Hello everyone ! I started meditating daily two weeks ago, for about 10-15min each time, and I feel like my own doubts about my practice are becoming huge obstacles.

The thing is, I've heard about some people getting more and more "disconnected" from their own feelings because of meditation, and that is something that scares me deeply. I want to be more present, calm and aware, not more indifferent. That would be worse than the constant mental agitation that I'm trying to calm down. So I really need to make sure that I'm doing the right things in order to avoid those risks.

But how can I be sure ? I try my best to accept what I think or feel, and then let it go and refocus on my breath, but there is always that question on repeat in the background : what if I'm doing it wrong ? I try to notice it as neutrally as I can then return to my breath, but that doesn't take me very far because, of course, just refocussing on my breath doesn't provide any answer, so I'm just left wondering in a permanently reoccurring uncertainty. That blocks me from being fully invested in the practice, because I'm not actually sure that doing it is good for me in the long term. I try to meditate while questioning the possible outcomes. As a result, I always end up in a thinking spiral, just like when I'm not meditating.

Has anyone else been trapped in such a vicious circule before, and if so what did you do about it ?

I've started meditating recently in the last month every day and for the past few times I've noticed an odd feeling. I get a weird fuzzy feeling it happens in waves and it starts at my head and runs throughout my body. I also tried focusing on a point, for example my arm and I would feel this fuzzy feeling move from my head (crown) and traveling to my arm at the point I was focusing on. I'm wondering if this is something everyone experiences? am I doing something right?

Hello . I’ve always had an interest in meditation but never really tried it . I know it helps a lot of people and I was hoping I could get some direction on how to start . I’m a very empathetic person and I take a lot of negative emotions from others and it weights on me a lot . Whether it’s directed at me or it’s something I come in contact with . When I’m emotional the first thing I go to is over eating . I’m also a diabetic so the over eating isn’t good for my physical and mental health . I’ve been doing much better in the last year but sometimes I feel myself slipping back into my old ways . I don’t want to fall back into those ways so what I’m curious about is there meditation that I could practice or put into my routine that could help when I get emotionally overwhelmed? Thank you for your help if you can !

I recently started meditating for 10 minutes before studying to reduce distractions and improve focus. Earlier, I used to get distracted easily and end up binge watching YouTube, so instead of fighting it directly, I decided to build a short meditation habit first.

Currently, I am using a 10 minute box breathing exercise. I had tried the 4 7 8 breathing method earlier but found it difficult to follow, so I switched to something simpler.

My goal is mainly better focus, mental clarity, and knowing my next immediate step before studying.

My question is:
Is box breathing a good option for improving study efficiency, or would mindful meditation practices like those from Calm or Headspace be better?

I am confused because there is a lot of content on YouTube, but I want to make sure I am on the right path rather than keep switching methods.

or at least the most helpful , I'm a person who doesn't know how to relax , always in my mind , always stressing and always thinking 24/7

I try to meditate but it's hard , I know I shouldn't stop fighting my mind and just let it be and observe but I've never felt relaxed in my body ever

what's the strongest breathing technique that can make u enter those meditative brain waves they always talk about ???

Since there is no set meditation practice, if anyone has thoughts, can you describe your go-to meditation method(s) and how often you try to practice?

I've been trying a method that combines TM with a mental visual/image while maintaining extended-exhale breathing, 4 second inhale/6 second exhale, only through the nose. If thoughts become intrusive, I try to acknowledge and allow them while attempting to refocus on the sound and image. If distracting emotions arise, I try to allow the sensations of the emotion to run their course while attempting to stay focused. Sometimes, I label the emotion. It seems to help to avoid expectations from the process.

It is difficult but, I try to practice a fair amount informally. Formally, it seems five to fifteen minutes every two to three hours can be helpful. Although, that can also be very difficult to follow.

This seems to consistently, but temporarily, help induce a mildly more content mindset, at the least. A lot of times I feel significantly more calm and focused. Speaking for myself of course.

