Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Saya mau meditasi lebih sering supaya stres saya berkurang. - I want to meditate more often so that my stress decreases.

Saya mau meditasi…
= I want to meditate… (neutral, common in everyday speech)
Saya ingin meditasi…
= I would like to meditate… / I wish to meditate… (a bit more formal or “serious” in tone)

Very roughly:

mau → everyday, spoken, neutral
ingin → slightly more formal, often used in writing or polite speech

In this sentence, switching mau to ingin does not change the basic meaning, only the tone.

Does mau here mean “want to” or “going to / will”?

In this sentence, mau mainly means “want to”:

Saya mau meditasi lebih sering…
→ I want to meditate more often…

However, in other contexts mau can also sound like “going to / will”, for example:

Saya mau pergi sekarang.
→ I’m going to leave now / I will leave now.

The nuance depends on context:

Talking about a habit or goal (like meditating more often) → usually “want to”.
Talking about a near-future plan → can be “going to / will”.

Why is there no word for “to” before meditasi? In English we say “want to meditate”.

Indonesian does not need a special word like English “to” (the infinitive marker) before verbs.

The pattern is simply:

Saya mau makan. → I want to eat.
Dia suka membaca. → He/She likes to read.
Saya mau meditasi. → I want to meditate.

You should not say ✗ mau untuk meditasi in this sentence.
Just use mau + verb: mau meditasi, mau tidur, mau belajar, etc.

Is meditasi a verb or a noun in Indonesian? Can I say bermeditasi?

Meditasi is a loan word and can act as a noun or a verb, depending on context.

In this sentence:

Saya mau meditasi lebih sering…
→ meditasi is functioning like a verb: to meditate.

Other possibilities:

Saya suka meditasi. → I like meditating / meditation.
Meditasi itu penting. → Meditation is important. (here clearly a noun)

You can say bermeditasi:

Saya mau bermeditasi lebih sering.

This is grammatically correct but sounds more formal / bookish. In everyday conversation, people usually just say meditasi, not bermeditasi.

What does lebih sering literally mean, and can I move lebih somewhere else in the sentence?

Literally:

lebih = more
sering = often / frequently
So lebih sering = more often.

In this sentence:

Saya mau meditasi lebih sering…
→ I want to meditate more often…

You’ll also hear:

Saya mau lebih sering meditasi.

Both are correct. The difference is slight:

meditasi lebih sering → focuses a bit on meditating more often.
lebih sering meditasi → focuses a bit on the frequency of meditation.

In everyday speech, both word orders are natural and interchangeable.

What’s the difference between lebih sering and sering-sering?

lebih sering = more often (comparative)
You’re comparing to your current frequency:
- I meditate sometimes now → I want to do it more often.
sering-sering = (very) often / frequently / as often as possible
It suggests repeated action, but not a direct comparison:
- Meditasi sering-sering, ya. → Meditate often, okay?

In your sentence, because you are comparing to how often you meditate now, lebih sering is the natural choice:

Saya mau meditasi lebih sering…
= I want to meditate more often (than I do now).

Why does the sentence use supaya? How is it different from agar, sehingga, and jadi?

Supaya expresses purpose / desired result, similar to “so that / in order that”:

…supaya stres saya berkurang.
→ …so that my stress decreases.

Comparisons:

supaya
- Common in speech and writing.
- Focus: intention / purpose.
- Example: Saya belajar keras supaya lulus ujian.
  I study hard so that I pass the exam.
agar
- Very similar to supaya, but more formal / written.
- You could say: …agar stres saya berkurang. (sounds a bit more formal)
sehingga
- Focus on result, more like “so that / as a result” but not about intention.
- More like: This happens → as a result, that happens.
- Example: Hujan deras, sehingga jalanan banjir.
  It rained heavily, so the streets flooded.
- Using sehingga in your sentence shifts it toward a plain cause–effect description, not clearly an intention.
jadi
- Informal, often at the start of a clause: “so / therefore”.
- Example: Saya stres, jadi saya mau meditasi.
  I’m stressed, so I want to meditate.

In your sentence, supaya is good because you’re stating your purpose: you want to meditate more often in order to reduce your stress.

Why is it stres saya and not saya stres or stresku?

Different structures, different nuances:

stres saya
- Literally “my stress” (noun + possessor).
- supaya stres saya berkurang
  → so that my stress decreases.
saya stres
- stres works like an adjective: “stressed”.
- supaya saya kurang stres
  → so that I am less stressed.
- Very natural alternative with a slightly more personal, emotional feel.
stresku
- -ku is a very informal/poetic “my”.
- More common in songs, writing, or very casual language, not as neutral as stres saya.
- supaya stresku berkurang is grammatically fine, but has a more intimate or stylistic tone.

So:

stres saya berkurang → more neutral, noun-focused: my level of stress goes down.
saya kurang stres → more like “I feel less stressed.”

What exactly does berkurang mean, and why not use mengurangi?

Both come from the root kurang = less / lacking.

berkurang
- Intransitive: “to decrease / to become less.”
- No direct object.
- Stres saya berkurang.
  → My stress decreases / My stress gets reduced.
mengurangi
- Transitive: “to reduce / to lessen (something).”
- Needs an object.
- Meditasi bisa mengurangi stres saya.
  → Meditation can reduce my stress.

Your original sentence:

…supaya stres saya berkurang.
Focus: the stress itself becomes less.

Alternative:

…untuk mengurangi stres saya.
Focus: meditation as an action that reduces your stress.

Both are correct, but grammatically they are different types of verbs.

Can I say Saya mau meditasi lebih sering untuk mengurangi stres saya instead? Is the meaning the same?

Yes, that sentence is correct and natural, and the meaning is very close.

supaya stres saya berkurang
→ so that my stress decreases (focus on the state changing)
untuk mengurangi stres saya
→ to reduce my stress (focus on the action of reducing stress)

So:

Saya mau meditasi lebih sering supaya stres saya berkurang.
= I want to meditate more often so that my stress decreases.
Saya mau meditasi lebih sering untuk mengurangi stres saya.
= I want to meditate more often to reduce my stress.

Both are good; the original with supaya … berkurang sounds very typical and natural.

Can I drop the second saya and just say supaya stres berkurang?

Yes, you can say:

Saya mau meditasi lebih sering supaya stres berkurang.

This is grammatically fine and commonly heard. The nuance:

stres saya berkurang
→ clearly my stress.
stres berkurang
→ more general: the stress goes down (could be my stress, or stress in general, depending on context).

In conversation, if it’s obvious you’re talking about your own stress, stres berkurang is perfectly natural. If you want to be explicit, keep stres saya.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral? How would I make it more casual or more formal?

The original sentence is fairly neutral and suitable in many contexts.

Neutral:
- Saya mau meditasi lebih sering supaya stres saya berkurang.

To make it more casual, you could:

Change saya to a casual pronoun (depends on region):
- Aku mau meditasi lebih sering supaya aku kurang stres.
- Gue mau meditasi lebih sering biar gue kurang stres. (very Jakarta-style; biar is a casual form of supaya)

To make it more formal, you could:

Use ingin or akan, and maybe agar:
- Saya ingin meditasi lebih sering agar stres saya berkurang.
- Saya akan lebih sering bermeditasi agar tingkat stres saya berkurang.

All of these are understandable; you choose based on how polite or casual you want to sound.