All of my meditation secrets (mega blog)
Hey guys, it's Josh here, and in this blog I'm going to unload all of my meditation secrets for you.
I’ve been meditating since I was 17 years old, and it has literally been the thing that saved my life.
I’m not just saying that, I really believe meditation saved my life.
That’s why I’m so passionate about teaching people how to meditate properly now.
You’ve probably tried meditation before. Maybe you're interested in it. And I’ve heard all the excuses under the sun about why meditation "doesn’t work".
People say:
- “I just can’t sit still.”
- “Every time I meditate I can’t focus my mind.”
- “I start to feel frustrated.”
- “I tried it for a couple of weeks and it was good, but then it didn’t work because I wasn’t consistent.”
I’ve heard everything.
People don’t understand how to detach themselves from their thoughts.
They get uncomfortable feelings in their body or irritated and they don’t know how to switch that off.
And because they don’t know how to turn it off, they think something is wrong with them, or that meditation doesn’t work for them specifically.
And all of that is bullshit.
In this video, which I had no idea how long it was going to go for, I’m telling you exactly what you’re doing wrong and how to fix it.
Part I - My Story: How Meditation Became My Turning Point
A Volatile Teenage Life
Let me share my personal story with meditation so you have some context about where I’ve come from and why I’m qualified to talk about this.
When I was 17 I started meditating, but before that I had a pretty volatile teenage life.
My childhood was great. My parents were together, we had a traditional setup, dad working, having a business, mum taking care of us.
It was good.
Then my parents split up when I was around 11 or 12.
I’m the eldest of four siblings, and that’s when things started to go downhill.
Dad was an alcoholic, still is, and was violent towards my mother.
So Mum left him.
They both went into downward spirals, and I was 11 or 12 with younger siblings.
I didn’t take that well.
I became rebellious.
I had free range.
No one could control me.
I would put my parents against each other.
They weren’t amicable and they weren’t a united front so I realised I could play my cards in the situation.
I started hanging around kids who were drinking and smoking.
I got in trouble at school.
I got in trouble with the police.
I was basically running amuck from around 13. I started drinking at 14, smoking weed at 15, getting into drugs around 16.
By 17 and 18 I was into all of it.
The Moment Everything Shifted
When I was 17, I had a turning point.
I realised I was starting to struggle with my mental health.
The way I was thinking wasn’t how I wanted to be thinking.
I realised I was on a bad path.
I looked at my parents... alcoholism, relationship problems, both on medication for mental health. Mum anxious, Dad depressed.
And as a 17-year-old kid I thought, I do not want to go down that path.
So I tried to figure things out.
I was smoking a lot of weed, looking online at spirituality and consciousness.
I stumbled across a blog post about meditation that basically said:
“If you start meditating in your teens, by your mid-20s you’ll be an absolute superhuman. You’ll have superpowers.”
At the time I thought that sounded pretty good.
I didn’t want medication for mental health. I didn’t want to be an alcoholic. I didn’t want to struggle with addictions for the rest of my life.
I was going to try this meditation thing and see if I could get some superpowers.
That was when I was 17 and that was the turning point for everything.
I’m 32 now. No addictions. Beautiful wife. Two kids. I run a business helping people with anxiety, stress, and mental health.
I work with people who have addictions, anxiety, depression, emotional problems.
The thing that was my pain back then became my purpose now.
I feel blessed, and I attribute a lot of this to that turning point.
Part II - The Early Days: Sitting, Breathing, and Staying With It
Awkward Beginnings
When I started meditating, I’d go to the beach. I’d sit down, cross my legs, put my hands in my lap.
I remember being awkward about my hands and thinking "where do I put them?"
On my lap? On my legs? I never knew.
But I’d sit there, close my eyes, and start breathing.
That was it.
I’d pay attention to my breath and try to observe my thoughts.
- It was frustrating.
- I’d get lost in thoughts.
- I’d think random shit.
- I’d be scared someone would attack me while my eyes were closed.
- I’d be frustrated that I wasn’t present.
I had all those experiences, and they’re so common.
Choosing Not to Quit
The difference was, I didn’t let it stop me.
I thought, “Okay, I’m going to get superpowers. I’ve just got to keep meditating.”
So I did. I tried focusing on my breath. I tried coming back to presence.
I’d get lost in thoughts and aggressively pull myself back thinking, “You idiot, you should be meditating. You should be present.”
Over time, I learned to be nicer to myself.
To bring myself back gently.
Meditation isn’t about perfection. It’s about practice, consistency, devotion, determination.
Sometimes I’d go 10 minutes without becoming present once.
Other times I’d feel elated, expansive, full of love, peaceful in my body.
I didn’t know what was happening, but it felt good.
Seeing the World Differently
After meditation, I’d ride my bike to work.
The trees became brighter. The greens more vibrant. The blue sky more beautiful. The water sparkled.
It felt like I was tripping... but I was sober.
My perception became heightened. I was seeing the world through an alive radiance instead of dullness.
And the only thing that created that shift was 10 minutes a day, sitting with myself, not giving up.
Part III - The First Big Lesson: What You Resist Persists
Most people let uncomfortable feelings stop them.
Fear.
Distraction.
Frustration.
Irritation.
They think it means something is wrong with them.
It doesn’t.
These feelings come up so you can learn to manage that part of your experience.
Being frustrated, scared, distracted, that's normal.
But people want to shut it out. They suppress it.
And suppressed emotions stick around forever.
