I can’t tell you how many times people have told me they are unable to meditation because they can’t turn their mind off. Well, what if I told you that you CAN meditate, you just need to learn the method that is in sync with you?
The five mistakes listed below are the most common that I’ve witnessed people making when trying to learn to meditate. I hope you learn to go easy on yourself after reading my solutions to these common issues.
SITTING STILL: There is such a thing as a moving meditation for all of you who are antsy. I know many people, and I, myself, often go into a meditative state while in the shower or washing dishes. In fact, you can get into a meditative mindset whenever doing anything by rote where you don’t have to actually think about what it is you’re doing. Qi gong, qi gong, chi kung, or chi gung, is a perfect example of a holistic system of coordinated body posture and movement, breathing, and meditation used for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training.
MIND CHATTER: This is the most often used reason why people don’t meditate. What they’ve not been made aware of is the different types of meditation. Focused Attention (FA) and Open Monitoring (OM). In FA, one focuses on a thing—usually the breath—to train attention. And when your mind wanders, you bring it back to the breath, again and again. So the practice isn’t actually sitting there with a blank mind—it’s bringing the focus back to its object repeatedly. Seriously, you’re training your brain much like training a puppy. Repeatedly returning to the meditative state will train your brain this it’s ok to meditate, to relax into a state where I don’t have to figure everything out.
In the other, more advanced form, OM (also called mindfulness meditation), you watch your thoughts non-judgmentally, acknowledge them, and then (theoretically) let them go. For instance, imagine yourself sitting in meditation, you’re on a beautiful beach, listening to the waves rush in and the breeze blowing, and a clown juggling. What?!? Instead of judging whether a clown belongs on your beach, just let him be, observe what the clown is doing. The clown is either your mind trying to distract you, or spirit trying to send you messages. Rather than reacting to a thought, you just observe it curiously and then watch it subside.
OUTSIDE DISTRACTIONS: This goes along with MIND CHATTER. The mind is a wonderful machine, and it can tune out and overlook much of the noise we hear or the chaos around us. For example, when you’re deep in thought or studying something intently, you don’t notice what is being said on TV or even that there IS a TV. Or, you’re driving and you wonder where the last 5 miles went because you were so deep in thought you missed them. These examples are proof that you can meditate and tune out the noise and focus. The TV is blaring, there’s traffic noise, and through it, you maintained focus. The trick here is to find a mental place where you’re likely to zone out. For me, it’s simply listening to either a CD of ocean waves or the sounds of a still morning where I can imagine I’m out in nature.
TOO MANY TOOLS: You need NOTHING to meditate! No music, No candles, No incense! Teachers of meditation often use these tools (myself included) to induce a sense of peace – to set the stage so-to-speak. However, there’s also those who tend to get distracted with all the folderol. If you set too many rules upon how, when, or where you meditate, you’ll get too stuck in your routine and won’t be able to easily meditate without them.
I FALL ASLEEP: Using a guided meditation in this instance helps immensely. I suggest listening to the meditation first without trying to meditate just to make sure you’re intune with the voice of the presenter and inline with what their message is. Here’s a very short free meditation from my YouTube page.
I suggest sticking to short guided meditations. The more you meditate, the longer the meditation the longer you’ll be able to maintain the meditative space. Once you get proficient at using the guided meditations, try to “visit” the same place without using the music.
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The benefits of a regular meditative practice has been life-changing for me. When I feel out of sorts, and my energy feels wonky, I usually turn to meditation first. I’ve found that quieting the mind can actually provide the answers you seek to issues you’re finding troublesome. Fighting stress and anxiety are helped tremendously with regular meditation. As a matter of fact, one of my New Year’s resolutions was to minimize stress, and meditation at the beginning of the day or whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed has been my saving grace.
I hope you’ll make meditation at least an every other day practice if you can’t make it a daily priority. Like many other things, it takes diligence to train yourself and your brain, but within a few weeks you’ll see great results and you’ll feel so much more at peace. Don’t try to sit in meditation for an hour the first time you do it as you’ll surely fail. If you’re only able to sit for five minutes at first, good for you! The more often you sit in meditation the longer you’ll be able to without trying – it’ll naturally happen. I don’t usually sit for more than 20 minutes, but it works! Accept the journey as it is.
To your stress-less empowered new self!
Blessings ~ Lisa