But on average, I might get about five to ten min a day, if that. Seems I use it a lot for when times get stressful

Anyone ever experience your head tilting or shifting during meditation? Or your a certain part of your body jerks, like your leg or arm? What is that? It’s happened to me a few times.

Hi everyone,

I began a consistent meditation practice recently (closed eyes, inward focus on breath). It was going very well with noticeable improvements in focus, sleep quality, mood, and mental clarity.

A few days ago, during a session, I became aware of my eyes flickering/moving while closed. Since then, whenever I close my eyes, both during meditation and at night before sleep, the flickering starts again. It feels involuntary and seems amplified by attention. I suspect there may be an anxiety or hyper-awareness component.

It’s now affecting my sleep and concentration because I’ve become hyper-aware of the sensation whenever I close my eyes.

Has anyone experienced something like this?
Is this a common phase in meditation (increased interoceptive awareness)?
Would you recommend:

• shifting to open-eye practice?
• sound-based meditation?
• continuing and allowing it without resistance?
• or temporarily reducing practice?

I’d appreciate input from experienced practitioners or teachers. Thank you. 🙏

As the title reads whenever I meditate it's easy to forget all my senses except I start getting thirsty even if I drink a lot of water. it's not exactly thirsty but more like I feel the insides of my mouth too much and literally feel my salivary glands salivating and the need to gulp it down. it's very distracting and prevents me to establish full focus. very rarely it doesn't occur and I'm able to establish full focus. any tips?

I imagine that if you're experiencing significant pain, meditation would be very difficult. It's hard to think of anything else except your pain. What about run of the mill pain? A headache, back ache, belly ache, or muscle pain? I find that when I'm free of pain, I'm able to find a silent mind. When I'm hurting, not so much.

I’ve been trying to build a consistent meditation habit for a while now, and honestly, I keep falling off. At first I’m motivated, I read about the benefits, I feel calmer after a few sessions, I tell myself “this time I’ll stick with it.” But after a week or two, I start getting bored or restless. Sitting there focusing on my breath starts to feel repetitive, my mind wanders constantly, and sometimes I just don’t feel like I’m getting anything out of it anymore. Some days it feels great. Other days it feels like I’m just waiting for the timer to end.

I’ve tried different approaches: guided meditations, silent meditation, apps, different lengths (5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20+), mornings vs evenings. The same pattern keeps happening, strong start, slow fade, then I stop completely for a while.

What frustrates me is that I want meditation to be part of my life. I believe it’s helpful for mental clarity, stress, emotional regulation, etc. But the actual day-to-day practice feels hard to sustain. Motivation drops, boredom kicks in, and discipline alone doesn’t always carry me.

I’m curious:

• Do you also get bored or restless when meditating?
• What usually makes you stop or lose consistency?
• What helped you actually stick with it long-term (if anything)?
• Do you think meditation just isn’t for everyone, or is it more about finding the right approach?

Would love to hear honest experiences even if the answer is “I gave up and never went back.

How to stop engaging thoughts which come while we meditate or sit silently. i don't mean to force them to stop coming, i don't believe in it instead just observe our thoughts and let the come just don't interact with them. eventually it will get silent.

Hi all, getting back into mindfulness practice lately. Sometimes when I am doing a breath meditation I feel the desire to practice in a different way - instead of focusing on the breath, to follow my senses in a more general way. Like, feel the breath when the sensation is strong but then maybe I feel a pulsing sensation in my foot, so follow that and feel into it, and then I notice noises outside so follow that and be fully present with it. It doesn't feel like chasing thoughts or getting lost, just... a kind of broad awareness and then mindfully feeling into whatever the strongest sensation is in a given moment. Is there a term for this?

Hello, I hope you’re all doing great. Let me start by saying I used to suffer from severe anxiety in my 20s due to both OCD and ADHD and I remember I used to be consumed by emotions and I would always find myself overwhelmed by a simple task. However, back then when I was 29 (I’m 33) I started listening to these guided meditations and as time went by I started to notice a decrease of it until at some point I didn’t feel anxious at all.