The paradox is this:
What you resist persists. What you allow dissolves.
When you allow the discomfort, accept it, include it, observe it without making it mean something, it dissolves.
This alone can change your entire life.
Part IV - Single-Pointed Focus: Training Your Mind Like a Muscle
After I built some consistency, I started researching more techniques.
One of the most powerful was what I call single-pointed focus meditation.
Focusing on the Third Eye
I’d focus all my attention on one point, the third eye.
I didn’t understand what it meant. Still don’t fully. People online talk about activating it, pineal gland, spiritual awakening... maybe. I don’t know.
But I do know this:
When I focused on that point strongly enough, everything else dissolved into a massive black expansive nothingness.
The internal and external world disappeared and I was there with a single point of focus.
It felt:
- Free
- Peaceful
- Open
- Incredible
It was liberating.
It’s like staring at one star in the night sky. If you focus hard enough, all the other stars disappear. Try it. It’s crazy.
Training Focus (Even if You're “ADHD as Fuck”)
This meditation trained my focus.
People say, “I’ve got ADHD, I can’t meditate.”
Bullshit.
I’m not diagnosed, but if you hang around me long enough you’d probably say, “You’re fucking ADHD, brother.”
Some things I hyper-fixate on. Other things I can’t focus on at all.
But attention is trainable.
Meditation is the gym for your mind.
Part V - Sensory Presence: Using the Body to Anchor Awareness
I also started noticing my senses were gateways into presence.
Breathing
The inhale and the exhale hold the secrets of polarity in life.
Feeling
The sun on my skin.
The wind blowing across my body.
Feeling helped me to become present in the moment.
Listening
Really listening without creating a story.
Most people hear a sound and immediately create a narrative:
“This is fucking my meditation.”
“Kids are yelling, I can’t do this.”
“A helicopter ruined it.”
It’s all mental story.
It’s all bullshit.
If you stay with the raw sense, hearing, feeling, breathing, you drop into presence.
Your mind can be creative or destructive depending on the stories you attach.
Part VI - Mind–Body Connection: Real Nervous System Regulation
Most people live entirely in their head, disconnected from their body and emotions.
Meditation helped me:
- Connect to my body
- Feel my emotions
- Build coherence between mind and body
People call this nervous system regulation. But real regulation isn’t about external circumstances.
It’s internal. It’s the connection between mind and body, calmness and awareness.
Eventually, you realise something even deeper:
You’re not the mind and you’re not the body.
Part VII - The Ultimate Secret: You Are Awareness Itself
Meditation showed me:
You are not your thoughts.
You are not your emotions.
You are not your body.
You are not your beliefs.
You are not your identity.
Those things are experiences, not who you are.
You are the awareness observing those experiences.
Awareness sits back.
It watches.
It sees.
It knows.
Thoughts, body, emotions, sensations, they’re all secondary.
Your consciousness is primary.
When you sustain awareness, suffering dissolves.
Problems dissolve.
You enter peace. You experience enlightenment, not necessarily permanently, but as a real, felt state.
We Come Into the World Enlightened
I believe babies come into the world in pure consciousness, pure "is-ness".
Then conditioning piles on.
To be “born again,” like Jesus said, is to rediscover that state within yourself.
Not as an idea, but as an experience.
Part VIII- The Little Self and the Big Self
Meditation taught me something profound about who I am.
I call this concept, "the little self and the Big Self"
The little self
This is Josh Holliday.
Your name.
Your identity.
Your personality.
Your story.
Your beliefs.
Not wrong, just limited.
The Big Self
Unlimited awareness.
Connection to everything.
Pure consciousness.
No separation.
Unity.
At a physical level, you look separate from everything else.
At a deeper level, you’re not.
We’re just vibrating energy formed into matter.
When you operate from Big Self:
Fear dissolves
Threat dissolves
The fear of death dissolves
Because you realise Death is just an exhale and Life is the inhale.
Both are necessary parts of the process.
This is where spirituality and science meet.
Part IX - Discipline: Becoming a Disciple of the Practice
When I talk about discipline, I'm not talking David Goggins, Alex Hormozi, hardcore army-style discipline.
I’m talking about discipline as being a disciple.
Meditation is something you learn from.
You commit to it.
You devote to it.
You let it teach you.
I’ve been a disciple of meditation for 15 years.
That’s the only reason I can talk about this the way I can.
I don’t need to believe it because I know.
Part X - Life Lessons and Overcoming Struggles
Meditation has helped me:
Overcome addictions and anxiety
Develop self-awareness
Face fears and build resilience
Navigate heartbreak
Get clarity on my purpose
Transform my life
My path hasn’t been straight.
At around 23–25, I went through more drinking and drugs after a breakup... even after years of meditation.
I struggled. But I didn’t give up.
And meditation gave me the discipline and internal strength to overcome that too.
Part XI - Final Message: Don’t Quit
If you struggle with anxiety, depression or addiction, meditation can be a game changer for you.
Not by magically fixing everything, but by giving you clarity, awareness, and connection to your internal guidance system.
This journey won’t feel like a straight clean line.
It hasn’t for me.
But what matters is this:
You don’t give up.
The younger version of me didn’t give up, even when things were messy, and I’m grateful for him every day.
With Optimism,
Josh
P.S. If you'd like my help to overcome your anxiety by mastering meditation, there's a video here that explains how my coaching program works.
Check that out and if it sounds like it would help you, book a call with me and I'll talk to you soon.