Meditation....what makes it so easy and so hard?

OK, I start my 1/2 hour of meditation tomorrow. I started on January 27th doing 15 minutes a day and each week added five more minutes. But do I find it...easy? No, I do not. Am I perfect at it? FAR from it. But that's not the point.

The point is that I know this kind of bringing myself back to me, to the moment, is important to and for me. It helps stop the constant chatter I think we all have in our heads. What we need to do LATER, what we did BEFORE, everything but WHERE we are NOW. We live in the future and the past in our heads. OK, I won't speak for anyone but myself. Maybe you all are exactly in this moment.

I often wonder if it is easier for monks to meditate. I mean what else do they have to think about, right? They don't have the constant distraction of life we have. But EVERYONE can have a mind that...wanders. It doesn't matter if you're thinking about the big meeting tomorrow or about how a fellow monk got more soup than you did. We all have other things to think about if we choose to.

I've realized it doesn't matter if one is perfect at meditation or how long one meditates. What matters is being aware when we AREN'T in the moment and to try to bring ourselves back.

I think it is at least as important to meditate for just a minute a day, spread out (standing in the checkout line, thinking HERE..(breathing in)...NOW (breathing out) once or twice and doing that as we think about it during the day then to just meditate for a long period.

My goal is to do both. Do one session a day for a half an hour and then throughout the day, just make time to think HERE...NOW....for a breath or two...as I am doing things.

So do I find it EASY? Um nope. But I find it more and more necessary and helpful.

If you have trouble making time, make seconds here and there throughout the day no matter what you're doing...HERE...NOW...and before long, it will be a habit and you will find yourself more and more...in the moment.

Do you ever listen to meditation music?

I've bought some meditation CD's that are guided and they were fine in the beginning. They were good for me to use as chakra balancing and meditation. Then about a year ago I found a website with some interesting tones, specific binaural frequencies and beats that activate alpha, delta & theta brain waves. This seemed to help a great deal on opening my third eye and crown chakras and I saw a vast improvement in my accuracy doing psychic readings or with divination tools.

I know what you mean about stopping the chatter in your head - it's very hard to sometimes! I remember just concentrating on the back of my eyelids and I'd see pinpoint dots, swirling around to my heartbeat, then sometimes the shades of background colors would change slightly and I'd stop myself from thinking about that because I realized I was thinking about something and the point is to think about nothing! Right? LOL

Then I went to a retreat where we learned self-hypnosis and guess what? We used the dots on the inside of our eyelids to lull ourselves into a trance for channeling. Weird, huh?

I still meditate at least every day, sometimes twice - when I rise, when I go to sleep. Then during the day, whenever I just need to find my "center", or get in the 'zone' to do spiritual psychic work (or heck, even for doing exercises or readings on here) I just do a short breathing exercise of deep breaths. Usually not more than a minute or two and *bing* - I get my own tell-tale sign when I'm good to go!

It's always interesting to hear what works for others - thanks for sharing your routine!

Personally I think someone is blessed even if they can meditate just for a few minutes. It can be very grounding. Me I find meditation very difficult even if I know I need it I just can not succeed at it. I think over all it is because I am a spiritual train wreck. So much inner flux you would swear I am a vicious thunder storm. So meditation is really something I could use but impossible for me to achieve. So yes I think it is really difficult but should be easy. There was a time when I could just lost it in my storm.

Yes House of Fox

I have listened to cds, but since I like it to be just me, I just find it better and easier for me not to. I do think the guided meditations are useful for those beginning or those who just feel it helps keep them on track. To each their own, and there are some great ones out there. And Siochanai, I find just thinking here, now, as I inhale and exhale, helps me. It brings me back. There are all kinds of meditation, different ways people meditate, I think it's just whatever works for you. I personally also like the free online meditation timer. I can set it for 30 minutes and 15 seconds which gives me a chance to center myself to get my 30 minutes in and it ends with a lovely soft chime (if you remember to turn your speakers down .

Hello all, great thread!

It is so hard to do but I do believe in its benefits. After a 10+ year lapse/procrastination/fear from a more austere method, I started again at the beginning of the year. I find now it helps for me to listen to something like music, ohm, or a guided meditation.

I really like the idea of coming back to it throughout the day as I've tended to compartmentalize it into a single period per day. Then, when it's over, I soon forget to be here now! I must remember to do that.

House of Fox, may I ask where you found the site with tones/specific binaural frequencies? Been enjoying binaural recordings in general (Monroe, Halpern, etc) but the tones sounds like a great fit for meditation!

I think the biggest hindrance for me in meditation is my expectations. It has helped to accept that one day I might have a peace-inducing meditation, while the next is pure monkey-mind. I also gave up on trying to sit for a certain length of time; between elder care, grand kids and others, I don't always have that option. So today I might sit five minutes and the next I might sit thirty. I think it is my intention to sit rather than my commitment to a certain time length that is important for me. Another thing that helps is to be gentle and without judgment when you have one of those days when your mind is everywhere except on your focus. Sometimes I feel like I have a little yappy dog inside my head, constantly planning that won't shut up! But I imagine scooping up these concerns and sitting them next to me as I say "Okay, let me meditate and then I'll get back to you."

Had to smile at the yappy dog, BodhiSeed!

As sometimes I have a whiny dog come by me. An actual whiny dog lol. I have a smallish (Corgi/Jack Russell) dog who is very good and quiet...most of the time. But when I start to meditate, sometimes it's like having a toddler. Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Just this slight whine. I used to think I needed peace around me to meditate and then I realized I am just being in the moment, if the moment includes my dog whining or a train that runs through town...A LOT...well, that's the moment.

I can sit for a half an hour, I think the longest I've ever sat was an hour, but I now wish to just do a half hour and then get a few minutes throughout the day, taking like the meditation equivalent of cat naps? Doing the Here...Now...for even 15 seconds at a store, while I am waiting for water to boil, etc. The more I do this, the more I want to do this.

greatdane said:

The more I do this, the more I want to do this.

Click to expand...

I think when you reach this point, you will know you're on the right path for you.

HiGuys - here's the link and he has sample clips of different ones. When I bought them I was thrilled that most are 30 mins or 45 mins long. Maybe not for everyone - oh and headphones are a MUST to really feel the binaural beats and solfeggio frequency vibrations.

http://www.healingwithsound.net

Oooh - here's my favorite one!

http://www.healingwithsound.net/?id=ca