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Thread: Meditation & The Restless Mind

  1. #1

    Meditation & The Restless Mind

    Hi there!

    I'll cut to the chase here. I have tried meditating many times throughout my life, for religious, spiritual, or psychological purpose - and it has never been an easy task. I have anxiety disorder, and although it is now at a manageable level where I do not require medication, my brain is still very much an anxiety zone. I find this makes meditation very difficult. Does anyone have tips or experiences in this area? Being that anxiety disorder is the most prevalent mental health condition, perhaps others can tell me how they overcame this and were able to meditate

    For those who have not experienced it or know anyone with it, I'd like to state that it is not a matter of lack of self discipline or focus. My mind and thoughts are very much out of my control. I have experienced this during prayer since a young age and it was the first way I noticed something was 'wrong'. My mind runs on one track (Dear Lord, thank you for...) as I pray, but the background noise (music in my head, other thoughts, what is that smell? What will I eat tomorrow? What about that test...) comes up and makes it hard to have intentional, controlled thoughts. It is extremely hard to silence your mind, when you don't have "control" over what you are thinking!

    Ironically enough, meditation is supposed to help with anxiety issues. I was never able to make use of this! Thank you for reading and I look forward to your thoughts.

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    Re: Meditation & The Restless Mind

    Namaste!

    I can certainly sympathize with your anxiety as I have lived with anxiety most of my life. Like you I no longer need medication. But my mind still races. However, meditation has helped me and I do manage to quiet myself for a period of about 15-20 minutes but like anything else it takes practice. However, one thing I find that helps someone with an active mind meditate is to start with visual meditation. The ultimate point of meditation is to empty the mind, but I find that when people start out they just need to calm the mind first!

    Try using your active mind to visualize a serene setting - a beach with crashing waves, a quite forest in the morning by a brook. My favorite is to imagine I am sitting in the dark at night near a campfire, just listening to the sizzle of the flames.

    If you have trouble getting into this you can also try guided meditation. I used a website way back that helped me a lot. It offers free meditation podcasts. I would put on headphones, sit or lay down nearby and close my eyes. The link is below if you want to try it!

    I think this is a common problem, particularly in the west where we are all hyper stimulated all the time.



    Peace!

    Meditation Oasis Website: http://www.meditationoasis.com/
    "God will not have his work made manifest by cowards."
    ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


  3. #3

    Re: Meditation & The Restless Mind

    हरिः ओम्


    Namaste Ninendiva,


    You know the most effective meditation is performed throughout the day, at work or at home, with friends or whilst doing
    your shopping at all times.
    A calm mind is a result of this meditation, it is not the practise itself, the art is in finding or realising God conciousness, this
    will remove anxiety as the very same energy in you is channelled to more useful functions, such as love.

    So how do we go about finding God conciousness? The best place to start is by knowing your self, apparently you are already
    overcoming anxiety to the extent that you mention; so you are on the right path. The fact that you have suffered indicates
    that you are very subjective by nature, a good starting point for becoming aware. Awareness being the key for efficient
    meditation.

    Chose the calmest activities you can and avoid all stressful situations and people, when you can maintain a "balance in your
    posture" move up to more vigorous activities, but always maintaining that posture. Its not easy and we often fall, but concious
    awareness of this posture is meditation ...


    Learn about your introverted and extroverted nature. Know when you are in each state; become aware of these changes,
    these shifts can trigger anxiety.

    I have found this to be extremely effective in calming my mind, to become more focused and one pointed in my otherwise
    scattered creative, thought and perspective.



    praṇāma

    mana


    ॐ नमः शिवाय
    8i8

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    Re: Meditation & The Restless Mind

    Namaste Ninendiva,

    You will be surprised to know that mind is, bay nature, calm but we train it to become restless. You may say that you didn't do anything to make it restless in this lifetime ... but one life is just a link in chain of many lives we live. So, if it is inborn in this lifetime, you have carried this samskAr from your past lives.

    However, the biggest assurance is that you can learn to be calm. Meditation is one of the right step in itself to calm your mind as it actively tries to focus the mind on one object/thought. However, we must understand the nature of mind to be able to control it effectively. What are the factors that disturb our mind ... there are many ... I will name a few and you can identify what disturbs you the most :

    a) Fear : Fear of losing life, getting hurt, losing a friend/relative etc. etc.

    ===> This is one the biggest irrational fear that disturbs us. Why irrational ? Because most of the times we are afraid of things which are not in our control. Now, when the factor is not in my control ... why to be afraid of it ? You have no option but to accept the outcome ... so be ready for that. Tell yourself ... "What worst can come of it" ... then visualise it and face the worst in your mind.

