We think we know what meditation is-especially in an era when mindfulness has improbably rocketed into the mainstream. Millions of people around the world have taken up a formal mindfulness meditation practice as part of their everyday lives. But there's no hard-and-fast rule that says you have to meditate in a certain way, in a particular place, or following a specific tradition. So what is meditation anyway? And why might it be worth trying? Or nurturing further if you already have practice?

Meditation Is Not What You Think was originally published in 2005 as part of a larger book entitled Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness. Updated with a new foreword by the author, these questions (and their answers) are particularly relevant for the current era. If you're curious as to why meditation is not for the faint-hearted, how taking some time each day to drop into awareness can actually be a radical act of love, and why paying attention is so supremely important, read on for a master class from one of the pioneers of mindfulness in the mainstream world.