A reluctant meditator takes a weeklong trip with Jeff Warren

You know the feeling when you discover a musician or songwriter who connects with you at a soul level? Where every lyric and every chord seems to be written with you alone in mind?

That’s how I felt when I found Jeff Warren.

For most of my life, I viewed meditation as a repetitive, burdensome practice designed for the devoutly spiritual—or the culturally refined. Deep breathing and thought observation were things you did in Bali, not your bedroom. 

It wasn’t until I stumbled upon Jeff’s How to Meditate series that I discovered how accessible and exhilarating mindfulness could be. A self-described “ridiculous person” who was once beat up by Hell’s Angels, he is not your typical meditation teacher.

Jeff, like me, is an explorer at heart—curious, humble, and restless. His sessions feel less like religious sermons, motivational speeches, or ASMR recordings, and more like good conversation with someone you’ve known your whole life.

When I heard Jeff was launching a daily meditation series called The Daily Trip, I was elated. You see, I haven’t done much meditating since How to Meditate. I’ve managed a walking meditation here, and a soundscape meditation there, but never settled into a consistent routine.

This year, I am resolved to change that. So, I decided to put my new meditation cushion to the test, and experience The Daily Trip every single day for a week. Here’s how it went, and what I learned. 

Day One

Whenever I pick meditation back up after some time away, it takes me a while to get back into a rhythm. The first few sessions are always the most challenging, and today was no exception. My mind wandered off early in the session—before I even closed my eyes, in fact. 

I felt like an out of shape jogger huffing and puffing at the quarter mile mark, wondering if I’d ever experience a runner’s high again. As the frustration and disappointment crept in, Jeff reminded me of one of the central tenets of mindfulness training:

“It’s important to realize that even when it’s hard, every meditation is doing something.”

Day Two

One of the reasons I keep coming back to meditation is that I have a lousy attention span. The smallest distraction can break my concentration, derailing whatever progress I had made on whatever I was doing. Worse, it makes me feel like I have no control over my own mind.

Jeff often describes meditation as a bicep curl for your brain. Over time, it strengthens the ‘concentration’ muscle that allows you to choose what you pay attention to. In a world where our attention spans are constantly divided, it’s truly a superpower. Jeff put it this way in today’s session:

“Every time our attention splits, the thing we’re paying attention to gets exactly half as rewarding.”

Day Three

For an introvert, I have an incredibly social inner voice. From the minute I wake up until the moment I fall asleep, I am in a near constant conversation with myself—observing, devising, debating, reflecting. As if that didn’t create enough chaos, I am also a chronic perfectionist.

Even during my best meditations, I find myself questioning whether I’m “doing it right.” If I’m paying attention to my breath, I’ll start to wonder if I should concentrate on the hiss of the radiator. When I catch myself doing this, my first instinct is to thought-stop. Today, Jeff offered different advice:

“Let yourself be conflicted. It’s not a problem. Actually, it makes you interesting.”

Day Four

Have you ever found yourself reading a book, or watching a Netflix series, and suddenly realizing you haven’t been paying attention for the last few minutes? It happens to me all the time. When it does, I almost always go back and reread or rewatch what I glossed over. Call it fear of missing out.

Of course, there isn’t always a “redo” button. I’ve skimmed over plenty of important paragraphs and scenes in my own life—too many to count. The good news? There are plenty more to come. Today, I was reminded how easy it is to recalibrate. Jeff broke it down in the simplest of terms:

“We can do life in many ways. We can do it rushed. We can do it angry. And we can do it with care.”

Day Five

Confession: I’ve never really identified with the word ‘gratitude.’ It’s partly because it’s a term I hear a lot, but rarely use myself. But it’s also because I’m not very good at practicing it. I don’t keep a gratitude journal. I don’t have a gratitude jar. I don’t carry a gratitude rock.

Those practices may work for some, and that’s wonderful. But they’ve never resonated with me. Of course, that doesn’t mean I can’t, or don’t practice gratitude. For me, it looks like taking the long way home on a sunny day, or doing a happy dance after a delicious bite of food. Jeff’s advice?

“When you notice anything that feels even remotely good...take an extra beat and savor that thing.”

Day Six

Confession: I still really like the term “present moment.” As somebody who spends most of his life in his head, looking backwards or forwards or anywhere but right in front of me, I understand how rare and special it is to truly be present. I also understand how amazing it is when you do finally arrive.

There are activities and practices that almost instantly send me into a flow state. Skiing down a steep mountain. Exploring a brand new city. Working on a difficult puzzle. Through meditation, we can learn to access presence more easily, and frequently. Jeff explained why it’s worth the effort:

“It can feel like a direct line to a deeper part of who we are, beneath our surface-skipping worries.”

Day Seven

I had hoped my final session would reveal some grand truth or revelation I could share with you, like the end of a great novel, or an Academy Award winning film. Idealism like this is nothing new for me. It’s been one of the driving forces in my life for as long as I can remember.

When I sat down today, I didn’t realize I was carrying that idealism with me. Ironically, that’s exactly what today’s session was about — noticing the subtle feelings that creep into our minds, make us lose sight of what’s most important, and ultimately prevent us from finding peace. The good news?

“With every sit, the bigger picture gets a little bit clearer.”

I can’t wait for my next one.

Find the Daily Trip on the Calm home screen or in the Meditate tab.