7 Reasons It's Hard To Meditate

What is it about something as simple as sitting still and watching our breath that evokes panic, fear, and even hostility? No matter how many reports there are proving the mental, emotional, and physical value of being quiet, there seems to be an even greater number who refuse to give it a try.

Meditation can certainly be challenging, and even more so if we are uncertain as to why we are doing it. It can seem very odd to sit there just listening to the incessant chatter in our head, and we easily get bored if we do nothing for too long, even if it’s only 10 minutes.

After years of hearing a plethora of reasons why people find it hard to meditate, we have whittled it down to just a few:

1. I’m too busy, I don’t have the time. Which can certainly be true if you have young children and a full-time job, and all that these entail. However, we are only talking about maybe 10 minutes a day. Most of us spend more time than that reading the newspaper or idly surfing the web. It only appears like we don’t have the time because we usually fill every moment with activity and never press the pause button.

2. I find it really uncomfortable to sit still for too long. If you are trying to sit cross-legged on the floor then, yes, it will get uncomfortable. But you can sit upright in a firm and comfortable chair instead. Or, you can do walking meditation, or yoga, or tai chi. Moving meditation can be just as beneficial as sitting.

3. My mind won’t stop thinking: I can’t relax. I can’t meditate. I just can’t! My mind will not get quiet; it flies all over the place! My thoughts are driving me mad! I’m trying to get away from myself, not look inside. Sound familiar?

Surprisingly enough, trying to stop your mind from thinking is like trying to stop the wind – it’s impossible. In the Eastern teaching the mind is described as being like a drunken monkey bitten by a scorpion because, just as a monkey leaps from branch to branch, so the mind leaps from one thing to another, constantly distracted and busy. So, when you come to sit still and try to quiet your mind, you find all this manic activity going on and it seems insanely noisy. It is actually nothing new, just that now you are becoming aware of it, whereas before you were immersed in it, unaware that such chatter was so constant.

This experience of the mind being so busy is very normal. Someone once estimated that in any one thirty-minute session of meditation we may have upward of three hundred thoughts. Years of busy mind, years of creating and maintaining dramas, years of stresses and confusion and self-centeredness, and the mind has no idea how to be still. Rather, it craves entertainment. It’s not as if you can suddenly turn it off when you meditate, it just means you are like everyone else.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Marianne B.

10:14PM PDT on Nov 3, 2012

good info, thanks

November 3
send a green star

eloise b.

1:20PM PDT on Nov 3, 2012

this had really motavited me to have 'me time', thx

Catherine S.

12:59PM PDT on Jul 8, 2012

Thanks, now I feel less guilty about all the thoughts running around in my head when I meditate. Do love to do it though.

July 8
send a green star

Eternal G.

10:28PM PDT on Apr 28, 2012

Thanks.

April 28
send a green star

10:24PM PDT on Apr 28, 2012

Allan Y.

1:19PM PDT on Apr 1, 2012

Sunday is the day I make up all my phone calls..

April 1
send a green star

1:15PM PDT on Apr 1, 2012

I had to stop at 3 as I find it impossible to meditate.

Ed And Deb S.

12:26PM PDT on Mar 23, 2012

Diane N.- you say you fall asleep when meditating -
try walking meditation - slowly eyes open & looking a bit in front of your feet -
the key to meditation is awareness - be aware of your movement -
you can even stand - just be still - it is the greatest gift you can give yourself!
Treasure yourself,
Ed