Coaching practices for No Technique Meditation
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For No Technique Meditation, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- Every time I meditate I’m straining to "do it right"
- I’m tired of techniques and counting and focusing on something
- Even in meditation I’m secretly grading myself, chasing some better state, treating sitting as a means to an end
- I’m comfortable following the breath, but the moment I’m told to drop the anchor and just be present with nothing to hold onto, I either spin off into thinking or go blank
- I’ve got the breath thing down
Practices that may help
- Effortlessness (the “no concentration” principle)
Let the technique be passive and easy — TM’s central claim is that effort is counterproductive.
Transcendental Meditation (TM) - Shikantaza (just sitting)
Sit in open, objectless awareness — not focusing on anything, not following anything.
Zen Practice (Zazen and Beyond) - Shikantaza — "just sitting" in the Soto Zen tradition
Sit with complete presence and nothing to achieve — no goal, no technique, no observer separate from sitting.
Open Monitoring Meditation, Made Practical - Releasing the object: sitting without a focal point
Let go of fixing attention on the breath, a mantra, or any other anchor — simply be present.
Shikantaza: Just Sitting - Choiceless awareness — resting without an object
Sit with attention open and receptive, letting whatever arises in experience be the meditation object — without choosing, pursuing, or rejecting any of it.
Open Monitoring Meditation, Made Practical - Silent mantra repetition
Silently repeat an assigned mantra, letting it become faint and effortless rather than forcing focus.
Transcendental Meditation (TM) - Non-grasping awareness: letting arise and pass
Watch thoughts, sensations, and emotions arise and dissolve without grabbing or pushing.
Shikantaza: Just Sitting - Anapana — breath observation as the entry point
Settle the mind by observing the natural breath at the nostrils before doing anything else.
Vipassana Meditation, Made Practical - Working with restlessness-and-worry (uddhacca-kukkucca)
Restlessness and worry require settling, earthing, and narrowing the attentional field — not more vigilance.
The Five Hindrances: Diagnosing and Working with Meditation Obstacles - Bahir trataka — external candle gaze
Sit one metre from a candle and hold an unblinking gaze on the flame tip until tears form.
Trataka: The Yoga Practice of Fixed-Gaze Meditation
Related concerns
- Passive Meditation Technique
Let the technique be passive and easy — TM’s central claim is that effort is counterproductive.
Effortlessness (the “no concentration” principle)
- Non Grasping Meditation
Watch thoughts, sensations, and emotions arise and dissolve without grabbing or pushing.
Non-grasping awareness: letting arise and pass
- Non Forcing Meditation
Rather than forcing stillness, create conditions where the mind naturally quiets.
Let the mind settle of its own accord
- Passive Attitude Meditation
Cultivate the inner stances — non-judging, patience, beginner’s mind, acceptance, letting go — that make attention healing rather than harsh.
The attitudes of mindfulness
- Zen Meditation
Sit with complete presence and nothing to achieve — no goal, no technique, no observer separate from sitting.
Shikantaza — "just sitting" in the Soto Zen tradition
- Blank Mind Wrong Meditation
Self-inquiry is investigation, not suppression — don’t try to empty the mind.
Avoid the "blank mind" trap
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