Seven Keys to Master Meditation Problems
How Beginners Can Meditate Successfully: Overcome Meditation Failure
Sep 12, 2008
The benefits of meditation are well documented. No longer the exclusive realm of alternative medicine and holistic healers, meditation is becoming a mainstream aid to the traditional medical community for stress reduction, relaxation, lowering blood pressure, and pain relief, among others.
Though mention of meditation often conjures images of ritual, ceremony, and chanting Eastern gurus, in reality meditation is a normal human function that can be mastered by anyone.
Why Meditation Is Difficult
Why, then, is meditation difficult for many beginners? People have very active minds; experts estimate the human mind processes thousands of thoughts each day, perhaps hundreds of thousands. Much of this thinking is subconscious, carried on without conscious awareness.
An inability to quiet the mind is probably the main reason a novice abandons meditation.
High Expectations
Those experienced in meditation often describe reaching deep and intense states characterized by the absence of all thought and a mental transportation into a black or blue nothingness accompanied by an intense spiritual experience.
The novice expecting to reach this state of deep meditation in the first few attempts will likely be disappointed and frustrated. There can also be a subconscious resistance by the mind, fearful of abandoning all thought and control.
Beginning Meditation Goals
Rather than aiming for a deep state of meditation with the expectation of a spiritual experience, the novice is probably best served by striving for brief periods of relaxation. Quieting the mind for even a few minutes is relaxing and energizing.
By learning to meditate for relaxation and stress relief, even in the midst of a busy day, the novice will gain confidence and competence, which will likely lead to future meditating successes, perhaps even a profound spiritual experience.
Seven Keys for Meditation Success
These seven keys will help the beginner master meditation problems:
- Strive initially for mental detachment rather than the absolute absence of thinking. An excellent example of mental detachment occurs in the few moments just before falling asleep. Thoughts may be going through the mind, but they appear to be at a distance, and one can literally experience drawing away. This experience can also occur at other times, such as when bored during a class, a lecture, or a movie.
- Avoid hitching a ride on thoughts. Watch thoughts come into mind, but avoid following them. Watch the thoughts pass by as if they were cars on a distant freeway, coming into view and passing on, but without going along.
- Focus intensely on an object, either a physical object or a mental image. Strive to see every detail of the object from every perspective.
- Repeat a brief phrase or sound over and over. Do this silently or out loud if the circumstances permit. Try the guttural sounds of ahhh and ohmmm, or any soothing, drawn-out words or brief phrases.
- Take a nature walk, intently noticing each plant, tree, or flower, but avoiding thoughts of everyday problems.
- Dr. Wayne Dyer, author of many best selling self help books, suggests in Getting In the Gap, to focus on the gap or space between words of the Lord's Prayer. Say the prayer out loud or silently, stopping briefly after each word to focus on the gap, a place of nothingness.
- Picture a flickering candle flame, watch it intently for a time, then mentally blow it out. Repeat as necessary.
Meditation Success for Beginners
It may seem impossible to the novice to abandon all thought, but that is not necessary when beginning meditation. Following the seven tips above will provide the beginner with some of the benefits of meditation, providing experience and confidence that may lead to deeper, spiritual benefits.
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