Obstacles in meditation

Mindfulness Meditation
#1

Is it the right attitude to change or leave our outer environment to seek silence in meditation? Everyday morning I face banging doors from roomates, rattle tattle in the kitchen, kids jumping and screaming. I try to meditate even amidst this noise but it was so difficult to feel at peace. The people see no reason why they should reduce their noise to accomodate my meditation.

If they should reduce the noise, I am still facing the same noise after meditation. I wonder then what was I trying to achieve in my meditation.

I thought of leaving the environment, but it feels like deception. That my sake for sadhana is masqueraded by my attempt to evade circumstances, not accepting them.

Maybe it will be then to not meditate at all. Any thoughts on this?

#2

I like the way in which you phrase your post Anita.

You’ve brought up both side of this thing, the very real duality of the circumstance. and it is this very dualistic look, this willingness to consider the opposite view, that keeps us open and growing. Commendations to you, which I very rarely give in an internet post.

I believe an answer is “both”!

It would be helpful to find some place where you can do your meditation (which is a self-discovery process) where the environment is suited to what you are doing. Some place quieter, calmer, less intrusive. this is fine. Not a masquerade at all but appropriate self-care. You taking care of you and honoring your own needs.

However, over time the hope is that you will cultivate the ability to meditate on a crowded bus, in a noisy square, near a rattling kitchen. It is not one or the other it is “one facilitates the other”.

#3

Hi Anita.
Why do you have to meditate when there are distractive factors ?
As about others … you can’t expect them to understand. Meditation is your own thing, your own time, yours alone.

I’d try to create space in my life for this, when I can meditate undisturbed.
Can’t you wake up earlier ?
And as you asked: what do you try to achieve with your meditation ?

PS. Hey InnerAthlete. Nice to see you around.

#4

I will have to do quite a bit to even get myself STARTED in this. Now I know the reason why people go to caves to meditate - it’s free space and you can be free from physical noise for hours.

I think I will have to be satisfied with 5 hrs of sleep, then I can have at least an hour of silence when I get up and before others get up. In my place it doesnt get quiet until midnight. That is the time I get to bed. I have to be ready to give up some bodily comforts.

#5

In the beginning it can be easier to practise meditation in silence but then again you can think about the motivation for the practise. Is it for escaping the world around you or for learning to cope with it? There are different kinds of techniques for different kinds of goals, and if you strive for total one-pointed concentration it can be helpful to minimize the distractions around you.

I think it may be more usual in Buddhist meditation techniques to just be present in the immediate now and the impressions that it includes, to learn how to observe it without reacting. In classical yoga Patanjali suggests the way of turning the senses inward (pratyahara), away from the sense objects and concentrating on one specific object.

I would suggest to try both. To meditate in noises disregarding them (if you don’t always have the change for silence), but also try to get a change to be in silence every now and then.

Don’t expect too much from yourself, this is a good opportunity to practise self-awereness and self-acceptance which is a step towards being aware and accepting the world [I]as it is[/I]. If there’s distractions, let them be. If some reaction arises in your mind, just let it be.

#6

Dear Anita,

after a while you start to wake up automaticly without alarm clock. It becomes your bio rhythm and your habit. Than you start to like it. Try to think that you’re giving something to yourself instead of giving up your bodily comfort. Easy to say…:slight_smile:

Good luck!

#7

5 hours of sleep are perhaps enough for somone who has a firm practice in asana, diet, yama, niyama, simply one who managed to balance his/her life, and also reached a certain level of “purification”. Newton, they say, slept only 4 hours a day.

For me sleep is better than meditation. Sleeping comes first, good diet second, physical practice third, and I meditate , if I have the time. Mostly, I don’t have it. I am working a lot, and I am trying to apply karma yoga principles there. I hope, one day I’ll do less karma yoga, and more raja.

Usually the balance is more towards karma yoga, as beginners. Advancement takes it towards raja yoga.

#8

Balanced lifestyle first, otherwise it may not be of much help to meditate… or to sleep in the meditation posture.
I did this some time few years ago: I woke up early to do my practise, taking some time away from my sleeping hours. So I got the time to practise but during the day I felt tired and sleepy.
May not help with the yoga practise. Yoga is about balance: If the string isn’t tight enough, it will not ring. If it’s too tight, it will break.

Yoga practise may reduce your need for rest as you are already in a more restful state, though it needs to happen naturally, not by forcing.

#9

Thank you friends…I sometimes feel that the distractions presented themselves to me again to make me acknowledge them…As it is the second time I have left a distractive environment for the sake of silence. Therefore I like the Buddhist meditation techniques as you mentioned.

#10

OK, this might not be what is recommended in most schools of meditation: get some good earplugs as well as a pair of earmuffs/eardefenders you can get at any hardware store. Use both at the same time and you will enter an oasis of quietness :slight_smile:

This is what I used to do when living in shared housing similar to yours, and it works a treat. I can hear people laughing now, but sometimes you gotta be pragmatic! You might look silly, but lock your door and no one will ever even know.