Last Updated on June 3, 2024 by Kari
I went into The M Word quest with high hopes. I’ve come out of it with a morning meditation that I enjoy and access to a bunch of different guided visualizations that I can use when I need to use them. I also have a lot more knowledge about meditation and what it does for physical and mental health. But, do I recommend The M Word? Kind of, but kind of not. I talk about why later in this review.
The M Word Is A Two-Part Quest
In the first part, you learn The M Word. It’s a five-part meditation that you will do each morning during the quest. It’s supposed to get you ready for your day by lifting your energy and getting you on the right track. That’s also why this meditation is supposed to be done only in the morning. She says if you do it at night, you may not be able to get sleep because you have primed your brain to get up and get stuff done.
Basically, Emily Fletcher says that you shouldn’t go out without brushing your teeth in the morning, just like you shouldn’t go out without doing The M Word. It helps you ‘clean up’ the stress and mess hanging around before you head out into public.
Besides The M Word technique, you learn things like:
- Why meditation is important
- How the brain reacts to meditation
- Why meditation is not about silencing your mind
- How to make meditation non-negotiable
Then, in the second part of the quest, you learn various visualizations to help you face challenges when they arise. This includes visualizations for pain, stress, sleep, work, better sex, and forgiveness.
On a personal note, the ‘better sex’ visualization was annoying. There was someone walking above the room or perhaps up and down the stairs and it was all you could hear. They were going back and forth while she was trying to lead you through a guided visualization. I finally just gave up. You think they would have been in a quiet room considering she was doing guided meditations and visualizations.
In the warmup, there is also visualizations for kids, breakups, and healthy travel.
When you are done The M Word, you are supposed to move forward doing the meditation every morning and a visualization later in the day if you need it.
I took the pre-recorded version of The M Word, so there were 3 pre-recorded Q&As during the quest. I found the questions asked answered everything I wanted to know.
I was surprised that she did the webinars by herself. Usually, with Mindvalley quests, someone from Mindvalley hosts the webinars and asks the questions while the teacher simply has to answer. But she did everything herself.
She Has A Lot Of Great Insights And Tips In The M Word
She did bust some myths that I’ve been holding onto around meditation. For instance, I’ve always believed that you need to have no thoughts during meditation, but Emily teaches something different. So instead of beating myself up when thoughts came, I worked with them in a way that Emily talks about and found my meditations much more enjoyable.
You will definitely come out of The M Word with more insight into meditation and what it does to you both physically and mentally, as well as how to do it without stressing out about things.
I Haven’t Noticed Any Huge Benefits Yet
At the beginning of the quest, she says you will have better sleep, be more productive, and be more patient.
I have been doing The M Word meditation every morning. In the quest you do it with her guidance for a few days But, after day 12, I did it by myself without her guidance. I had it down. I didn’t need her voice to help me anymore. I knew where I was going.
I don’t time anything during the meditation. I do each part of the meditation until I feel I’m ready to move on to the next part, so I don’t time anything or worry about whether or not I’m doing it long enough. I listen to my intuition and move on when I’m ready.
I enjoyed The M Word quest. I enjoy doing the meditation. I haven’t had any resistance to doing it.
But I haven’t noticed any huge benefits from doing The M Word every morning, besides the fact that I have something relaxing that feels good to do in my routine before I begin work.
I also have increased focus during my day. However, while I was taking The M Word, I was taking a couple of other quests from Mindvalley as well, so I can’t tell if my increased focus is because of those courses or The M Word.
Here’s what I wrote in my notes on day 20 of The M Word:
I’m on day 20. I don’t know if I’m calmer. I can say that I enjoy the practice of doing it every morning. She does say that the point is not to be a saint who is bothered by nothing but to have a tool to bounce back from stress and stuff quicker.
On that note, doing The M Word every morning is a great way to get past the stress from the last day and get started on a new day. It’s like a way to start fresh.
I noticed that people in the Facebook group for The M Word have really enjoyed the quest and found benefits from it.
I have to block out names and faces because it’s a private group, but here are a few screenshots of comments from other people who finished The M Word.
However, there were also some people who didn’t get benefits from it.
Of course, the tribe had a lot of encouraging comments and tips for this person and they ended up saying they were not going to give up on the practice and they would try to look at it in a completely different way going forward. That’s the beauty of being able to interact with other people. They can help you see the value in something you may not see any value in.
Why I Want To Recommend Taking Emily Fletcher’s Ziva Meditation Instead Of The M Word
I took The M Word thanks to the Mindvalley Membership which allows me to take any course available at any time. In my opinion, that’s the way I would suggest you take it if you are going to take it.
The number of times she talked about her Ziva Online Meditation was a lot. I can’t even count. It was in so many videos that I started to feel like The M Word was an advertisement for Ziva Meditation. Even on the last day, it says you can learn more from Emily with Ziva.
In short, I came out of The M Word feeling like it is a level down from the Ziva Meditation course she talks about constantly. So, unless you have the Mindvalley Membership, and can essentially take The M Word for a few bucks, I would recommend taking her Ziva Meditation instead. I haven’t taken it, but the way she talked about it made it sound amazing and life-changing.
What’s The Difference Between The M Word And Ziva Online?
Here’s what she says during a Q&A: The M Word is about priming your brain for your day and doing guided visualizations for real-life sceneries. Ziva makes you a self-sufficient meditator and gives you a more powerful mantra to meditate on. It’s more about the effortless silence (which is only one part The M Word). And the Ziva course is 8 days long instead of 34. Just like The M Word, each day in the Ziva course builds upon the previous day.
But, when I look at Ziva Online’s sales page, I see that it’s a 15-day course, so it must have upgraded since the quest I took was recorded. It’s broke up into 3 parts – mindfulness, meditation, and manifestation. You also get access to monthly coaching calls, content through email for 6 months after graduating, and Q&A sessions, among other things, so it sounds pretty good. I’m sure she has a ton of good tips and insights in it too, just like she did in The M Word.
Just like all Mindvalley quests, with The M Word, you get access to a group on Facebook where you can ask questions and read stories/insights from other people, and you get any quest updates for free.
So, I guess it really depends on what resonates with you more. But I have to say, she made Ziva sound amazing throughout The M Word, so I would think it would be just as good if not better than The M Word.
I was super disappointed that we weren’t offered some sort of discount for the Ziva Mediation. Considering she talked about it so much, I thought we would be given some sort of incentive to take it. But, nope.
Note: If you have taken Ziva Online please share what it was like for you in the comments below!
The Bottom Line On The M Word
I have a new meditation that I do every morning. I enjoy it. I think it helps set me up for my day. There were a lot of great insights and tips in the quest that made meditation more important in my life and easier to implement. And there were a lot of visualizations to help deal with everyday issues that we all have.
Unfortunately, she made the Ziva Online course sound so much more amazing than The M Word, so I started to look at The M Word as a stepping stone course for something better.
She’s a good teacher for meditation. But you will have to pick what course resonates most with you. You can check out the masterclass for The M Word or the enrollment page for more information. And you can also check out her Ziva Meditation course here.
Update: I read Emily’s book called Stress Less, Accomplish More. It’s extremely similar to The M Word. If you are interested in learning how the book compares to The M Word, you can read my thoughts on that here.
Thank you for this thorough review!