We Tried It Out: Sharon Salzberg’s 28-Day Meditation Challenge
Oversubscribed Newsletter
Season: Q2 2026
Spring Energy
Article by Amanda McGovern, PhD
I have been wanting to commit to a meditation practice for years. I have struggled to remain consistent, starting and stopping over the past 10 years. So therefore, I decided to sign up for Sharon Salzberg’s annual 28-day “Real Happiness” meditation challenge for the month of February. Salzberg is a meditation pioneer, teacher, and author of 13 books, as well as the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts. She has run this challenge for 16 years and it is based on her book, “Real Happiness: A 28-Day Program to Realize the Power of Meditation”. She divides the challenge into four sections for each week, consisting of concentration practice, mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of emotions, and loving kindness practice. With a different focus each week, the challenge equips you with a spectrum of meditation techniques via audio files. I appreciated the variety of meditations as I noticed which ones appealed more to me than others.
Developing a consistent meditation practice is not easy. My first challenge was carving out the time to meditate and prioritizing it. Most of Salzberg’s meditations were about 10 minutes long, so you would imagine finding 10 minutes would not be that difficult. I wanted to integrate it into my morning routine, but with trying to get kids to school, get in a workout, and get myself ready for work, there were many obstacles to navigate. After experimenting with different times throughout the morning, I found that I was able to carve out a time after the kids left for school and before I started to get ready for work. Another challenge was finding a place to practice. I wanted to find a quiet place with natural light and minimal distractions. This factor is also connected to the time of the day that I ended up practicing. After trying several places and positions (e.g., seated on the floor, seated in a chair, lying down on the floor), I decided that the best place for me was on a floor cushion in my bedroom.
Another main challenge was my unrelenting thoughts. Obviously, it’s impossible to eliminate these thoughts, but the goal is to gain awareness of when these thoughts consume you and redirect your attention to the present. Since I was practicing at the beginning of the day, I noticed that my mind wandered to all the things that I had to do that day. I definitely used the breath and Sharon’s words to help me stay focused. I also used self-compassion with myself (e.g., “It’s ok, just begin again”; “You are doing great, just begin again”) when I did get hooked by thoughts and had to guide myself back to the practice.
As the month progressed, I noticed that I was able to gain awareness that my thoughts had taken over and I could begin again quicker. I also have been able to apply the practice into my daily life when thoughts take over, helping me not get stuck in rumination. This practice has also made me more aware of my breath and the utility of my breath. The breath is such a powerful tool for not only focusing our attention but regulating our nervous system.
Overall, I think this challenge was an incredible way of successfully starting a meditation practice. For me, guided meditations work well for now as I have something to focus on and connect back to when my thoughts lead me adrift. I will continue to explore different guided meditations, especially the body awareness and loving kindness meditations. I’m hopeful that my 10-minute daily practice might extend over time, but for right now, I will aim for that time frame without judgment and be forgiving if I fumble and miss a day. As Sharon Salzberg says, “by practicing meditation we establish love, compassion, sympathetic joy & equanimity as our home”.
Salzberg, S. (2009). Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation. Workman Pub Co.
Sharon Salzberg’s website: https://www.sharonsalzberg.com/ Her meditation challenge is every February but she has lots of guided meditations available on YouTube and InsightTimer.