How do you maintain a daily meditation practice? I started thinking about that question last night when considering what to talk about today. I thought I’d share a little bit about my own journey to a daily practice, and what brought me to InsightLA.
I think it was in 2005 when I signed up for an Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course, and InsightLA at that time was not InsightLA as it is today. It was a very small group: there were two teachers, Trudy Goodman and Christiane Wolf, and classes were taught in living rooms and small rental spaces.
When I signed up, I didn’t know what MBSR was, but I was looking for something…I’m not really sure what. In any case, I showed up. About half-way through the course, my work schedule changed, and I was going to have to miss the last two weeks of the program. I was heartbroken not to finish, but Trudy told me not to worry, that we would figure it out.
When I returned from my work travels and expressed I wanted to finish what I’d started, Christiane Wolf came to my house and taught the last two MBSR sessions to me in my living room.
That was my introduction to experiencing a sense of joy that is really based in spiritual friendship. It’s the quality of people coming together and sitting together, whether in hard times or happy times, and it inspired me to want to learn more. As the InsightLA grew, I deepened my studies, and eventually I became a teacher, something I had never intended for myself.
When you look at the Buddhist text, the Buddha stressed the value of spiritual friendship as a support for the path. Venerable Ananda said to the Blessed One, “This is half of the Holy Life, Lord. Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie.
The Buddha replied, “Don’t say that, Ananda. Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admiral camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life. When a monk has admirable people as friends, companions, and colleagues, he can be expected to develop and pursue the Noble Eightfold Path.” I have found that spiritual friendship has been the key to my growth as a practitioner, and my daily practice has come from coming and sitting with others, being with others.
When I first started, I think my underlying challenge and struggle with having a daily practice was that I thought I was broken. That, somehow or other, this practice was going to fix this broken part of me. What I realized slowly was that I wasn’t broken, I was just seeking a path. I never got the manual, but coming and sitting with others, I started to find that the repetition of sitting whether I felt like it or not, everyday, started to aid my growth.
I began to discover that meditation and spiritual friendship led me to another kind of a joy, the subtle joy of being in present-time awareness. That is where joy lies, that’s where a sense of pleasure and happiness lies. I started meditating not because I felt that I needed to, but because I wanted to. It began to feel good, and I came to like to meditate.
It was no longer about trying to fix something that was broken, but about exploring and deepening the moment-to-moment experience that comes from daily practice. As I continued, I began to notice that the subtle joy from meditation was becoming part of my whole life. I think sometimes the word “joy” can sound too big. If that feels impossible, a simple sense of satisfaction in the moment is a place to start. It doesn’t have to be a grand joy—just beginning with that simple sense of being present and okay, even when there’s suffering.
As I started to develop a deeper sense of joy, it became what fuels my practice every day. It’s what makes me look forward to waking up in the morning and sitting for a half hour, or whatever the time may be. What occurs to me, in the midst of the suffering all around us and in the complexity of life, is that the way to meet that suffering is with joy—and to show up, no matter what, with that simple sense of satisfaction in being present, and having the courage to face suffering no matter what.
As I move into my elder years, and the five remembrances become very clear to me—sickness, ill health, age, loss, and my own inevitable passing—the fifth remembrance reminds me that it’s the actions I take that matter most. For me, taking those actions with equanimity, joy, and a willingness to face what is in the moment is what truly fuels my daily practice.
Warmly,
Ron Ames
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Bring your practice into a retreat setting and deepen your practice of mindfulness: A weekend program for those beginning or renewing a meditation practice.
Join Ron Ames and Paloma Cain for Start Here – a weekend program for those beginning or renewing a meditation practice. On Saturday and Sunday April 25th and 26th 2026