    Sometimes we can do something to control the outcome that we are afraid of . Then also the fear is irrational ... why ? Because we should do our best to avoid the outcome as situation is going to be worse by not doing anything and keep worrying .... and why worry until the worst has surfaced ???

    b) Excitement :

    We must be able to take things easy ... howsoever exciting it might be. Why ? Because every state is constantly changing and every joy is but shortlived. Why to be so overjoyed over anything which is so short-lived ??

    etc.

    etc.

    I am not going to bore you by giving sermons on various stimuli which are responsible for disturbing our mind ... what I wanted to say is that by a little of courage and confronting the factors in our head with right logic, we can easily see the irrationality of harbouring such thoughts and getting disturbed by it. It is all within you. You have the power to do it.

    Finally, it takes years of constant practice to bring mind into control. So, have a lot of patience. The result will certainly come as you want ... but it will take time and there will be many slippage ... so don't get disheartened.

    OM
    "Om Namo Bhagvate Vaasudevaye"

  5. #5

    Re: Meditation & The Restless Mind

    Ninendiva,
    I have the same problem....I can be chanting, focusing on each word INTENTLY AND focusing my eyes on an image, but still in the background all those little "I don't like spiders", "blue is so nice" thoughts keep popping in. It IS hard!

    Namaste
    Om Gam Ganapataye Namah!

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    Re: Meditation & The Restless Mind

    Quote Originally Posted by Ninendiva View Post
    Hi there!

    I'll cut to the chase here. I have tried meditating many times throughout my life, for religious, spiritual, or psychological purpose - and it has never been an easy task. I have anxiety disorder, and although it is now at a manageable level where I do not require medication, my brain is still very much an anxiety zone. I find this makes meditation very difficult. Does anyone have tips or experiences in this area? Being that anxiety disorder is the most prevalent mental health condition, perhaps others can tell me how they overcame this and were able to meditate

    For those who have not experienced it or know anyone with it, I'd like to state that it is not a matter of lack of self discipline or focus. My mind and thoughts are very much out of my control. I have experienced this during prayer since a young age and it was the first way I noticed something was 'wrong'. My mind runs on one track (Dear Lord, thank you for...) as I pray, but the background noise (music in my head, other thoughts, what is that smell? What will I eat tomorrow? What about that test...) comes up and makes it hard to have intentional, controlled thoughts. It is extremely hard to silence your mind, when you don't have "control" over what you are thinking!

    Ironically enough, meditation is supposed to help with anxiety issues. I was never able to make use of this! Thank you for reading and I look forward to your thoughts.
    Namaste,

    I regularly meditate, so I understand your problem.

    Meditation is not for everybody. That is why Karma Kand i.e. work as worship is given by sages, since we cannot stay without work.

    Please understand that in meditation, we try to calm our mind. When the mind is at peace, it will show it's true nature. It is a kind of cage for mind. It is a question of life and death for mind. In tatva bodh, Sri Adi Shankaracharya says, mind is nothing but continuous flow of thoughts.

    The problem comes when mind finds nothing to cling. If you replace one activity by another, it's not a problem since mind will remain active, but if you do not give any activity, mind will try to hunt it and will create one. Mind begins to wander when it’s free. It tries to occupy itself, with thoughts and other stuff.

    If it’s getting difficult, then better perform Puja.

    Puja is like a 3 wheeled bicycle. With hands you clap or hold aarti, you chant mantra and perform rituals

    Then comes Japa: It is like 2 wheeled cycle. You chant the name and you here it nad be aware of God

    Last is Nidhihyasana: It is one wheeled cycle. Difficult to balance. It is for Jnana marga. In this you follow neti-neti or chant Aum and then things takes control. You just here Aum and then mind is drawn into the source of mantra, or in case of neti-neti, find the origin, root cause and everything dissolves in the root. So basically you just here it – Just one thing i.e. awareness of mantra.

    I think, you should not quite any work. Perform work as worship. Surrender every work you do to God. Also surrender every fruit to God. Whatever is the result of your effort, positive or negative, is the Prasad (blessing) given by God.

    Time to time, visit holy places, become active member or volunteer in a spiritual organization. Feed Poor, keep company of saints, visit temple regularly, etc.

    Generally, people enter into depression or under anxiety when life do not go as they want it. Things do not happen in their way instead of their efforts. So they get dejected. If you surrender everything to God, then work will becomes worship. When you are not much concerned with result of your effort, your mind will not agitate too much. You won’t become anxious or are under stress. If you are down, you will soon recover, as you will convince your mind that I have done the best I can. I have evaluated what mistakes I have made. Next time, I will try hard. What is the result, is the blessing of God. I accept it. This will calm down mind.

