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If you’ve tried meditation, you know it can be challenging. If you haven’t tried meditation, there’s probably a reason for that. Learning how to meditate can seem intimidating, boring, even as if it’s an ultra-spiritual superpower granted only to a select few.

But there are a lot of inaccurate assumptions about what meditation is supposed to look like—and these can get in the way of experiencing what meditation actually is.

What Is Meditation?

In simple terms, meditation is the practice of being present with yourself. And there are an infinite number of ways to do this. In fact, meditation doesn’t necessarily mean sitting still.

“Meditation could mean sitting in silence, walking, or simply paying attention,” says Susan Piver, author of Start Here Now: An Open-Hearted Guide to the Path and Practice of Meditation and founder of the Open Heart Project. “It’s whatever allows you to be present and connected to your experience.”

Perhaps most importantly, meditation is not something you have to “get right,” explains Piver.

“Some people think of meditation as this kind of very advanced state of being almost enlightened already,” says Jivana Heyman, author of The Teacher’s Guide to Accessible Yoga and founder of Accessible Yoga. But if you’re trying to learn meditation and you think enlightenment is the prerequisite, you’re bound to resist it. Who can live up to that?

Fortunately, that’s not what meditation means.

How to Make Meditation Easier

It’s time to dispel your meditation misperceptions and explore what it means to you. Here’s how.

1. Start With One Minute

There’s no “right” length of time to meditate. “Meditation isn’t about duration—it’s about showing up,” says Piver.

Start small and build from there. Not only does it feel less intimidating to tell yourself you’re going to sit still for a few seconds or minutes a day than 20 minutes, but even short spells of quiet presence still offer research-backed benefits.

Keep in mind, if you’re currently meditating zero minutes a day, even one minute of meditation is more than you’re currently doing. Try it for several days. The following week, add a minute.

And if you practice yoga, Heyman has an experiment for you. “Try sitting in meditation for one minute before you do asana (physical poses). Then sit for one minute after and notice the difference,” he says. See which feels more doable for you. Then add meditation to your yoga practice accordingly. Habits are easier to create when you stack them onto existing habits, so your yoga practice can act as a prompt to meditate.

2. Stop Trying to Empty Your Mind

There’s a common misconception that meditation involves letting go of your every thought. That may not happen the first time you sit still—or even any time you meditate.

“Meditation is not having an empty mind or a calm mind,” says Piver. “It’s working with the mind as it is.”

What meditation can help you find is more awareness of your thoughts as well as less attachment to them. But that happens only if you allow them to exist without resistance. That’s meditation.

3. Welcome Whatever You Feel (Even if It’s Uncomfortable)

It’s easy to become frustrated with meditation when there’s an expectation that things should immediately feel peaceful. But the reality is you’re probably going to experience not only thoughts but feelings that surface.

When emotions happen, try to allow them to exist instead of judging them. “It’s okay to feel what you feel,” says Heyman. “Drop the story around the emotion and just stay with the sensation itself.”

As with many things in life, discomfort isn’t a sign that you’re failing. It’s simply part of the process. Although some emotions you don’t need to tackle by yourself. “Meditation amplifies the inner state, it does not quell it,” says Piver. “If you’re experiencing trauma, just sitting with strong emotions might not be helpful.” If you need, reach out to a mental health professional for support with whatever you experience during meditation.

4. Don’t Judge Your Meditation

Meditation can easily become just another thing you feel you should be better at or find it to be a place where you fall short. But what if you approached meditation not as a task to conquer but as a constantly renewable act of kindness toward yourself?

“Letting go of judgment around the success of your meditation practice is crucial,” says Heyman. “It’s about being with yourself, not achieving something.”

Meditation, as Piver reminds us, “is not about self-improvement. It’s about self-acceptance.” When you start from that place, surprising things happen, including kindness to yourself and others, she says.

That’s the real goal, if there is one: to keep coming back to that gentleness. You don’t need to perform what you think meditation is supposed to look like. You can simply show up, breathe, and be.

5. Make Yourself Comfortable

You might assume that meditation has to be uncomfortable. Is it actually meditation if you’re not sitting cross-legged on the floor, knees screaming, back aching, trying to breathe through the discomfort like some kind of enlightened martyr?

“There’s this idea that you have to sit through pain in meditation, which is really wrong and dangerous,” says Heyman. Suffering is not the assignment, he explains. Instead, support your body. Sit on a bolster. Lean against a wall. Stretch out on the floor. Lie down.

The point isn’t to punish yourself. The point is to be with yourself—exactly as you are, exactly as you feel—and give yourself what you need to keep going.

6. Use Props and Tools to Stay Engaged

You may have practiced yoga with props to support your body. (If you haven’t, you should definitely try it.) So why not offer the same support to your mind in meditation?

“If your mind is busy, let it be busy,” says Piver. “Use an external point of focus if that helps.” That external focus can be anything that feels right to you. Some people find meditation more doable by keeping their eyes open and their gaze gently resting on a single point. Others find paying attention to the rhythm of their inhalations and exhalations quiets their minds. For some, closely observing sounds or sensations help them focus.

These and other anchors, or tools, can help keep your attention steady. “Mala beads are amazing—something tactile can help,” says Heyman. “Or try a mantra, a mudra, or a candle flame as a focus.”

There’s no rule that says you have to sit in silence and wrestle with your thoughts. The right tools can give your brain something to hold onto. That’s not cheating.

7. Try Moving Meditation

Meditation doesn’t have to mean forcing yourself to sit in silence with your eyes closed and legs crossed. You can include movement.

The practice of yoga itself is a meditation, explains Heyman. So is any form of mindful movement that can bring you into that state. If a slow, steady pace of walking or moving in some fashion feels more accessible than sitting, let that be your meditation practice. Same goes for however you’re inspired to move your body, whether swaying or dancing.

Everything you can do seated you can do while engaging in mindful movement. Notice your breath. Pay attention to the sensation of your feet on the ground. Feel the air on your skin. Come back to your breath.

The truth is, you’re probably already closer to meditation than you think. “The flow state we seek in meditation is already something we know—we just have to recognize it,” says Heyman. Think of the times you move throughout your day while still being present, whether you’re walking the dog, doing dishes, or staring out the window.

Meditation isn’t some far-off skill reserved for people who have everything figured out. You don’t have to force it, and you definitely don’t have to get it right. Like anything in life, it simply takes practice. You just need to keep showing up.