The ultimate posture for meditation is seated in Padmasana, the full lotus. Symbolically, it represents balance and focus, but in practice it demands relaxed hips, steady breathing, and a strong lower and middle back. Yet don’t be fooled by the shape of the body. Posture is nothing on its own. Breath is nothing on its own. What matters is how the breath creates relaxation, and how that relaxation opens enough space for awareness.
When we breathe with presence, we begin to see thoughts rise and pass. Negativity emerges in patterns: judgments, anxieties, distractions. None of this is mysterious. The mind is pulled by chemistry, memories, sensations, emotions, even the weather, maybe even the spinning of the galaxy itself. Whatever the cause, the result is the same: anxiety. We lose our center.
To return, I repeat a chant: I do not judge. I do not judge. I accept. I accept. This is not denial. It is the practice of meeting experience without distortion. Negative judgment colors the world inaccurately. Survival threats are different, a tiger leaping from a tree demands clear recognition and quick action. But most of what we call threats are emotional, not existential. That confusion is where our suffering begins.
Anxiety is more than “fear of the future.” It is chemistry first, neurotransmitters and hormones shifting through the body, then thought, then feeling, then identity. It shapes how we see ourselves and others. The work is to notice the judgments, to pause, to breathe, and to redirect. Not once, but again and again, until a new pattern forms.
This practice is not about ignoring problems. It is about fasting from negativity long enough to see them clearly. Some things matter less than we believe. Others matter more. Breath gives us the pause we need to realign.
We are so accustomed to anxiety that we mistake it for normal. With enough practice, we see how much it grips us. Breath loosens that grip. Breath anchors us in the body. From there, we can face what needs facing, whether it’s finding blankets to ward off the cold or confronting deeper truths.