Here Are the Answers to All of Your Meditation Questions
By: Shivendra Misra
Tags: Mindfulness, Meditation, Spirituality, Psychology, Mental Health

“I Can’t Concentrate”

Concentration is not only a necessary skill in meditation but also in life. Great feats aren’t accomplished by people whose energies are scattered in a thousand directions.

To understand why concentration is important in meditation, think of it in this way. To reflect the sky and the trees around it, the lake needs to be still. If it’s full of ripples and waves, it will not reflect anything.

Here, our mind is the lake and the ripples of thought along with the waves of emotion prevent us from deep meditative states. You must still the mind to meditate.

Now, most people get discouraged hearing this. They think they can’t concentrate, and thus they can’t meditate. But, this is wrong.

Concentration is not only the prerequisite but the goal of meditation. You don’t need to pass a concentration exam to be ‘eligible’ for meditation. Instead, you need to realize that the more you practice, the better you’ll be. And the better concentration you’ll have the deeper your meditation practice will be.

Better Concentration → Better Meditation → Better Concentration → Better Meditaiton

With continued effort, you show the mind who’s the boss around here. You can train yourself to be more concentrated during meditation and otherwise.

That said, let’s see how you can improve your concentration.

Concentration Diet

Concentration is a skill you have to learn. Yet, most of us spend our lives in a constant state of distraction. It’s no surprise then that we can’t concentrate when it comes to meditation.

To fix this, you have to make small changes to your lifestyle to supplement your efforts.

Use the power of time blocking to focus all your energy on a single task. Decide that you’re going to focus on only one thing for a limited time and then do that. Block sensory inputs. Most of us can’t work well when we have a sensory input in the background that is stimulating. Nature music, brain-wave music, etc may work. But TV, movies, pop music, etc shouldn’t be a staple in your life. If you do it regularly, your mind will lose the ability to be concentrated. Over time, you’ll develop an aversion to silence which will harm your efforts. Pomodoros are a great way to work. Stay calm. Whenever you find yourself getting too excited (happy or sad) take a few deep breaths and center yourself. Take 5-minute breaks every hour or so to just sit and look out the window, close your eyes, and be present. If your nervous system is calm, you can make better choices and resist distractions.

Deep Relaxation

Here’s the secret to deep concentration — it starts with deep relaxation.

To interiorize your consciousness in meditation and focus on subtle aspects like the breath, you need your body to be relaxed.

If the body is in stress or pain, your attention will always be drawn to that fact.

To relax, use the corpse pose:

chopra.com

This one of the simplest but most effective Yoga asanas I’ve come across. To practice it, lie down on a flat surface, palms facing upwards.

Now, practice 2–3 rounds of tensing and relaxation. Breathe in, tense your whole body, and then relax gently. Do not shock your system by rapid tensing and relaxing. Feel the energy flowing to all the parts of your body.

Once you’ve done this, be very still and take deep breaths. Notice the air through your nostrils and observe your belly moving in and out. Let the breath be natural, don’t restrict it.

Feel deeper relaxation with each exhalation.

Imagine the space entering your body through your feet. Moving towards your calves, knees, buttock, stomach, arms, chest, neck, and brain. Repeat this cycle and focus on each part as long as you like, leaving it completely relaxed.

Feel yourself one with space.

Keep breathing deeply.

Inhale positivity, exhale negativity. Inhale joy, exhale sadness. Inhale peace and calmness, exhale stress.

Free your body of all negative emotions and thoughts. Be completely present at the moment.

If you feel the tension in a specific part of your body, try to relax it with even greater focus.

You can continue for as long as you want. This posture is ideal to practice before meditation and sleep. You can also practice it between various stretches/yoga postures.

Willpower

Having a strong intention to concentrate can often burn all the obstacles in your way.

Simply make a resolve to concentrate. Tell yourself that you’ll not be distracted. Affirming concentration in such a way will command the mind to an extent to not goof-off.

The results of this trick are directly proportional to the strength of your willpower. This is something you develop over time. If you have strong willpower, your mind will obey you.

It sounds corny but it’s true. Try it next time when you sit to meditate.

Concentration Technique

This is a simple meditation technique that I use every day. It’s helped me a great deal with concentration. It’s also one of the easiest ones I’ve found. Here’s how it goes:

Make yourself comfortable, sitting upright, with a straight spine. With your eyes closed, look at the point midway between the eyebrows on your forehead.

Inhale slowly, counting to eight. Hold the breath for the same eight counts while concentrating your attention at the point between the eyebrows. Now exhale slowly to the same count of eight. Repeat three to six times.

After inhaling and exhaling completely, as the next breath comes in, mentally say Hong (rhymes with ‘song’). Then, as you exhale, mentally say Sau (rhymes with ‘saw’). Don’t control your breathing, just let its flow be completely natural. Try to feel that your breath itself is silently making the sounds of Hong and Sau. Initially try to feel the breath at the point where it enters the nostrils.

Be as attentive as possible. If you have difficulty feeling the breath, you can concentrate, for a while, on the breathing process itself, feeling your diaphragm and chest expanding and contracting.

Gradually as you become calmer, try to feel the breath higher and higher in the nose. Be sure that your gaze is kept steady at the point between the eyebrows throughout your practice. Don’t allow your eyes to follow the movement of the breath. If you find that your mind has wandered, simply bring it back to an awareness of the breath and the mantra.

You can practice this for as long as you like. It’s ideal however to invest at least 5–10 minutes.