Meditation and Mindfulness

Do you belong to the group of people that find it impossible to quieten their minds?  Many of us do.  And we are here to help.

Top misconceptions that make meditation difficult

False: There is one specific "state of meditation" and the aim is to get into that state.

There are many possible states of awareness you might experience when meditating, and they are all part of the process of meditation.

False: To meditate, you have to turn off your thoughts and make your mind blank.

Have you ever tried to make your mind blank through sheer will? For most people, it's just not going to happen - at least not for more than a few seconds. That's where the various methods come into play. By going through the steps of a particular method, your mind will begin to quiet down by itself -- some days more, some days less, as your meditation experiences are likely to differ from day to day.

False: To meditate, you have to be good at focussing your attention.

Although staying focussed in meditation does become easier with time and practice, it is definitely not a requirement for beginning to meditate. Thinking that you should be good at focussing when first starting out is essentially putting the cart before the horse. What you will discover is that even if you are not good at focussing, you will still begin to notice many benefits in your life from meditating regularly.

False: Meditation requires much training to get it right.

Meditation can be easily learned and practiced. Meditation is only difficult if you become too concerned with doing it right. There is, in fact, no such thing as "right" or "wrong" meditation. There is only doing it or not doing it.