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No Meditation
MindGate
United States Veteran
I don't meditate. I'll sit down to try to meditate, but then I'll have restless legs. Or my back will feel restless and full of heat and energy. Or I won't be able to breathe out of my nose properly (I have a medical issue or something which causes my nose to constantly be stuffed up). Or if I try to keep my eyes open when I meditate they become dry constantly. Or I'll feel generally uncomfortable. Or parts of my body will ache. Or everything will seem to hot or too cold. Or blah or blah or blah.
It seems as though I just don't want myself to meditate. My body does everything it can to stop me from wanting to do it. I just don't want to now. Any suggestions?
It seems as though I just don't want myself to meditate. My body does everything it can to stop me from wanting to do it. I just don't want to now. Any suggestions?
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Comments
If your nose is constantly stuffed up, try eliminating dairy products from your diet for a week. My guess is you'll find your nose isn't stuffed up anymore.
have you heard of a netti pot? It can keep your nasal passages clear, and I've heard other good things about it.
I suggest if there is a monastery or meditation group find one for extra motivation and to voice your problems further.
Successful meditation also depends upon several other factors as well But this is what you need to try to start with friend.
Second. You can try a bodyscan lying on your back. Slowly feel your toes. Then the bottom of your feet. Each time you move spots let the energy from that spot go up into your lungs and breath out. Then the ankle all the way up to your pelvis. Then the other leg starting with the toes. Then the pelvis and your lower back. Then the upper. Make note of any sensation and feel it. Then your hands and wrists and shoulders. There is a lot of tension often in the shoulders and fore head. Which after shoulders go to the neck mouth and teeth. Eyes and eyelids. Forehead. Sides of head and back of head. Then the top of head. Now breath in through your feet and out through a blowhole in the top of your head. Then in through the blow hold and out through your feet.
Next feel your belly rising and falling. Just note the rise and fall. If you feel an itch or a twitch just note that 'itch' 'wish to get up' 'twitch'
Three. Another method is the one breath meditaion. Breath in and out normally and then get ready. On the outbreath feel the nostrils the air sensation. When you are fully breathing in close your eyes and breath in. Then feel that instant when you are switching from in and breath out. You can repeat or just do one breath.
that one breath with practice can give you a taste of the peace of meditation. And you can do it whenever you have a moment.
Fourth, don't meditate. Just sit down on the sofa and sit but be mindful. Its not meditation, ah but it is. Just sit normally like your waiting for the dentist and be mindful.
I had to address the images and the overwhelming feelings associated with them before I could feel safe enough to try again. The same would be true for any physical medical issues.Address what needs to be dealt with then try again. Slowly. Without judgement. Any meditation is far better than nothing at all. Deep breathing and attempting mindfulness was a good substitution (for me) while I dealt with other issues.
Namaste.
I've tried the nettipot, but that didn't work for me, but what does work REALLY well is 'breath of fire'; it's a yoga breathing technique, and it doesn't take much practise to do well enough to clear the nasal passages.
I generally sit down, do my set prayers, and then spend a minute or so doing the 'breath of fire' breathing. It's great for waking yourself up too, if you're tired; it gets the body oxygenated, but more importantly for me, it clears my nasal passages lovely. I like it with incense burning.
How to do breath of fire.
I also suffer painful joint conditions, am in chronic pain, and suffer from itchy skin. Yet I meditate. The trick is to learn to do things without breaking your concentration - I learned this was possible by watching a lady with severe rheumatoid arthritis in our sangha, who is unable to sit still for long without her joints 'locking'. Basically, you move when you need to, without focussing or becoming obsessed with the movement.
I used to sit there with an ache or an itch, trying not to notice it, and trying not to scratch or reposition myself. It was a nightmare, and a little like saying to someone "Don't think of an elephant". The second you try not to think of it, you are thinking of not thinking of it! And so on.
These days, I scratch if the itch is unbearable but I try to distract my brain from the itch before that point. So if my head is itching, I think about my feet, or my breath, or something else. Itching is not good for the skin so I try to avoid doing it to excess. But at the point when all I can think about is the itch, I have a quick scratch. Then I immediately re-focus my mind.
As for my joints, I have learned to meditate in a sitting position, with plenty of cushions to support my lower back, and often a zafu as a foot stool as well. I always have a box of tissues on hand, a bottle of water (for throat tickles) and a blanket to wrap around me in case I get chilly. If I need to move, I move - I may stretch our my feet in a Tai Chi like movement, or my arms and hands. I try to move slowly, gracefully, with body awareness, and yet without being focussed on the movement. If my tailbone is hurting, I may even stand up.
You may think it is impossible to meditate with all this going on, but I've been doing it a few years now. But as we learn to let our thoughts just be, observing them like clouds blowing across the sky, I have learned to let my body just be, too. I observe its aches, pains and itches, and may take action if I need to, but I do not attach to it or wish things were different than they were. It is a great lesson for life to have challenges meditating! I can hardly believe that I have learned all this - it seemed so impossible at first. But you know what they say: Practice, practice, practice.
When I'm ill or have a stuffy nose, I just breathe through my mouth. Not preferred, but necessary if I'm to meditate.
if your back hurts, pick a different position.
if your eyes hurt open, keep them closed.
if you cant breath out your nose, dont use the nose for anapanasati. you can use the rising and falling of the abdomen or just the breath itself. Ajahn Brahm has wonderful meditation instructions that dont involve the nose at all: http://www.jhanagrove.org.au/meditation.html
Instead, think of the goal for your meditation, the peace that you want, why you want/need it and what you will gain from it. Then think about how, given you have innumerable options, you will best achieve that goal - for your current parameters anyway....
Then go from there. Easy!
I too have sinus issues, and often cannot breath through my nose well, but since I follow the jodo shinshu tradition my practice is mainly chanting sutras and reciting the Nembutsu, and there the sinus plays no role at all.
I also can practice Nembutsu anywhere anytime by whispering, or mentally reciting if I'm in public.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/dune/giftsheleft.html