Problem

Solution

1.       Fidgety, can’t sit still. Physically tense unable to relax.

Resistance by the ego, it fears change. Relax. Be reassured you are not going to some alien planet, you are simply inside your own heart.

“I am safe inside my heart – all is well"

2.       “I can't meditate, every time I sit nothing happens”. “Meditation does not work for me”

This can again be ego resistance, change scares us. Meditation takes us to the now. The ego only exists in the past and the future.

"I am willing to evolve and grow"

3.       “I get a headache or tension when I meditate”

Usually from trying to meditate in the head not the heart. Consciously change the source of your concentration by using your breath, feel that thoughts, love, everything is inside your heart.

“Breathe into my heart, out from my heart”

4.       “Is this it? Am I doing it? Shouldn’t it be more....?”

Don't worry, every meditation for every meditator is different. Do not try and force it to be something you think it should be. Let it be.

“I am not going to judge or label my experience, I am just going to spend the time and let my heart work out what is best. ”

5.       Can’t get comfortable. Body is sore or itchy or cramping.

Possibly more ego resistance. (See Problem 1) First, make yourself comfortable – it is not better to sit in a lotus position if you are uncomfortable. However, often lying down will just put you to sleep. Sit with straight back on the floor or in a chair, cushions are fine.

“I am safe inside my heart – all is well”

6.       “Thoughts keep coming, my mind is a chatterbox, i can't concentrate.”

This is not a problem, it is normal. Let go and refocus without beating yourself up. When we worry about the thoughts that are coming we have effectively multiplied the number of thoughts by the worry thoughts. Try to stop analysing and labeling and just breathe. Thoughts are normal, the art of meditation is to take your attention from them and give them no importance. In time, thought deepens into intuitive experience. Try listening to music or guided meditations, or chanting a mantra.

 “Breathe in love, breathe out gratitude.”

7.       “I have no time to meditate. I have so much to do”

Time is not the problem. Fear is. The ego is again resisting change. Go to bed 10 minutes earlier and get up 10 minutes earlier. Now you have 10 minutes to meditate. Get creative: you can meditate walking the dog, during the car or train trip to work or school, you can even meditate washing the dishes (but it is best to have structured meditation time as the basis and these as additions). Don’t fear meditation – it is your conversation with your deepest and most real you.

 “I can use 3 seconds to meditate. Breathe from the heart 1,2,3.”

Take a few minutes at the start of your meditation to write a ‘to-do’ list. Put everything down including things you are worried about. Then tell your mind that all those things will be dealt with, release them and begin your meditation. Be careful that it is not another form of resistance.

"My meditation time is important to me."

Use long, slow deep breaths at the start of the meditation, breathing in powerful inner energy. Affirm that you are becoming more conscious, more alert in meditation. Spend the first 30secs of every meditation being very intense about your concentration and focus.  Repeat mantras or affirmations and listen to music or guided meditations if still feeling sleepy or shorten your meditations, but meditate more often.

“I am alert and more and more conscious of love in every moment of my life”

Expectations of particular results or feelings are more resistance. They are us telling meditation what to be, and not allowing ourselves to change in the way our meditation wants us to change. Relax. When you plant a seed you do not immediately demand ‘ok where is the tomato?’ – you wait and water and watch it and then, in time, there is a fruit.

“I am steady in my progress. My new ways of thinking are here now”

See class 31. Be careful not to criticise yourself. Practise daily meditation, try and increase the time you are meditating and more and more feel the benefits in your life. Feeling stuck often has to do with impatience (see above) but it also can be that you are forcing your meditation experience to be the same every time you meditate because of fear. Try and find at least one different way to meditate every day. Perhaps it is in the train, or a different guided meditation, or a new sport, or writing a poem, or walking, or in a group.

“I am always progressing and growing – there are an infinite number of ways to feel the flow of love.”