The fruits of meditation come at you from two directions, first, from the practice itself (sitting one’s butt on cushion or chair) and, second, from “study,” a catch phrase that refers to what you do to bring your intention, intellect, insight, and curiosity to the practice. As important as meditation itself is holding the correct view of the meditation (cultivating a personal understanding of what you’re doing and why).

Sitting without bringing your intellect to the table makes for a dull practice, as does thinking and reading about the practice without actually doing it. Most important of all is to develop your own connection to the practice and not rely on anyone’s explanation for why it’s useful.

A great place to start is where you already want to go. If the notion of practice seems more intriguing than study please dive right in by availing yourself of the practice videos. If this makes no sense to you—why would you want to try something before you’ve thought about it adequately?—by all means, skip the practice for now and take time to read and/or think about it for awhile.

They say that practice and study are like two wheels of a cart–with only one, the cart will just go in circles. So best of all is to include a few minutes of study before you practice by reading a few pages from a book that helps you deepen your view.

Here are some of my faves:

Turning the Mind Into an Ally by Sakyong Mipham

Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism by Chogyam Trungpa

The Wisdom of No Escape by Pema Chodron