This Is Why You Give up Meditation After a Few Days

Use the minimalist approach to meditation

You are all fired up and enthusiastic after reading an article or a book about meditation. You think you are never going to give up on meditation. But no matter how much you try, the initial blast of motivation fades away after a few days.

What are the reasons for not meditating even when you know full well the physical and mental health benefits? All you have to do is to sit quietly and focus on your breathing for five or ten minutes. But you believe you don’t have the time to meditate — you are too busy.

You are busy in your office. You are busy watching Netflix, or you are busy texting. There is an old Zen adage, “You should meditate for twenty minutes every day unless you are busy — then you should meditate for an hour.”

Instead of feeling bad about not meditating, try to invent your unique way of meditation — your signature style because all of us are different.

For example, instead of sitting in a fixed place at a planned time, you can bring your focus to breathing at a time and place of your choosing. I call it the minimalist approach to meditation.

Whenever you feel stressed or anxious, try to return your mind to its peaceful state:

• Close your eyes and sit wherever you are
• Start breathing in and out
• Focus on how your chest and abdomen expand
• Keep breathing until you feel calm and relaxed

Was that so difficult? You can set the alarm for five minutes on your mobile.

This minimalist approach strips meditation of all the ceremonial details. It is an effortless process. Do this whenever you feel stressed. Three or four or five times. It depends on you. Train yourself to feel relaxed at every time of the day.

If you want to train yourself to be relaxed, understand this: Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard brain scientist, says when an emotion is triggered, a 90-second chemical process starts in the body. If you feel agitated or angry, move your focus to your breathing and wait for a minute and a half. You’ll feel your disturbing emotion vanish.

Joan Rosenberg, Ph.D., is a cutting-edge psychologist known as a thinker, speaker, and trainer. She has written a book about the importance of these 90 seconds — 90 Seconds to a Life You Love.

If you can use your minimalist meditation during these 90 seconds, you can make yourself calm and relaxed at any other time. Usually, our irresponsible response during those 90 seconds makes our life miserable. Don’t try to control your emotions but don’t let your thoughts control you either. Breathe for 90 seconds.

When a relaxed state of mind becomes your ‘normal’ or ‘resting’ state, your mind can automatically switch to focused breathing to keep you calm in any situation. Calmness and relaxation become your new emotional set points.

The great masters of meditation — be it mindfulness, Samatha, shoonya, or zazen — try to help you shift your emotional set points to relaxation and calmness.

When you are stressed, your mind’s natural response is to distract away from the object of worry. But most of us think we need hours to relax. When we are engaged in any activity — to feel calm — we are trying to recover our optimal brain functions.

You can learn more about these different types of meditations to choose what you like — correct breathing is a part of all meditation:

Mindfulness

You observe your thoughts as they come and go. You let go of a feeling without judging it. Your role is to dissociate yourself from the thoughts you are having.

You can practice mindfulness while you are showering, brushing your teeth, walking in the park, or doing office work. Whenever you pay attention to what you are doing, feeling, thinking, or how you are breathing — you are practicing mindfulness.

Samatha

You try to be mindful of your breathing. Your purpose is to think, feel, and observe your breath. The goal of Samatha is to bring calmness.

Shoonya

This meditation creates a distance between yourself and your body. It is a process of conscious non-doing. You cannot feel the power of life unless you think beyond the limitations imposed by the body. Sadhguru’s institute teaches this type of meditation.

Zazen

It is the sitting meditation. You sit quietly and see your fleeting thoughts. You try to see reality as it is and observe things you ignore when you are talking.

Other than these traditional meditations, these practices can help you become more calm and composed:

Question yourself

Ask yourself, “Why am I doing what I am doing?” By questioning your everyday habits and actions, you bring your attention to what you are doing. It not only makes you more mindful of what you are doing but also helps you to stop if what you are doing is not necessary.

Reflect back

You recreate a scenario from your day, and your mind analyses it. The mind tries to see what could have happened differently and how you can improve decisions and behaviors.

Contemplate the consequences

You create a future scenario in your mind and weigh the pros and cons. You try to decide the best course of action. You think about the choice that will increase your profits or cut your losses.

Concentrate on what’s important

You separate what’s important from the rest, and then you pay full attention to every small detail. It is the mental activity that all of us engage in most of the time.

Takeaway

It is necessary to restore your mind’s strength. When you try to calm yourself in any way, your mind gets the idea. If you do these mediations and thinking practices daily, they become a habit.

When your mind is quiet most of the time, it can easily detect an uncomfortable thought. When you bring yourself to a calm state, again and again, your subconscious mind learns to relax under all circumstances.

Instead of trying hard to meditate, adjust your style of meditation. Adopt what suits you and your lifestyle.

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