When I think about meditation Alan Watts words come to mind.  “If you want to outwit the devil, it is extremely important that you don’t give him advanced notice. Even if you only announce to yourself your intentions, the devil will know, because who do you think the devil is? You”

Just like when you try to be spontaneous you can’t be spontaneous, when you try to meditate you can’t. Here the words of Yoda ring out. “Their is no try on do“.  In Zen you have Wu wei  which means – non-doing or ‘doing nothing’.  Easier said then done, the ‘saying‘ being part of the problem as ones inner narrator loves to play the devil and fill ones thoughts with words of judgment and measure.

That said the inner narrator is also a pretty good observer and when focused on the breath this observer might notice the breathing is both voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary as one can choose to take a deep breath, or hold ones breath….Involuntary in the sense that breathing is a happening – a kind Wu Wei. One does not have to understand breathing to breath one does not have to be continually, consciously manipulate the mussels and nervous system to breathe.  The observer might sit mesmerized as breathing as a happening while the narrator  might become anxious and start judging, measuring.

In art and sport the artist and athlete take lessons, learn the rules, train, practice… but when they create and play the master artist and elite athlete does not think they do. If you have ever taken dance lessons over a period of time you will eventually hear the teacher say you need to learn the rules before you can break them. What they mean is that when you get to the point when you trust what you have learned is in your body. That your ears hear the rhythm without you having to listen, ears hear and the body responds… then your truly dancing.

Wu Wei. – We work for that which no work is required. We train, we learn then we trust and trusting that we ‘know’ let go of what we learned and do. One sites in Meditation and notices the breath, practicing different kinds of breathing and eventually trust that we ‘know’ without needing to be the knower, breathing a happening, the inner narrator quiets and dances.