How to Meditate Without Even Trying
With Foreword by Eckart Tolle
What if meditation didn’t require discipline, technique, or hours of sitting still but was actually something you looked forward to
In How to Meditate Without Even Trying, Peter Russell shares the liberating insight at the heart of his decades-long teaching: the harder we try to meditate, the more we get in our own way. Russell shows that true meditation is instead about the practice of allowing: releasing effort, relaxing the mind, and gently returning to the present moment. In clear and calming prose, he walks readers through a minimalist approach to meditation designed to help them:
- let go of resistance, tension, and emotional discomfort
- use their intuition to deepen their meditation practice
- stay grounded in challenging circumstances
- integrate mindfulness into daily life through “mini” and “micro” meditations
- discover the practice as a source of joy, clarity, and deep contentment
More than just an introduction to a basic practice, Russell’s book provides numerous tips and refinements that allow the reader to dive deeper into stillness, to the very core of our being, and experience the essence of spiritual awakening.
The book will be valuable not only for new meditators, but also for those who already have a regular practice. “Wherever you are in your journey,” writes Russell, “I trust my suggestions will bring as much benefit to you as they have to me.”
Praise for How to Meditate Without Even Trying
Peter Russell’s “How to Meditate Without Even Trying” is a profound invitation into the effortless essence of meditation and awakening. With rare clarity, Russell guides readers beyond technique to the timeless peace at the heart of true meditation. This book empowers both newcomers and seasoned practitioners to relax into presence, releasing the myth of striving. His wisdom distills decades of research and teaching into accessible, transformative insight. Instantly usable, gently radical, it is destined to become a classic in the field of contemporary spirituality.
Deepak Chopra, MD
Beginners as well as advanced meditators and spiritual seekers will greatly benefit from this book. Peter Russell shows you how to meditate and then takes you beyond formal meditation to the very core of your identity. He reveals to you the essence of spiritual awakening, not only through conceptual understanding but, more importantly, through the possibility of direct realization as you read — if you are ready for it.
Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now and A New Earth
In this wise and beautifully straightforward book, Peter Russell shows that meditation is not something we do, but a relaxation of the impulse to do. With great clarity and warmth he dismantles the belief that we have to struggle with the mind, and invites us instead to rest in the natural ease of the present moment. If you have tried to meditate and felt you were failing, this book will come as a profound relief.
Rupert Spira, author of The Nature of Consciousness, You Are the Happiness You Seek
Peter Russell’s latest book, How to Meditate Without Even Trying, gently dismantles one of our most persistent misunderstandings about meditation—that it is something we must do or achieve. With rare clarity and kindness, Russell reveals how true meditation unfolds naturally when effort is relinquished and presence is allowed to reveal itself. Clear, practical, and deeply alive, this book points us back to what is already here: the quiet, timeless presence of our own being. Whether you are new to meditation or have practiced for decades, How to Meditate Without Even Trying offers a refreshing and profound reorientation. With warmth and precision, Peter invites the reader into the direct realization of presence—the timeless “I AM” that has never been absent. This book doesn’t just explain meditation; it quietly reveals it, gently guiding the reader into the effortless recognition of their true nature.
Richard C. Miller, PhD, founder of iRest Institute and author of Yoga Nidra: The iRest Meditative Practice for Deep Relaxation and Healing
A gentle, wise, concise guide to effortless meditation and to the possibility of awakening right now from unnecessary suffering.
Joan Tollifson, author of Nothing to Grasp and Death: The End of Self-Improvement
Peter Russell’s latest book, How to Meditate Without Even Trying, focuses on three main themes: Allowing, Letting Go, and Being. These themes, and his simple yet profound elucidation of them, incorporate as much about meditation as they do about skillful practices in the art of being human. In my experience as both a psychotherapist and a spiritual teacher, I have discovered that meditation can often deliver deep insight and wise counsel from one’s own inner Knowing when we remain open and curious about the moment as it is without trying to be somewhere else. This wisdom is not an intellectual knowing, but one that bubbles up from beyond thought when we learn to honor and bathe in the stillness, silence, and peace of our essential nature.
From describing the most basic elements of sitting effortlessly without an agenda to the realization of our shared “I AM-ness” (awake Awareness), this book invites the reader into That which is present to every experience—whether joy or sorrow, confusion or clarity, pain or pleasure. We gradually learn that the Presence, which is here in each one of us, has no judgment, no aversion, no clinging. It delivers our freedom, and ultimately, great gratitude for simply being here now.
Dorothy Hunt, author of From Spiritual Ambition to the Heart of Awareness, Leaves from Moon Mountain, and Only This!
A simple, wise, and elegant distillation of the essence of meditation that is both easily accessible and profound. Highly recommended.
John J. Prendergast, Ph.D., author of Your Deepest Ground and The Deep Heart
This beautiful little book gives you everything you need to know to start a meditation practice. Experienced meditators will also find value in these pages. And if you once had a practice, but have given that up, I think there is an excellent chance that you will be inspired to resume your practice with renewed interest. Peter Russell’s clear and simple approach dissolves whatever resistance we might have to things often associated with discipline and work. Gently guided by his wise words, we find ourselves relaxing and opening. We aren’t just reading about meditation, we are having a meditative experience.
Susan Campbell, Ph.D., author of From Triggered to Tranquil and Getting Real
How to Meditate Without Even Trying is a guide to finding stillness and relaxation in the middle of daily life, off or on the cushion. With warmth, humor, and refreshingly simple wisdom, Russell shows that calm isn’t something to chase—it’s something that unfolds naturally when you stop striving for it.
Through everyday examples and effortless practices, you’ll learn how to rest your mind without forcing it, and how to find moments of presence anywhere: in a quiet morning, a busy commute, or even a wandering thought. I heartily recommend Russell’s latest book.
Lama Palden Drolma. Author of Love on Every Breath