The Every Single Day Project was born out of a desire to understand more about how people feel about practicing meditation on a daily basis. Between the summer of 2017 to 2018, I conducted three dozen interviews with people about the desire to begin/restart/continue having a regular meditation practice. Our conversations were 30 to 45-minute phone calls where interviewees shared their responses to the following questions:
- How would you describe meditation to someone who was new to the idea?
- Do you currently have a meditation practice? If so, what does your practice look like (e.g. frequency, amount of time spent practicing, techniques used etc.)
- Do you feel that there is an ideal meditation practice for you?
- Can you recall why/when you became interested in practicing meditation?
- Has anything hindered your meditation practice? If so, what?
- Has anything encouraged you to practice meditation? If so, what?
- Why do you meditate?
- What does your practice give you (or what do you notice is missing when you don’t practice)?
What happened to the interviews?
I am editing and compiling the recorded material to share online with the hopes of publishing it by the spring of 2019. The material will include abbreviated versions of the phone interviews to provide in-depth perspectives on a person's individual journey towards daily practice, as well as, sessions that summarize the patterns and insights revealed to me through this project.
My story and why am I interested in studying the desire to meditate daily:
I initially practiced yoga/meditation because it felt like an escape. I continued to practice because it taught me to run towards myself rather than away. Since I began to meditate daily, it has had a profound impact on how I see myself in the world and how I see the world around me. I want others to experience the benefits of the practice. Interviewing others and seeking to find patterns and insights from this material felt like a natural way to understand how others have navigated the path towards wanting to have a daily practice and struggling/succeeding with that intention. I hope that this material will serve others.
If you'd like to be notified when the project material is edited and available, I send out a newsletter once a month that includes updates on this project as well as a guided meditation. You may join my list here.
