Profs. Holly Richardson & Matt Jarman, Virginia Military Institute
Dan Harris and Jeff Warren visit Virginia Military Institute, speaking with Professors Matt Jarman and Holly Richardson about teaching mindfulness and meditation to cadets. They discuss how these practices enhance mental efficiency, resilience, and stress management, framing them as tools for "Modern Warriorship."
Deep Dive Analysis
12 Topic Outline
Introduction to Meditation at Virginia Military Institute
Professors' Personal Journeys with Meditation
Introducing Meditation in a Military Environment
Meditation's Role in Addressing Post-Traumatic Stress
Defining Modern Warriorship and Mindfulness
Overcoming Obstacles to Starting and Maintaining Meditation
The Intermittent Nature of Meditation Rewards
Cadets' Practical Applications and Benefits of Meditation
Addressing the 'Being Weird' Fear of Meditation
The 'Going Against the Stream' Aspect of Meditation
Loving Kindness Meditation in a Military Context
Debunking the Fear of Meditation Eroding One's Edge
5 Key Concepts
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
A version of meditation developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at UMass Medical School. It strips out metaphysical and religious claims, focusing purely on the mindfulness aspect to help individuals manage stress and improve well-being.
Modern Warriorship
A concept taught at VMI by Professor Matt Jarman, defining a warrior as someone who creates positive change for the benefit of others. It involves mental and physical discipline training to be ready and able to help, whether in military, business, or personal contexts.
Habit Formation
The process by which an action becomes automatic, not requiring willpower. It relies on repetitive acts, contextual cues (like time or environment), and ideally, intermittent rewards, which help sustain the practice even when immediate benefits aren't always felt.
Going Against the Stream
A Buddhist term describing the act of intentionally pausing, reflecting, and choosing not to be swept away by the constant momentum and pressures of everyday life and culture. It requires a 'warrior quality' to resist external cues that discourage such practices.
Loving Kindness Meditation
A meditation practice where one systematically envisions a succession of people (loved ones, those with whom one has problems, strangers) and sends them good wishes or 'good vibes.' Despite its potentially 'syrupy' perception, science suggests it offers health benefits and can alter one's disposition in the world.
7 Questions Answered
Professors introduce it carefully, sometimes initially calling it 'mind fit training' or 'attention training' to avoid resistance. They emphasize the scientific evidence of brain changes and stress reduction, framing it as a tool for mental efficiency and resilience in a high-stress environment.
Meditation helps individuals become present and still, switching their mindset away from reliving conflict. It dampens emotional highs and lows, making them more relaxed and less reactive, and can also build cognitive resilience if practiced pre-deployment.
Effective habit formation requires repetitive action, consistent contextual cues (like a specific time or environment), and ideally, intermittent rewards. Linking a new habit to an existing one can also make it easier to establish.
If meditation always yielded amazing benefits, people might stop if they didn't feel them a few times. The intermittent nature of rewards means practitioners don't stop when their mind feels scattered, understanding that consistent practice, like exercise, builds long-term mental and emotional health regardless of immediate feelings.
Cadets often cite lack of time due to their highly structured and busy schedules, misunderstanding what mindfulness truly is, and fear of being perceived as 'weird' or 'soft' by peers. Environmental cues that don't encourage the practice also pose a challenge.
In a 'modern warriorship' context, this fear can be reframed as an opportunity to practice 'going against the stream.' If one cannot handle minimal peer judgment for meditating, it indicates a lack of mental toughness needed for larger acts of change or leadership.
No, meditation does not erode one's edge; rather, it hones attention and mental focus, making individuals more efficient and effective. The fear that it makes one soft is often due to a misunderstanding of what meditation is and its objectives.
15 Actionable Insights
1. Boost Productivity with Daily Meditation
Meditate daily to significantly boost mental efficiency and productivity, ensuring you perform at your best. If feeling depleted at the end of the day, use a short meditation session to replenish mental resources and return to work effectively.
