn't recognized her own transformation, her increased adaptability was clear to those around her. Justin's story further illustrates how meditation enhances our ability to find joy in previously uncomfortable situations. Justin reluctantly attended weekly Sunday dinners at his sister-in-law's house, someone he didn't get along with, only because it was important to his wife. He would always announce upon arrival that they needed to leave right after the meal due to an "early morning" the next day. After just two days of meditation practice, Justin found himself lingering at the dinner table, enjoying the evening, and even needing to be persuaded by his wife to leave at midnight! The circumstances hadn't changed—same house, same sister-in-law—but Justin had become more adaptable, able to find enjoyment where he previously found only annoyance. The essence of adaptability is captured in a motto Watkins often shares: "Nature's rejection is nature's protection." This perspective helps you see that when something isn't going your way, perhaps it wasn't meant to be, or perhaps you're being spared from experiencing something worse. With consistent meditation, you develop the ability to remain calm when challenges arise, to empathize with difficult people, to let go of minor irritations, and to find meaning in setbacks. This doesn't mean you never experience negative emotions, but they don't linger as long or control your reactions as they once did. By practicing being E.A.S.Y. with your thoughts in meditation, you cultivate a similar attitude toward life's ups and downs. The passive acceptance you practice on your meditation cushion gradually becomes your default response to life's inevitable changes and challenges.

Chapter 7: Cultivate Present Moment Awareness

Mindfulness and meditation are often treated as interchangeable, but they're actually different. As Watkins explains, mindfulness is best understood as the by-product of daily meditation—the end result, not the means. True mindfulness isn't about singling out one sensation to focus on; it's about being present to everything your mind can organically perceive, from the surface to the subtle level. Sarah, a dedicated meditation practitioner, beautifully illustrates how this natural mindfulness emerges. She describes washing vegetables for a salad one day and experiencing a profound sense of presence: "I was present to my hands washing the vegetables, the water beating down on them, and the shiny silver of the sink. I was in a state of calm appreciation." She notes that before learning to meditate, she understood the concept of being present intellectually but found it elusive in practice—"like a short fuse for me: as quickly as I would acknowledge the moment, it disappeared because of a chain of thoughts." Through consistent meditation, these moments of serenity and joy in daily activities became more frequent and lasted longer. This quality of awareness differs significantly from forced mindfulness exercises where you might try to notice every sensation while eating a raisin or focus exclusively on your breath. True mindfulness is being so engaged in the moment that you're not thinking about being in the moment at all. It's similar to the experience of falling in love, witnessing a beautiful sunset, or being "in the zone" during sports—a state where you're so present that you lose awareness of what you're doing, colors appear brighter, sensations are heightened, and time seems to stand still. Joanna's experience after a year of meditation demonstrates how this natural mindfulness transforms one's entire orientation to life: "I awake each day with a wonder of what is in store for me, with a deep sense of anticipation instead of dread, and a knowingness that change is good and when one opportunity has run its course there are still limitless others available to me." She describes how in meditation she "completely let go of the need to control what happens" and stopped caring whether thoughts were present or not. This letting go in meditation translated to a profound shift in her everyday experience of life. True mindfulness also serves as the precursor to intuition—the ability to sense impending change or opportunity before it fully manifests. It's like the sixth sense that animals seem to possess, such as when they fled to higher ground before the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami struck. When your mind is freed from the noise of stress triggers and conditioned responses, you become more attuned to subtle cues and inner nudges that guide you toward growth and away from danger. You might experience this as synchronicity, serendipity, or an inner calling. To cultivate this natural mindfulness, the key is consistency in your meditation practice. As your stress-associated memories dissolve through repeated exposure to the deep rest of meditation, you gradually become liberated from old patterns and find yourself able to engage more fully in the present moment. You'll notice yourself worrying less about the future, rehearsing the past less often, and not sweating the small stuff as much. The practice of being E.A.S.Y. with your thoughts in meditation—embracing whatever arises without judgment—gradually transforms into your default mode of experiencing life. Instead of fighting against reality or getting stuck in resistance, you develop the capacity to flow with life as it unfolds. This doesn't mean passive resignation but rather an active engagement with life from a place of expanded awareness and inner peace. As Watkins eloquently states, "If we want a green forest, the majority of the trees must be green. Likewise, if we desire to live in a peaceful world, the people must be peaceful." By cultivating present moment awareness through meditation, you contribute to creating the world you wish to see—one person at a time, one moment at a time.

Summary

Throughout this journey into the E.A.S.Y. approach to meditation, we've discovered that what makes meditation challenging for many people is not their supposedly "busy mind" but rather their misconceptions about what meditation should be. By embracing rather than fighting your thoughts, accepting your experiences exactly as they are, surrendering your expectations, and yielding to the natural flow of your mind, meditation transforms from a struggle into a source of genuine bliss. As Light Watkins reminds us, "Meditation is never about stopping your thoughts, in the same way that swimming is never about stopping the water. Rather, swimming is about learning how to move in concert with the water so you can glide through it and have fun." Your path forward is clear: commit to meditating in the E.A.S.Y. way for at least ninety consecutive days. Find your comfortable position, use your settling sound passively, allow your mind to roam freely, and watch as the benefits naturally unfold both within and beyond your meditation practice. Start today with just ten minutes of meditation, and remember that a "good meditation" is simply one that you do, while a "bad meditation" is one that you skip. By making this small yet powerful commitment to yourself, you'll gradually cultivate the inner peace and adaptability that will serve you in every aspect of life—transforming not just your own experience but contributing to a more peaceful world for all.

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Light Watkins

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