How to Meditate on Days When Your Brain Says “Nope”

Practical advice from six mindfulness voices to help you show up on the days you don’t want to.

Welcome back to the “Trying to Meditate” mini-series!

If chapter 1 showed us what meditation is not, this second part of the series focuses on something even more universal. Resistance.

Here’s how the cycle usually goes for me:

Feeling inspired to try after all the podcasts and research: ✅
Being convinced that meditation is good for me: ✅
Giving it a try, once or twice: ✅
Enjoying the session: ✅
Feeling its benefits afterwards: ✅
Keeping it at it for more than a week: 404 Not Found ❌

Instead of practicing each day, I’ll wait until my anxiety hits the roof before I actually sit down for a few deep breaths.

My Observer Self looks at this pattern, perplexed. She asks: Why do you do this? How can we get past the obstacle of resistance?

To help figure it out, I turned to six of my favorite creators, people who practice daily and/or write about this work with real honesty and experience. Here’s what I asked them:

“What are helpful ways you get past any initial resistance to starting?”

I loved their insights. I hope you will as well.

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Nick Hashemi from The Mindfulness Mentor: Peace Notes from a Former Monk

Nick’s work is truly special. A former Buddhist monk turned mindfulness mentor, Nick writes about Vipassana Meditation in a way that feels simple and doable.

“Start small. That’s what I always tell people.

Sit for just five minutes. Close your eyes. Watch one breath — the rise, the fall. When the mind wanders (and it will), don’t scold it. Smile gently, and return to the breath. Do the same tomorrow, and the day after.

Meditation doesn’t begin with long retreats or hours of silence. It begins with one moment of awareness, repeated again and again. Over time, the mind softens. Resistance transforms from an enemy into a teacher — showing you exactly where freedom begins.”

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Sonia from Tranquil Nurturing Space

Sonia’s Substack is a place of poetry, reflection, and mindfulness. Her writing invites us to slow down and nurture body, mind, heart, and soul.

“It helps to think of meditation as a small act of nourishment for the mind, body and soul and approach the practice with non-judgement, kindness and compassion…. letting go of expectations and just allowing ourselves to be as we are. It can also help to create a calm, nurturing space for meditation and start small… even a few minutes a day can be enough to build the habit. Also coming back to mindfulness and meditation being part of our daily lives, whether its through mindful walking, cooking or sipping our tea with full presence.”

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Alexis Vale from Hidden Frameworks

Alexis explores the architecture of transformation with a fresh perspective. His unique work guides readers towards deeper alignment and meaning through spiritual curiosity and lived experience.

“Honestly? Just starting.

Even five minutes a day counts. Use an app if it helps. Start with walking meditation if sitting feels too hard.

Community also matters: practicing with an experienced teacher in person or online can fuel motivation like nothing else. I was lucky to learn from a master, C.K. Chu, whose presence alone seemed to trigger a meditative state.

Nothing is more motivating than someone who embodies what meditation promises to cultivate.”

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VedicSoul from VedicSoul

VedicSoul writes beautifully about central themes of the human experience such as vulnerability and desire. He inspires us through ancient wisdom and his own profoundly human lens.

“Everyone experiences resistance, especially at the beginning. “I’ll meditate later,” “I don’t have time” etc. These are familiar whispers of the restless mind. The most elegant way to bypass resistance is to disarm it with gentleness. When I started, I relinquished the grand ambition of a long, profound session and instead, committed myself to an almost laughably small session for just 5 mins; but with full, loving attention. Better five minutes daily than fifty occasionally.

But the key is a clear intent, steady and consistent practice with non-attachment. Practice means showing up, again and again, regardless of the mood. Non-attachment means not expecting instant calm or enlightenment, simply trusting the process.

I would suggest a simple ritual to light a candle (though optional), sit for just five minutes, or start by breathing with awareness. No grand targets, no pressure; just presence. In just a few such sessions, the resistance softens and the intention to continue naturally unfolds. What matters is not how long you sat, but that you showed up. It is about building a bridge of kindness into the practice, rather than forcing yourself across a moat of obligation.

