Stillness · “Stillness Reveals”
Using a Support
Steady the mind by resting a light, friendly attention on whatever is most available — a sound, a sight, a smell, a bodily sensation — using the object as a support rather than straining to concentrate on it.
Using a support: Sit and relax. Pick any object that’s already here — a sound, a sight, a smell, a sensation, the breath — and rest a light, friendly awareness on it. Let thoughts come and go; when you drift, gently return. Keep sessions short and frequent. Change the support whenever you like — anything available can be the object.
What it is
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche (b. 1975), a Kagyu/Nyingma master and son of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, built his global Joy of Living curriculum around one liberating idea: almost anything can be a support for meditation. Where many people think meditation means forcing the mind blank, Mingyur teaches the opposite — you simply rest a light awareness on an object that is already here: a sound in the room, a patch of colour, a smell, the sensation of the hands, the breath.
The object is a support — something to lean on, not to grip. Crucially, the aim is not to suppress thoughts or achieve a special state; it is to be gently aware of one simple thing, and to come back kindly whenever the mind wanders.
Because the supports are everywhere, the practice fits into ordinary life in very short bursts — what Mingyur sometimes calls the value of “small moments, many times.”
The Method
A faithful outline of his publicly taught instruction:
- Sit comfortably and relax. Body upright but at ease; you can keep the eyes open or closed. Begin by simply letting the body settle — “not too tight, not too loose.”
- Pick any support that is available. It does not have to be the breath. A sound (traffic, birdsong, a fan), a sight (a candle, a spot on the wall, the colour of an object), a smell, or a physical sensation (the hands, the seat) all work. Mingyur: “Focusing on form, sound, or physical sensations develops your capacity” to stay with experience.
- Rest light awareness on it. Be gently aware of the sound as sound, the sight as sight. You are not analysing or naming it — just knowing it is there, lightly. The attention is relaxed, more like noticing than staring.
- Let thoughts and other sensations come and go. You don’t have to stop thinking. When you notice the mind has wandered off the support, that noticing is the meditation — simply, kindly return.
- Keep it short and frequent. A minute is plenty. Mingyur stresses brief, repeated sessions over long forced ones: many small moments build the habit without strain.
- Vary the support freely. Bored or agitated? Change the object — switch from breath to sound, from sound to the feet. Nothing is “more spiritual” than anything else; the best support is whichever steadies you now. (Sourcing note: drawn faithfully from The Joy of Living and the Tergar/Joy of Living instruction; short attributed quotes only, not full reproduction.)
Source & Lineage
Mingyur Rinpoche trained in the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages and in Mahamudra/Dzogchen, then translated that training into deliberately plain, secular-friendly language for a worldwide lay audience through The Joy of Living (2007) and the Tergar “Joy of Living” program.
His standing as a documented subject of meditation neuroscience (Waisman Lab, University of Wisconsin; Mind & Life Institute) gives this otherwise traditional shamatha an unusually strong empirical footing. → author node.
The Traditions' versions
Resting attention on a chosen support is the universal first move of concentrative meditation; Mingyur’s distinctive accent is the radical permissiveness of the object (truly anything) and the emphasis on brief, light, frequent practice over heroic concentration: - Anapanasati / mindfulness of breathing (Buddha) — the classic single support, the breath.
- Touch and Go (Chögyam Trungpa) — also light and unforced, but anchored specifically on the out-breath.
- Nine stages of calm abiding (Asanga) — the staged map of stabilising attention on an object.
- Deep listening / sound meditation (Tom Kenyon) — using sound specifically as the gateway.
- Trataka (candle gazing) — a visual support held steadily.
Common refinements
Gripping the object. Concentration that strains is counterproductive; lighten until it feels like noticing, not clamping.
- Believing you must use the breath. If the breath makes you anxious or bored, switch supports — sound is usually the easiest.
- Fighting thoughts. You are not emptying the mind; thoughts are fine. The practice is the gentle return, not their absence.
- Marathon sessions. Long forced sits breed dullness and self-blame. Prefer short and frequent.
- Judging the wandering. Noticing you wandered is a moment of meditation — meet it kindly, not as failure.