When people practice meditation for physical and mental well being, they often start doing it under the guidance of a qualified master or a guru. The meditation practice normally involves chanting of a mantra (which might not be a must in some cases), practicing of certain yogasanas (postures), pranayama (breath control) etc. When all these are done in a group of like-minded practitioners under the guidance of the Master, the level of motivation will be high.
But once the training sessions are over and you start practicing meditation alone, the difficulties start arising one by one. What are the reasons and how can you overcome them?
Lack of Appropriate Atmosphere for Doing Meditation
Places where meditation is done regularly acquire certain positive vibrations conducive for doing meditation. This is what you might have got at your Master’s place. Now, you have to create such an atmosphere over a period of time at your place. It is always better to avoid doing meditation in your bedroom, unless you have no other alternative place.
A secluded room, cool and calm, clean and uncluttered, preferably decorated with a picture of your personal God (if you have faith in God with form) is desirable. Use the room for reading holy books, listening to devotional music and for doing meditation – not for any other purpose.
Loss of Motivation in Meditating
Any practitioner’s mind has all along been filled with vasanas (past impressions) which will always try to wander uncontrollably when one sits for meditation. In the absence of a Master and the appropriate atmosphere, one might fail to taste whatever little bliss they obtained earlier during guided sessions under the master. This will be highly de-motivating. After a couple of trials over a few days, one gets tempted to accept defeat.
The universal advice by masters is that one should not call it quits because of lack of any perceptible progress. Persistence pays. Have firm faith in the positive benefits that meditation is going to bring to you. Go through books written by spiritual masters on the benefits of meditation.
Lack of Time for Meditation
Difficulty in getting up early in the morning, office work, traveling out of station, need for spending time with family – there could be umpteen reasons for lack of time.
But what Masters suggest about succeeding in meditation is the importance of sitting for meditation at specifically allocated time every day, positively. The mind gets tuned to certain rhythms.
If you compel yourself to stick to certain timings, the mind will soon start longing for doing meditation at that specific time every day. All your work and other commitments will then get reorganized in such a way that your allotted time for meditation is not disturbed. Persistence will prove that this happens in reality.
Health Reasons
People discontinue doing meditation when falling sick, but fail to revive it once they become alright. Lethargy and loss of motivation are the reasons for it.
A firm determination must be cultivated to revive meditation once health becomes normal. If sickness is not too severe, there is nothing wrong in continuing with meditation at regular hours, even though one may find it difficult to concentrate. But this perseverance will definitely prove its worth in the long run.
Lack of Disciplined Life
Though this point is listed here last, it is in fact the foremost point needed for any practitioner to succeed in meditation. Perhaps the modern schools of meditation, which concentrate on breathing techniques and yogasanas, may not insist too much on these disciplines for the fear that many people may get de-motivated if these points are emphasized too much.
But great religious masters are very particular that without discipline in habits and purification of mind to a better level, meditation in the long run is very difficult. Meditation is to do with taming of the mind, which is intrinsically connected to the physical body. Thus without physical disciplines no mental peace is possible. Here are the guidelines essential for discipline:
- Eat moderately: Excessive food intake should be avoided. Ideally, only half of stomach’s capacity should be filled, leaving the rest of the space for drinking water and to allow gases produced in digestion to escape.
- Eat easily digestible food: Food items, soft and tender, not deep-fried in oil, not too hot and spicy are to be eaten. Vegetarianism is highly recommended and home made food is the best. Eating junk food and eating at hotels and restaurants are to be avoided to the extent possible.
- Avoid bad habits: Drinking alcoholic drinks, smoking, munching betel leaves with tobacco, etc., are to be ideally avoided or at least drastically reduced.
- Sleep moderately: Excessive sleep as well as inadequate sleep is detrimental to meditation.
- Moderate indulgence: For those meditating for spiritual enlightenment, sex is a taboo. For others, moderation in sexual activity is essential. All channels of sensual enjoyments – whether watching TV, reading novels, listening to music, dancing in discos, chitchatting with friends in person or over cell phone – everything must require moderation. The more these activities are curtailed, the better will be the success rate in meditation.
The Indian system of health insists that to cure any sickness, you need medicines as well as food control. In the same way, to succeed in meditation, you require both the prescribed practices as well as preparatory disciplines.
Hindu scriptures provide much more stringent guidelines for those undertaking meditation for spiritual purpose. These are elaborated in the following article.
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