Obstacles to Mindfulness | Meditation Practice

There are three common obstacles to mindfulness: They are natural withdrawal symptoms from stimulation-addiction and excess thinking. In a way, they represent the thinking mind’s attempts to hold on, to create a more thinking even while meditating. Slowing down and just being presentgives the thinking mind little to do, and initially this can be uncomfortable experience. The withdrawal symptoms from being busy, being stimulated, planning and worrying are similar to the withdrawal symptoms when giving up coffee or sugar.

But with patience and by persevering with the mindfulness practice, boredom, restless and impatience are gradually transformed into feelings of peace and spaciousness. If any uncomfortable feeling arises, accept them as physical and emotional withdrawal symptoms. Whenever possible, simply shift as much attention as you can back to your breathing. Refocus on the next breath. If you frequently becoming sleepy when you meditate, this may well be another form of obstacle to mindfulness. Our mind is always busy worrying, judging and planning, when there is nothing to plan, judge or worry about, we fall asleep. Through the practice of mindfulness , we are training the mind to be awake and alert when there are no problems to solve or goal to achieve, so we can just be and enjoy peace, quiet and simple, present moment pleasures. We lower the level of stimulation but we are still awake.

Here are a few tips to help move through sleepiness while meditating: Do not be too hard on yourself. If you really tired, stop meditating and have a rest. Adjust your posture. If, as a result of sleepiness, your posture has collapsed, then gently make your posture more upright along the spine and more open across your chest. Make your breathing a little stronger. In particular, slightly emphasize the in-breath. Open your eyes and, with soft gaze, look directly ahead of you without focusing on anything in particular, and continue with the meditation. Make your posture a little more challenge, a little more uncomfortable. Possibly the most common obstacle to mindfulness practice are trying too hard and being too serious.

Often underlying these habits is the agenda of practicing Mindfulness of Breath in order to achieve an imagined outcome such as bliss, no-thought, deep relaxation, and so on. This agenda generates expectations of where you would like to be and judgements of where you are. Remember, with mindfulness, you are not trying to change the content of your awareness, your thoughts, feelings and sensations. Rather you are simply and profoundly changing your attitude to the content of your awareness. You are cultivating an attitude of acceptance by ‘just watching’ what comes into your awareness. So nothing has to change. There is nowhere to go, nothing to do; just the choice to be present and, whenever possible, to return your attention to the next breath.

As an antidote to overcome this obstacles to mindfulness is adopting a gentle smile by very subtly lifting the corners of the mouth – an imperceptible smile. Such a smile will instantly release seriousness and bring degree of effortlessness and lightness to the practice. Related reading: Have great tips overcoming obstacles in meditation?“ The less you meditate, the less you want to meditate. The more you meditate, the more you want to meditate.” When you don’t want to meditate, the best thing to do is a shorter meditation. Create the habit of meditation by doing it every day, even if it is only for 3 – 5 minutes! Remember that a short focused meditation is much more beneficial than a long, unfocused one. Do you face any obstacles during meditation? And how do you overcome it?