There comes an important moment in your mindfulness journey when you’re called to share your at-home meditation retreat with others. You might be asked to share a mindfulness exercise in a meeting, asked by your partner to help soothe a mid-meltdown child, asked by a grieving friend how you managed through loss in your own life. It’s a small yet monumental call to take something deeply personal and offer it back to the world. And you don’t have to be a mindfulness teacher to meet the moment.
In 2016, I started a weekly mindfulness group at work with two colleagues. We pitched the idea, secured a nominal budget, and brought in a certified teacher from a local meditation center. We sat in a conference room, partially cross-legged in restrictive business casual, and felt genuine joy when close to 20 of our coworkers practiced within the walls of our corporate office without a trace of insincerity.
We also soon realized that we didn’t have an endless budget to bring in teachers every week. We could run these sessions a few times a year but had to fill the weeks between with our own content. As the yoga teacher of the group, I was asked to share a mindfulness exercise in the next meeting. And my immediate reaction was, “Am I really qualified to do this?”
A good teacher not only guides through their expertise, but they know that the true teachings are found within each one of us.
I wasn’t a certified mindfulness or meditation teacher at the time. I admired and respected my own teachers who studied, practiced, embodied, and taught mindfulness over many decades. Teachers play an essential role in preserving and deepening collective wisdom. A good teacher not only guides through their expertise, but they know that the true teachings are found within each one of us and, after a lifetime of trying, erring, and persevering, they know how to create kind space for wisdom to arise.
I didn’t have deep expertise. Mostly, I had “trying and erring.” And that made me very similar to my conference-room peers. I couldn’t teach mindfulness, but I could share my own experience—just a few years down the road of perseverance.
Here’s how I describe the difference between sharing your practice and teaching the practice:
Teaching is like gifting someone your secret recipe (most often through example) and knowing that the best meals are made together. A great teacher makes it possible for you to find your own way around the kitchen, too. They not only guide and connect you to your inner knowing, they learn from you as well. Teachers give us recipes for wisdom that last a lifetime.
Sharing is like bringing a salad to a dinner party. You’re taking some simple ingredients from your practice that resonate with you, arranging them as best you can, and offering it to someone else in case they’d like to try it, too. Sharing is saying, “I’m right here next to you, trying the same things you are.” Sharing takes your own big, insightful ideas and breaks them down into understandable, easily communicated bites. It’s not a substitute for a teacher’s expertise; it’s an offering to share your own experience.
Create a Retreat at Home with Friends
We’ve gathered some guidelines and practices as an invitation to begin crafting your own retreat experiences at home, maybe with friends or family members. Sharing your practice with others isn’t a call to replace the expertise of teachers; it’s an invitation to bring a thoughtful relatability to moments of reflection. Here’s a list of questions for exploring the stories, benefits, and tips you might want to consider sharing about your practice.
How has meditation changed your behavior or reactions? How would your partner or someone close to you describe its