Re: What am I doing wrong?
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté patrickMB
PatrickMB;73873]Namaste,
For 20 years I have tried to meditate, though admittedly my attempts have been only intermittent. I close my eyes and relax as best I can physically and mentally. I picture God in a form that I find comforting (lately that has been Radha-Krishna) and I try to focus on God.
After a little while though, I am so tense from trying to stay focused on God that I find no peace nor enlightenment. Am I trying too hard?
Others have given you some good information, let me offer the following for your kind consideration.
Meditating is about not-minding.The notion is to be simple, effortless. The thought is about being easy, natural.
Trying is effort and you are experiencing the result of this.
For you perhaps visual meditation is not the vehicle (upāya). Consider even a simpler approach. That of breathing. We all know how to breathe , yes ? So this is a good place to begin. Do not worry of what you have done in the past. This technique is very simple & easy , that is why it is so effective.
If you wish to engage in it here are some easy steps :
How to practice it - part 1
- Sit comfortably- do not concern yourself in the beginning for the proper āsana position, this will come with time. So we sit comfortably for your body style...
- Sit alone - find a quiet place you can practice this for 10 min.
- Begin to breathe and notice the breath - inward and outward. Just being easy about it.
- After some 10 seconds or so, we close the eyes. We are still watching, being aware of the breath going in and out.
- Does it have to be deep breathing ? No , for now just regular breath.
- After say a minute or two you will feel some restfulness.
- Now when you breathe , easy and regularly, pause just for a moment at the end of the inward breath; just pause for 2 seconds or so. No need to count 2 sec., just what feels like a comfortable 2 seconds with no straining. Do the same with the outward breath. Pause at the end of it, for that same time.
- Note we are not ridged about this , we are simple, relaxed and above all we are expecting nothing , absolutely nothing to occur.
- When the 10 min is up - we just sit in the silence that was created for say 30 seconds before rising-up and starting to do things. This is important... we take the time to transition to activity.
- Do this upāya for the 10 min every day for 1 week. If you can do it AM and then PM , that is best. Do not miss a day, do not make excuses for not finding time.
After one week come back and let us know of your progress. We then will add part two. The logic is , we are building a house. The points above are the foundation. In a week we will add some walls to the foundation.
...easy about it, as effortless as possible, no straining. Be simple.
praṇām
यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
because you are identical with śiva
_
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