Kristina asked me a question in response to my personal meditation entry about what made me decide to take a 1,000 day meditation vow.  

I thought I would share the answer here:

The vow for my meditation practice is actually my second 1,000 day vow.  

The first one was for Tai Chi.

At 21 I was 396 pounds, getting bigger and incredibly sedentary.  I had a moment of clarity and realized I had to change.  Among the changes was getting regular exercise.

When I was a kid I did Judo for a couple of years and have had a life long respect for and love of the martial arts.  I heart Bruce Lee!

I reached for the available tool, which was a video and book on Tai Chi Chih, as well as Paul Crompton’s excellent book, “The Tai Chi Workbook.”  I began to practice daily and write down what exercise I did every day (along with what I ate.)  

My plan was inspired by having overheard that in order to break the physical habit of smoking you need to stop for 21 days.  I wanted to build a habit, so that sounded like a good goal to me.  I got to work.

A few days in I read an article in a fitness magazine that in order to get to the point where you miss a workout when you miss one, you need to follow a workout routine for 5 and a half weeks.  So, I changed the goal to that.

Then a friend who has a long background in Kung Fu quipped, “In martial arts I always heard it was 1,000 days to mastery.”  

I was sold.

It was such a romantic idea – practice for 1,000 days to achieve Tai Chi mastery and master my body.

Day 27 was rough.  Day 511 was a breeze.

I decided some point near the end I needed to do something dramatic to commemorate the conclusion.  So I fasted for the last 11 days, did not speak, did forms for 9 hours a day and meditated for 2 and a half hours, read for 3 and slept for 4.  A couple of hours in I realized there was no way in hell I was going to make it.  

Then I had another moment of clarity: I could not make the full 11 days, nor did I have to.  All I had to do was this one breath, this one movement, this one moment.  I felt the tremendous love and support of my friends and family pushing me forward, all wanting me to succeed.  That’s how I got through.

So, when I decided that I needed to make a regular practice out of meditation I went back to my vow.  For 1,000 days I would meditate everyday.  I started at 12 minutes, and ramped up in a few months to 32 where I stayed for the duration.  I had a couple of periods in there of longer practice, like when I spent a week as a guest-student retreatant at Green Gulch Zen farm.  That sort of thing.

1,000 days may seem like a lot, but it’s really not. Not as you do it, and not after you are done.  You never have to do 1,000 days.  You just have to do this one.

Cheers!