Over time, the effort turns into love. What once felt like a task becomes a refuge, a space where you meet yourself without masks. The resistance dissolves because meditation stops being something you “do”; it becomes something you naturally long for. That longing itself is blessing, the inner call of the Self remembering its own stillness.”

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Sue Reid from Confidence Matters by Sue Reid

Sue is a confidence coach with such an inspiring life story. She meditates every morning and says the practice has helped her a lot in her journey towards self-belief.

“Now I have been practising for such a long time, resistance rarely appears. When it does, it’s usually because I am overwhelmed and my ego believes we don’t have enough time. In such cases, I visualise getting through whatever is on my mind and achieving a good outcome. It’s not meditation, but it remains calming. For a beginner, I suggest telling yourself you will only do five minutes. When the five minutes are up, see if you can do another minute. Continue, but if there is a lot of resistance, stop. Then do the same the next day. You should find you gradually increase the time without any problems.”

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Paul Dalton (dharma⌁licious) from dharma⌁licious

Paul is a mindfulness meditation teacher who blends Buddhist teachings with modern life in a powerful way. His reflections make ancient teachings both digestible and practical.

“Even after many years of daily meditation, I still occasionally bump up against some resistance to sit and practice. It’s normal.

A few ways I’ve found helpful for getting past this are:

Commit only to getting your bum on a seat. Often the hardest obstacle to overcome is the very first step—getting into position. Forget about the meditation. If you know the only thing you’re signing up for is sitting down, it takes all the pressure off. Only when you’re in position do you then decide if you’re up for staying there. If your brain is anything like mine, it’ll most likely say, “Well I’m here now, I may as well do the next bit.”

Set the bar really low. When resistance strikes, the prospect of meditating for half an hour, or even 10 minutes, will do nothing for your motivation. Make it ok to meditate for just one minute, or 30 seconds. It all counts. The chances are, when you get the end of a minute, you’ll naturally find you can go longer.

Short moments, many times. It is better to give yourself lots of little meditative pauses than it is to do one long meditation once a week. Find moments throughout the day where it’s safe to come into stillness for a couple minutes, feel your feet on the ground and focus on the flow of your breath coming in and out. There are usually plenty of transitionary ‘between task’ moments that are perfect opportunities for this.

Swap sitting for walking. Walking meditation is every bit as valid a practice as sitting. When I’m feeling particularly edgy, I’ll forego my usual seated session and, instead, slowly walk around the space I’m in, bring awareness into my body and paying close attention to the sensations and movements of my legs and feet with every step. The beauty of this kind of practice is it demonstrates that meditation really can be portable.”

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Ladies and gents, it seems we have a consensus.

To move past resistance, make the practice ridiculously short at first.

This reminds me of James Clear’s third law of behavioral change: make it easy.
In his hugely popular book, Atomic Habits, he explains that the key is to make the task impossible to say no to at first.
1 page instead of a whole chapter, 1000 steps instead of 10k, and so on.

So, meditating for 20 min? Hard to choose when your phone is in your hand and scrolling is far more tempting.
But 30 seconds of sitting still? That sounds doable.

And maybe meditation doesn’t have to be this whole thing with a specific posture and specific conditions. On days when resistance is loud, what if we simply took a few mindful steps around the living room, cleaned a couple of plates or even brushed our hair with full presence?

If we notice, and maybe even savor, every sensation in the body, maybe that’s already a meaningful practice.

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More on mindfulness:

Nick’s Meditation Starter Pack.

Sonia and Namrita’s thoughts on Unwrapping the present of hygge.

Alexis’s series on his 30-year meditation journey. You can start here.

Paul’s insights on the idea of Perfect Wisdom.

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Tell me in the comments… are you team “I’ll start tomorrow” or team “30 seconds is enough for today”?

If you liked this chapter, you might enjoy the question we’ll explore next month: “How do you deal with boredom, distraction, or restlessness when you meditate?”