A Meditation Teacher’s Perspective on 2026: What 20 Years of Practice Has Taught Me

As 2026 begins, I feel less interested in predictions and more committed to clarity.

After more than two decades of living, practicing, and teaching meditation, one thing has become very clear to me: the world does not need more information. It needs stability. It needs grounded minds. It needs people who can stay conscious in complexity.

Meditation, as I have experienced it, was never meant to be an escape from life. It was meant to prepare us for it.

When I began my journey, meditation was not something you “consumed.” There were no shortcuts, no quick certifications, no pressure to brand yourself as a teacher. You practiced because you were sincere. You stayed because you were disciplined. And you learned because you were willing to be corrected.

Over the years, I have trained under masters, lived in silence, questioned deeply, and unlearned more than I have learned. I’ve seen meditation transform lives and I’ve also seen it diluted into trends, aesthetics, and promises it was never designed to keep.

As we enter 2026, I believe meditation is standing at a crossroads.

On one side, it risks becoming another productivity hack or wellness trend. On the other, it has the potential to become one of the most essential mental skills of modern life, if it is taught with integrity.

What twenty years of practice has taught me is simple: meditation works, but only when approached as a discipline, not as entertainment.

Meditation does not remove challenges from your life. It changes how you meet them. It does not make you calm all the time. It makes you less reactive when calm is not possible. It does not give you answers. It sharpens your ability to see clearly.

In my experience, the biggest misunderstanding people carry into meditation is the idea that it is about feeling good. Meditation is not about comfort. It is about stability. And stability is what allows growth, leadership, and responsibility.

Over the years, I have worked with people from different cultures, professions, and stages of life. High-performing professionals. Seekers. Therapists. Teachers. What they all share is not a lack of intelligence, it is mental overload. Too many thoughts. Too many emotional pulls. Too much noise.

Meditation, when practiced consistently and taught correctly, trains the mind to hold complexity without collapsing under it.

That is why I do not see meditation as spiritual in the conventional sense. I see it as mental education.

Just as we educate the intellect through schools and universities, the mind itself needs structured training. Without this training, intelligence becomes scattered, emotions become unstable, and decisions become reactive.

This understanding is what led to the creation of Soulversity, not as another platform, but as an institution. An environment where meditation is treated with the seriousness it deserves. Where practice is combined with pedagogy. Where lineage is respected, but not romanticized. Where depth is valued over speed.

In 2026, I believe meditation must move away from personality-led teaching and toward institution-led education. Not because individuals lack value, but because responsibility requires structure.

Teaching meditation is not about sharing techniques. It is about holding space for transformation. This requires emotional maturity, ethical grounding, and long-term training. A weekend course cannot prepare someone for that responsibility..no matter how well it is marketed.

One of the most important lessons my practice has taught me is humility. The mind is subtle. It cannot be rushed. And it cannot be dominated by ego.

As meditation becomes more visible in the world, the temptation will be to make it louder, faster, and more impressive. But real depth moves in the opposite direction. It becomes quieter. More precise. More embodied.

For me, 2026 is not about teaching more people. It is about teaching more responsibly.

It is about helping individuals build a daily relationship with their mind not dependent on belief, religion, or rituals. It is about training attention, emotional balance, and inner clarity so that people can live better lives, make better decisions, and contribute more consciously to the world.

Meditation does not belong to monks or mystics. It belongs to anyone willing to train their mind with sincerity.

As we move forward, my commitment remains the same: to preserve the integrity of this discipline while making it accessible to modern life. To honor the depth of ancient traditions while applying them practically. And to ensure that those who wish to teach meditation do so with competence, humility, and responsibility.

This is what twenty years of practice has taught me.

Not how to escape life but how to meet it fully.

— Dev OM