Break

Some people will be struggling during their sit—mind wandering, sleepiness and discomfort is all very common. These people love the break, make sure you give them a good one, but don't forget the people that rather continue meditating. I always go through the following steps:

• Gently announce the break: "If you want, you can have a short break now, but if you want to continue meditating that is also fine."

• Give them permission by having a break yourself: You can tell them that they can stretch or have some tea, but often they seem scared to move as if they would be breaking a meditation ritual. So, as a guide, you can help them with this, not by telling them, but showing them. Stretch a little bit. Have a sip of tea.

• See if the break is finished: We don't time the length of the break, just look around, see what everybody needs. Sometimes you break only 30 seconds, sometimes a couple of minutes, don't worry too much about it.

• Starting again: If you want the start the meditation again, simply go back into the meditation posture—everybody will surely follow. You can do something like:

  • "Try to find your meditation posture again."

  • "Try to bring that sense of ease you had during the break with you into the meditation."