    Remember, Doing any kriya like concentrating on a photo of God or an chakra is different, then actual meditation.

    If you want to do Japa, then use Japa Mala and count the number of beads along with mantra and also be aware of the idol in your heart i.e. heart chakra which is at centre of chest or simply visualize the face of deity whose mantra you are chanting. Since mind is occupied in 3 things – mala, chanting of mantra and visualization of God, it will not try to find anything more.

    Incase you just want peace of mind and want all stress to be removed, then people have found ‘Art of Living’ by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar effective.

    Aum

    IS
    Last edited by Amrut; 14 October 2012 at 03:17 AM. Reason: edited to imporv grammer
    Only God Is Truth, Everything Else Is Illusion - Ramakrishna
    Total Surrender of Ego to SELF is Real Bhakti - Ramana Maharshi

    Silence is the study of the scruptures. Meditation is the continuous thinking of Brahman which is to be meditated upon. The complete negation of both by knowledge is the vision of truth – sadAcAra-14 of Adi SankarAcArya

    namah SivAya vishnurUpAya viShNave SivarUpiNe, MBh, vanaparva, 3.39.76

    Sanskrit Dict | MW Dict | Gita Super Site | Hindu Dharma

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    Re: Meditation & The Restless Mind

    Quote Originally Posted by Ninendiva View Post
    Hi there!

    I have anxiety disorder, and although it is now at a manageable level.........my brain is still very much an anxiety zone. I find this makes meditation very difficult. Does anyone have tips or experiences in this area?
    Namaste,

    Of course Mediation is very much difficult. I do not have any tips for you but a long term PRACTICE, rather long term SPIRITUAL PRACTICE.
    Long again, may go to from 6 months to 2 years and then after keep doing the same to protect ourselves.

    You will be able to come out of this with patience and perseverance.

    I give below website link, it shows case study, if you like please contact them.

    I do chanting with them.

    http://www.spiritualresearchfoundati...slosingcontrol

    Gratitude.
    Namaskar,

    AmIHindu ?

    यज्ञानां जपयज्ञोऽस्मि ।

    नाम्नोऽस्ति यावती शक्तिः पापनिर्हरणे हरेः । श्र्वपचोऽपि नरः कतुँ क्षमस्तावन्नकिल्विषम् ।।

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    Re: Meditation & The Restless Mind

    Quote Originally Posted by squidgirl View Post
    Ninendiva,
    I have the same problem....I can be chanting, focusing on each word INTENTLY AND focusing my eyes on an image, but still in the background all those little "I don't like spiders", "blue is so nice" thoughts keep popping in. It IS hard!

    Namaste
    Namaste,

    You just ignore them. The more you try to avoid them or try to give them importance, the more will they trouble you. What matters is to which thought you give importance. Even if your mind is full of thoughts, you can surrender all thoughts to God and just be aware and then chant the mantra. Even by just being aware, thoughts loose their power.

    If you still can't meditate, then please refer my above reply i.e. Post #6
    Last edited by Amrut; 14 October 2012 at 03:19 AM.
    Only God Is Truth, Everything Else Is Illusion - Ramakrishna
    Total Surrender of Ego to SELF is Real Bhakti - Ramana Maharshi

    Silence is the study of the scruptures. Meditation is the continuous thinking of Brahman which is to be meditated upon. The complete negation of both by knowledge is the vision of truth – sadAcAra-14 of Adi SankarAcArya

    namah SivAya vishnurUpAya viShNave SivarUpiNe, MBh, vanaparva, 3.39.76

    Sanskrit Dict | MW Dict | Gita Super Site | Hindu Dharma

  9. #9

    Re: Meditation & The Restless Mind

    Namaste,

    What a great thread! And thank you for that advice!

    Keep it coming!
    Om Gam Ganapataye Namah!

  10. #10

    Re: Meditation & The Restless Mind

    Quote Originally Posted by devotee View Post
    Namaste Ninendiva,

    You will be surprised to know that mind is, bay nature, calm but we train it to become restless.
    oh, this is not something I am surprised by! The unfortunate thing is that a lot of mental training I must overcome (anxiety, insecurity, self-esteem) was not trained by me, but by the situations of my childhood. But I do not blame anyone, or look back on those times and only focus on those. I know all I can do to heal is move forward, and God and my loved ones help me do this. Thought I would explain this.

    Indiaspirituality, Thank you so much for your post. It was extremely helpful. I have to admit since I am still new, I do not know what many words mean, besides puja, but this is why I have the internet. I can learn. and I think your suggestion of moving from three-wheel, two-wheel, one-wheel and maybe some day no-wheel bike will help me very much.

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