Hello everyone and welcome back to my channel.
In today's video, I am going to share with you some tips to overcome three of the most
common challenges that we encounter in the meditation practice.
If you're interested in learning about mindfulness and meditation, consider subscribing to my
channel.
Every Tuesday, I am posting a new video on these topics, and I show you how you can apply
these tools in your daily life.
When I first started meditation, I had very little instructions and guidance.
I had many questions but not many answers and that is the reason why I wanted to make
this video, to answer some questions that I had at the beginning and that I know many
of you have.
And to remove some frustrations that can come up when we get started with meditation.
And then I'll also give you some tips on how you can enjoy this practice even more.
The first challenge in meditation and the one that many people have encountered is this
one.
Meditation is so hard and I have too many thoughts.
How do I quiet my mind?
I hear a lot of people expressing how difficult it is to meditate, that they cannot clear
their mind, and they get frustrated because of that.
But I think there is a deep misunderstanding about what meditation is.
Meditation is not about clearing your mind of thoughts, meditation is about observation.
It is about observing our feelings or thoughts with clarity, so we can gain a better understanding
of ourself, a better understanding of others and of the world that we live in.
In order to quiet our mind, to reduce the chatter inside our heads, we need to give
our mind an object to focus on.
In mindfulness meditation, we often use a breath as an anchor for our attention.
The breath is a very convenient object of focus, because it is always available to us.
It is stable, and it has a calming effect on the mind and the body.
As I mentioned in my previous video, and you can find the link in the description below,
we can start our meditation practice by simply labelling the in breath "IN" and labelling
the out breath "OUT".
At the beginning, you may only be able to take two or three mindful breaths and then,
get lost in thought, and that's okay.
But at some point you will notice that your mind has drifted away from your anchor, that
you were daydreaming and this is a very important moment in your practice.
This is a moment of mindfulness.
We are practicing noticing when our mind drifts away, so that we can bring it back to the
breath.
And again, you will take a few mindful breaths and get lost in thought again.
And this happens to everybody, and it is normal, because it is the nature of the mind to produce
thoughts.
With practice, perseverance and patience, you will be able to improve, increase your
concentration, so you can stay focused on your breath for a longer period of time.
Remember the three P's of meditation.
It takes patience, practice and perseverance.
Challenge number two, what can I do if I get sleepy?
Sleepiness is also a very common challenge in meditation, so here are a few tips that
you can use when you feel sleepy.
First, you can slowly open your eyes to let some light in, lower your gaze to a 45 degree
angle and try not to focus on anything in particular.
Second tip is to stand up, if you do, have a bend in your knees, so you don't lock your
knees.
Third, take a few deep breaths to energize and wake up your body.
But most importantly look into how you relate to your sleepiness in your practice.
Are you critical or self-judgemental about yourself?
If you do, if this happens, see if you can bring a sense of curiosity to your experience
and in a sense of kindness towards yourself.
Challenge number three, I feel bored when I meditate, what can I do?
For most of us, filling bored is an unpleasant experience.
That's why when we are waiting in line at the grocery store, we pull our cell phone
out or when we are bored at home, we turn on the TV or we open the fridge.
So what can we do when we meditate, when we're feeling bored?
When I notice that I feel bored in my meditation practice, I ask myself the question, how can
I enjoy this particular moment?
And for me the answer is quite simple, it is just by relaxing and enjoying the sensations
of relaxation in my body.
So here are my two tips for you to relax and enjoy your practice.
Number one is to create a half smile on your face.
This half smile is also called the half smile of the Buddha.
And you can create it by just pulling the edges of your lips up towards your ears.
By doing this, you'll be able to relax your facial muscles and invite a sense of ease
and joy to your practice.
My second tip is once you have this half smile, on each in breath, you become aware of your
full body and on each out breath you release the tensions in your body.
A lot of my practice is just this, practicing, smiling, having a light smile, and enjoying
the sensation of relaxation in my body.
We often say, I cannot wait to be on vacations, so I can finally relax.
But with this practice we can learn to relax at any moment of the day whenever we want,
and we don't have to wait weeks or month to finally relax.
Often we can see meditation as something we need to do, something we have to do, something
else on our to do list, but can we see meditation as a practice that we do because we enjoy
it?
If you see a child eating a piece of chocolate, probably he is not eating it because he has
to but because he enjoys it.
So, can we practice meditation with this sense of enjoyment?
Finding joy in meditation is simple, we just breathe, smile and relax.
If you are experiencing any other challenges in your meditation practice, be sure to let
me know using the comments section below.
If you want to stay in touch with me, you can visit my website at Peaceful-breathing.com
and sign up for my newsletter there.
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Next week, I will give you some tips on how to practice meditation more consistently.
So, thank you for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.