The eagerness with which people recommend those very intense ten day retreats to anyone saying they&#x27;d like to start meditating indicates a problem, in my view.<p>Plenty of people find them valuable, but they&#x27;re also a pretty extreme way to start out. To me it seems likely to turn people off; after all they&#x27;re designed to be a kind of boot camp experience.<p>And then on the internet people are often bringing up how they sit in lotus posture for an hour every day...<p>People can discuss whatever they want and make whatever suggestions they want, of course, but I think it&#x27;s all likely to construe meditation as necessarily tedious, painful, and time-consuming.<p>I&#x27;m curious, have you tried maintaining a habit of sitting for something like 10 or 5 minutes per day? In some non-contorted posture, like kneeling on a meditation bench?<p>Not to imply that &quot;everyone should be able to do that&quot; or whatever, but if all your attempts for years have been ambitious, that could be demotivating... whereas kneeling and breathing for 5 minutes is a great way to get started.