Wednesday, April 13, 2011

How to meditate: Common problems

Note: Some of this information applies to other forms of meditation such as Vipassana more than concentration meditation, but they can occur in all types of meditation.

Through meditation, we start to discover ourselves in more and more profound ways. Along the path of discovery we encounter many resistances. Like in exercise for the body, we try to find ways to deal with these problems because we know that in the long run it is good for us.

Fortunately meditation has been practiced for a long time. And during that time many problems that mediators experience have been shared and analyzed. What has been found is that most of us encounter the same difficulties through the process, and there is a list of "best suggestions" to deal with these problems that have been refined over time.

Some of the most common problems we can encounter in meditation are:
  • Physical discomfort/pain
  • Inability to concentrate/"Fuzziness"
  • Inability to feel the body
  • Sleepiness
  • Restlessness
  • Physical tension caused by focus
  • Discouragement/Hopelessness
  • Lack of enthusiasm
  • Not finding time to meditate

Physical discomfort or pain is one of the most common problems people encounter in meditation, particularly when beginning and when doing meditation for long periods of time.

Meditation is usually done with a still posture (although there are other types such as walking meditation which I'll discuss another time). Most people believe that when meditating, it's necessary to sit on the ground, back straight, face forward. While there are some advantageous to this posture, if you're unused to it, it can become painful quite quickly.

Especially when learning meditation for the first time, I suggest finding a posture where you can be still for the duration of your meditation. Sitting in a chair is fine. The objective is to find a way to minimize moving.

Movement can be very distracting when you are trying to focus on internal sensations so we should aim to minimize it, however being in pain is not a requirement for meditation. If you need to, adjust your position. But try to do it slowly and turn your awareness to the movement when you do so.

An inability to concentrate is also common and can manifest in multiple ways. It can come as a general mental "fuzziness" or fog, a strong resistance to the object of meditation, or the mind being full of activity and distracting thoughts.

Whenever it is difficult to concentrate, a strengthening of intention is required. If necessary, the meditator can intentionally breathe in and breathe out a number of times. By taking long, deliberate breaths the meditator usually finds that their mind starts to refocus after a time. If it doesn't, it could be your mind telling you that it needs a break for now. There is no need to push yourself too hard. In fact a lot of meditators become very eager when they start and make this mistake. Overtraining can be as much of a problem in meditation as it can in physical exercise.

Sometimes meditators can get so lost in the process they start experiencing an inability to feel the body. Depending on the object of meditation, this is fine for a time. The body acts as an anchor for our mind however, and if we are unable to bring our focus back to it, it is a sign that we are getting lost in a mental process.

To bring the mind back to the body more strongly, a person can clench their fists or do some other isometric muscle contractions and focus on it, until it becomes easier to notice physical sensations. By creating a stronger physical sensations, it allows us to regain our mental balance. If this doesn't work, usually teachers assign walking meditation.

Sleepiness is also extremely common. In general, it is usually dealt with in either of the two ways above.

Restlessness often occurs when the body is in the process of unwinding a mental habit, thereby freeing up new energy to the meditator. This is usually a temporary process and winds itself down with time. If the meditator is at a retreat or wishes to continue, they can try intentionally breathing and aim to make their breaths fuller and longer until the feeling of restlessness subsides. Otherwise if possible, it may be helpful to engage in something energetic such as running or exercise or even partying (none of which are available if you are at a retreat).

Sometimes meditation makes us more tense. Physical tension caused by focus can occur when new subconscious tensions come to our awareness. Our awareness can trigger the underlying tension by bringing our focus to it. Although unpleasant, it's actually a sign that we are starting to work through a new tension, which is a good thing.

Much in the same way as a runner would do, the meditator should try and "work through the pain" as much as possible. Intentional breathing with the object in mind and/or isometric muscle contractions can help with this. Also, the tension doesn't need to be dealt with all at once. The meditator can "chip away" at the tension by focusing on it for a time, and then moving awareness to another object (such as a different part of the body).

For deeply ingrained tensions, it's quite common to have tension over a period of many sits, or even many weeks. Like dealing with a big project, it requires patience and persistence.

Discouragement/Hopelessness can happen to any meditator after a period of time. They perhaps feel the internal processes they are monitoring are too powerful or too ingrained for them to make a change. Or sometimes they feel as if they are simply not making any progress. It can become tempting to give up.

This is one area where meditation is different to physical exercise. The mind does not have the same limitations as the physical body. This mental reconditioning is a fundamental aspect of the mind I'm sure I will get to in a later post.

The progress of the mind is also much harder to measure. There are no fat calipers for the mind, or tape measures, or scales. Yet it is important to measure progress in terms of not how we feel, but how we perform mentally in the world.

Often as new awareness comes, we feel as if we are going backwards in meditation, and there is a tendency for intermediate meditators to give up because they feel they are going nowhere. The meditator needs to be creative about how they assess their progress in order to stay motivated.

In terms of concentration, the person should find a way to track progress in how easy it is for them to concentrate and how long they can concentrate for before getting tired. A weekly meeting at work, or a specific class at school can be a good measure for this.

In terms of nonreactivity (which is a long term effect of meditation, particularly Vipassana) can be measured by the amount of time it takes for your mood to recover from external triggers. If we know that particular words or actions put us in a bad mood on a regular basis, we can use this as a measure of progress. If 6 months ago it would take us a full day to return to a good mood and now it takes us only 12 hours, we can clearly see progress.

Relying on what a person feels during meditation is not a good measure of progress, so the meditator is recommended to find external measures of progress.

Lack of enthusiasm is also related to discouragement above and can usually be dealt with in the same way. However, sometimes it is a signal that the mind needs to integrate something previously unwound. If the lack of enthusiasm is temporary, taking a break from meditation may be helpful (although I recommend committing to 5 minutes minimum per day to strengthen the habit of meditating). If the feeling extends for a longer time I would recommend treating it as discouragement in the way listed above.

Lastly, not finding time to meditate is not so much a problem of meditation as it is a behavioral result of one of the above. I will write about the importance of creating a habit to meditate another time, but I wanted to stress it here. I recommend a commitment to 5 minutes meditation every day. If the meditator really doesn't have time to meditate longer, that's fine. Anybody can find 5 minutes, and this regularity will make it easier for the person to find time later and harder for them to give up.

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This list is not exhaustive. There are other ways to deal with these problems, and other problems that come up in meditation. These are just some of the common problems and solutions many people find useful. The best way to deal with these problems is to experiment in what works for you. A community and a teacher can help you with ideas by sharing their experiences, but ultimately we all respond slightly differently. You have to put them into practice and find which are the most effective for you.