Sometimes, despite your best efforts and intentions, you find you just can’t stay awake for the duration of your meditation.
Falling asleep during meditation is quite common, especially for beginners. When first practising meditation, while trying to achieve that balance between focussed attention and relaxation, it is easy to drift too far in one direction or the other.
Let me guess, you know you should be exercising? You know it’s good for you? But you just can’t bring yourself to do it every day?
I was the same. I hated exercise, not because I hate the idea of it, but I hated the effort of it. Having to get up early to squeeze it in before work. Or having to drive to a gym, get changed, just to attend a class or use some equipment.
Do you sometimes set out with the best of intentions to meditate? You decide you're going to do it, you actually sit down to do it, you take a deep breath and...
Disaster.
Maybe you can't stop fidgeting, or your mind is racing all over the place. You wonder why, this worked fine yesterday. What is so different about today?
I recently came across this wonderful poem by Rumi, the 13th-century poet, who so beautifully captures the essence central to so many spiritual traditions.
It is probably one of the most frequently recited poems you will hear in mindfulness teachings and retreats around the world. I love it because it is such a simple, but powerful teaching.
The idea that meditation is like training a puppy came from Jack Kornfield, a world-renowned meditation teacher. He wrote:
"Meditation is very much like training a puppy. You put the puppy down and say, "Stay." Does the puppy listen? It gets up and it runs away. You sit the puppy back down again. "Stay." And the puppy runs away over and over again.
Mindfulness means different things to different people. To some it may seem a little mystical, unfamiliar or perhaps even a little abstract. Or, dare I say it, too woo woo.
Mindfulness is nothing more than a way of being. It's not an object or thing you try to obtain. It is just the non-judgemental awareness of what is happening in the present moment.
For the longest time I was too paralysed by fear to do anything. My website was never good enough, my blog posts not tweaked enough. My... I could go on and on.
So I never launched. I never wrote that book, I never built that course. I spent all of my time doing research, buying courses, improving my skills. Sound familiar?
Hi there. Now I know it sounds a bit cliche, but seriously, there is more. So much more.
I offer a lot of my stuff for free and you can read so much useful information on my blog. However, I do like to keep something a little special for my Weight Loss & Wellbeing Academy membership community.
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Debbie Zsolnai, PhD, is an author, blogger and edupreneur. Founder of the Weight Loss & Wellbeing Community she is on a mission to transform the lives of others.
Read a collection of articles, thoughts and experiences I share, as I journey on my own path to weight loss & wellbeing. If you find something you like, please share it with others.