2. Build Resilience for Stress & Trauma
Practice meditation pre-deployment or before entering stressful situations to build cognitive resilience, acting as a buffer against stress and helping to replenish mental resources to prevent negative impacts like PTSD.
3. Form Habits with Contextual Cues
To establish new habits like meditation, identify a regular contextual cue (e.g., a specific time of day, environment, or existing action) and consistently pair the new habit with it, making it automatic and reducing reliance on willpower.
4. Embrace Modern Warriorship Mindset
Adopt a ‘modern warriorship’ mindset by training mentally and physically through meditation to be ready to create positive change and effectively help others, facing internal and external challenges with discipline.
5. Reframe Meditation as Time-Gaining
View meditation not as a time-consuming activity, but as a time-gaining one, as it makes you much more mentally productive and efficient, allowing you to accomplish tasks more effectively.
6. Don’t Judge Practice by Sessions
Evaluate your meditation practice based on overall, long-term improvements in your behavior and well-being (e.g., being ’less of an idiot overall’), rather than the immediate experience or perceived ‘quality’ of any single session.
7. Overcome Peer Pressure with Toughness
Treat peer pressure or the fear of being seen as ‘weird’ for meditating as an opportunity to practice mental toughness and ‘go against the stream,’ which is a key aspect of resilience and warriorship.
8. Use Intermittent Rewards for Habits
Understand that the varied and sometimes intermittent benefits of meditation (e.g., not every session feels ‘amazing’) can actually help sustain the practice, preventing discouragement when immediate results aren’t consistently felt.
9. Apply Mindfulness to Stressful Situations
Use mindfulness, such as focusing on your breath for three to five times, in specific high-stress moments like competitions or difficult conversations to enhance focus, manage reactions, and promote more productive outcomes.
10. Journal Your Meditation Practice
Keep a journal to reflect on the ups and downs of your meditation practice, which can help maintain consistency, track progress, and deepen your understanding of its benefits.
11. Seek Role Models & Community Support
Look for role models (e.g., athletes, respected professionals, faculty) who practice meditation to normalize the activity, and consider joining a meditation community to provide environmental support and normalize your practice.
12. Introduce Meditation Carefully, Clarify Purpose
When introducing meditation, especially in skeptical environments, consider framing it as ‘mind fit training’ or ‘attention training’ initially. Always explain its rationale and objectives to counter misconceptions and address fears like ’losing your edge’ by emphasizing how it hones attention and mind.
13. Target Specific Personal Needs
Identify specific areas in your life where you desire a more authentic presence or less stress, and then intentionally apply your meditation practice to address those targeted needs, allowing the practice to grow for broader mind-body benefits.
14. Adapt Loving-Kindness Carefully
When introducing potentially ‘syrupy’ or unfamiliar meditation practices like loving-kindness, proceed cautiously or adapt them (e.g., using simpler, more direct mantras like ‘I am at peace, I am still, I am here’).
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5 Key Quotes
I find that I'm far more mentally efficient in terms of doing my work and productive when I meditate. I meditate daily largely because I know if I don't, I won't be nearly as productive or good at what I'm doing.
Matt Jarman
I'm making people who kill fewer babies.
Dan Harris (quoting a Marine trainer)
If you can't do something as simple as meditating and, and be okay with the fact that others might think it's a little weird, then, you know, then, then, then, you know, you're not really getting into the training yet.
Matt Jarman
I don't judge the quality of my practice. I try not to judge the quality of my practice based on the quality of my last sit. I base it on like, am I less of an idiot overall?
Dan Harris
The momentum of everyday life is to just continue tumbling along on heating, just to go along, to go along, to kind of keep ratcheting it up. To actually stop and pause and take stock of your life and decide to not go along with that is considered to be going against the momentum of the culture.
Jeff Warren
1 Protocols
Habit Formation for Meditation
Matt Jarman- Identify a contextual cue that occurs regularly (e.g., a particular time of day, an existing habit).
- Pair the meditation practice with that contextual cue.
- Ensure the practice is repetitive.
- Understand that rewards from meditation may be intermittent, which helps sustain the habit without constant willpower.