THE 2026 PROJECT, 52 SUNDAYS, 52 MONOLOGUES

Meditative Flow
BY JEFFREY LO

JONELLE is sitting on a yoga mat across from her friend.
There is soothing sound bath-style sounds playing in the background.
She closes her eyes.
She takes a deep breath.
Some time passes.
A little less calmly, she takes another deep breath.
One eye opens.
A moment passes.
She closes the eye.
Another moment passes.
Both eyes open.

JONELLE
How does this work exactly?
Like… what part of this is supposed to bring me down?
Is it the inhale?
Or the exhale?
Or is the eyes closed part?
Because I think I messed that up already but…
Maybe it’s the sound?
The music?
The… bowls?
Are these bowls?
Is the music supposed to envelop me and then enter into my ears and like…
Calm me?
Can we start over?
The music?
Because I’m worried that I’m doing it wrong.
I do that a lot.
Do things wrong.
You told me this would calm me down and to be honest, I closed my eyes and took that deep breath you told me to take and instead of turning my brain off, my brain just started going on overdrive.
I don’t know if I’m supposed to let go or what but I started to do the opposite of let go.
I started to really latch on.
I latched on to a lot of things.
Was the inhale supposed to be long and slow?
Or was it the exhale?
Should I be making noise during these breaths?
Or does that get in the way of the music?
Should I be saying “ommmmm” or is that actually just a recording?
But maybe I’m doing it right because this is supposed to be about mindfulness, right?
I’m minding everything.
I’m minding what I’m doing. I’m minding what I’m feeling. I’m minding up a storm.
I just worried that I’m minding it all wrong.
How are you doing w –
What was that?
Oh.
Oh. Oh.
Sorry, girl.
Yeah, I got it.
You’re trying to meditate.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Me too. Me too.
Ok.
I’ll hush now.
My bad.