Why You Can't Meditate

I have always been able to meditate in one form or another. My go-to is usually listening to music while enjoying a drive along a tree-lined road. Meditation, just like most things in my life, has never been by the book and I found ways to connect within that worked for me. It never deeply occurred to me that meditation could bring up sincere fears and challenges for others, until I was talking to my husband and he mentioned that he wasn't willing to meditate. After I got passed the shock of his outright conviction, I asked him, "why?". I waited to hear his response and he simply responded with, "I may not come back". Wow! This got me reflecting, so I meditated on it.

Here are some reasons that may prevent you from meditating:

Getting lost

Not coming back into the present moment and/or being lost in the ether is something that can create a lot of fear, and prevent you from meditating. When we sleep, or even in waking hours, we are unconsciously participating in a meditative state and are still able to 'snap' out of it, meditation is similar.

Tip

Create and implement a sound grounding routine prior to starting a meditation and set a timer or alarm (bell sound) to chime at a set time, this can trigger you to safely come back to present moment.

Resistance

Emotions or experiences, sometimes trauma, that may surface unexpectedly or have not been welcomed can dampen the interest in getting involved in meditation. Part of the meditation experience is to go into your consciousness and witness what you have stored, consciously or unconsciously. 

Tip

If this is something that prevents you from meditating try speaking to a counsellor, or other medical or mental health professional, that can help you safely navigate meditation.

Feels like wuwu

Fear of connecting with spirits (ghosts) or having a paranormal experience may bring up feelings of fear and prevent you from meditating at all. When I meditate I very rarely connect with spirits, even though I am a medium, the meditation process can be to go within your own spiritual experience to intentionally explore your consciousness. 

Tip

Set an intention to connect to Self to increase your self-awareness for clarity, personal guidance and insight.

Losing Control 

Falling deep into a state of relaxation may make you feel out of control, especially when you experience tingling, warmth, cooling, body twitches, joy, release or even panic. Feeling physical sensations may make the experience feel out of control or fearful however, it is really an opportunity to be present and mindful of the process of your body, mind and soul making a connection. Also, as you meditate, you release energy and may experience some of these sensations as you release and heal your energy. Alternatively, meditation takes time away from your responsibilities or worries and that may also leave you feeling out of control because you are not present to know or prevent what may or may not happen. 

Tip

Try connecting to your body by bringing attention to your breath, take one or two deep breaths and allow all your muscles to relax, notice how your body feels and note any sensations you experience. This will help you feel more at ease with physical sensations of your body, mind and soul connection so when you meditate you are already familiar with this.

Who am I now?

Mediation can offer insightful and enlightened ideas or thoughts that may lead to new perspectives, with this new perspective, it could bring a sense of feeling lost and may feel like clarity feels even further away. When you start to question your old belief systems you make space fore new beliefs that may shift as you align to your authentic Self. This feeling is temporary as you explore your new belief systems. 

Tip

During waking hours, write down 3 current belief systems and for each of these reflect and identify if they are still true today if not, create a new belief system.

Unable to Relax

Sometimes keeping your mind busy is a defense to allowing yourself to think, feel or address the things you want to keep deep within. Feeling foolish may prevent you from relaxing if you set expectations that a meditation practice cannot meet; such as, if you meditate you will not have challenging life experiences. If your expectations are not met, you will be unable to relax or engage in meditation. Alternatively, if you believe that relaxing is considered lazy, you will find it difficult to relax enough to connect to meditation and take time for Self. 

Tip

Reflect on your goals or expectations of meditation and identify if they are reasonable or attainable if needed, reset your goals.

How to overcome these blocks:

Ground

• Grounding can be done by focusing on breathe, visualizing energy going out your body into earth or by naming 3 things that you can taste, smell, hear, see in the present moment.
• Allow yourself to come back into present moment if feeling fearful, see how calm you can make yourself, try meditating again and repeat this process so it affirms to you that you are in control of this process.

Balance

• Balance and clear all chakras and the energy in your space.
• Observe the energy or experiences that appear in your body or as an emotion and allow them to pass.
• Ask your Spiritual Team to remove them if they linger or imagine them being bubbled and released.
• If you need help navigating emotions or traumas, reach out to a professional.

Meditate

• Meditate during daylight hours, with a light on or with a friend.
• Meditate in a space that is separate from your sleeping area and away from high traffic or high energy spaces.

Reflect

• Ask yourself if experiences happen to you only during meditation or during sleeping/waking hours? During walks? While doing dishes? While showing?

Positive Self-Talk

• Journal your experiences and use prompts to help you address past experiences, emotions or new perspectives etc. Or use affirmations and positive self-talk if journaling is a challenge.

Set Intentions

• Identify what you want to achieve out of each meditation session.

Release Expectations

• Identify and release expectations for your meditation experience, be open to the experience and don't take it too seriously.

Self-Acceptance

• Learn to accept who you are and that is nothing less than valuable!

Meditation is a process that helps you receive a deeper self-awareness by connecting to your consciousness for enlightenment, insight and clarity.

Meditation is not always by the book or one size fits all either! Find an activity that makes you feel aligned to your true Self and allows you to feel disconnected for a short while such as a walk or listening to music! Setting intentions, releasing expectations, and having fun with the process will help take some of the pressure and fears from engaging in what could be a transformative experience. Meditation is not always about connecting to challenging parts of yourself, it is also about seeing and accepting the beautiful parts of yourself and identifying with who you are from an authentic perspective, and that can offer you sensations of joy, acceptance, harmony, balance, release, insight and clarity.