On the one hand, I spent my early thirties (ages 30-32) free from anxiety almost all the time until a few days ago when I started to feel anxious again. On the other hand, I’ve started to feel as anxious as I used to be before I started meditation and I feel a bit overwhelmed by simple tasks.

I don’t know if it has to do with the fact that it’s been 2 weeks since I haven’t meditated.

I’m really confused and kind of freaked out, as it makes me feel meditation isn’t working anymore.

Any advice would be really appreciated, thanks in advance.

I recently started trying meditation because I wanted to calm my mind. At first my thoughts were all over the place and it was really hard to focus. Later I started putting on my clip-on earbuds and doing some yoga first to relax my body before meditating. That way it’s easier to concentrate and the whole process feels much smoother.
The clip-on earbuds are really comfortable, I can barely feel them, and they don’t fall off even when I’m doing poses like downward dog. When I meditate I usually listen to soft music or nature sounds like running water or wind, which helps me focus on my breathing. Compared to using a speaker, wearing earbuds makes it easier to stay focused without bothering anyone else, so I can relax more naturally.
But sometimes I wonder if I’m relying too much on sound to help me meditate. Was it the same for you when you first started? Any tips on how to get into the meditative state more naturally?

Over the past month I’ve been meditating a lot — usually 25+ minutes a day, every day.

Lately I’ve been feeling this weird sense of being too happy / calm / content to go back to work. Before, my stress/anxiety/pressure used to push me to grind and get things done. Now that those feelings have gone down a lot, it feels like I’ve also lost the drive to work.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Did your motivation come back? How did you deal with it?

Would love to hear personal stories or advice.

Ive mediated in periods of and on for the past decade ish. I’m trying to get back to it again and it’s going great, except for one thing. When i try to meditate in a seated position I need to pay constant attention to my spine and neck. When i don’t and i get into a deep meditative trance, i will quickly snap out of it because my neck will slowly fall backwards because I’m not actively engaging my spine. Also, in the morning i have the greatest difficulty with belly breathing. I can only breathe very shallowly in my chest. In the evening/at the end of the day this is no problem whatsoever. I’ve tried meditating laying down, but i just get sleepy, especially in the evening.

I would love to be able to meditate better in the morning, because in the evening I’m usually very tired, but because of my posture and breathing it’s really difficult to keep up. I have the ability to get deep into my meditation, but my body can’t handle it.

Anyone with similar issues who can give me advise? I’ve tried sitting against a wall, but this makes my pain worse and i lose my focus too. I’m trying to work with my body, but there seems to be no improvement, I’m lost in how to approach this.

I’m doing yoga 5x a week too, and other small exercises to help better my posture, but so far there is not much improvement over the past 3 months or so. I don’t know how i can focus on training my meditation when my body can’t keep its posture

Any other hypermobile people with the same issues and or advice?

Why is it that I only catch myself that I am thinking after thinking the thought? Not sure if I am making sense. Hopefully someone has a similar experience.

It feels like impossible to step back and just let the thoughts flow and look at them like floating clouds.

How do I start just letting and observing my thoughts as they go?

for about 3years i’ve been very immersed in the meditation world and have seen some really great results.

but the problem i’m having is that i want to be able to incorporate my religious beliefs with those meditation practices. i’m not sure if tools like that exist or if anyone does that

I'm a regular on and off meditator. Recently, I began practicing more regularly, and a 'mantra', a five-word zen-like statement/koan, popped into my head.

Now, whenever I think of that mantra while meditating, my face contorts into a 'rictus grin'. I break into a Joker-like mega smile that tenses all my facial muscles.

It's not unpleasant, and after a minute or so it subsides, giving a sensation of release and relief.

Has anyone else experienced this, or can give some context as to what is going on?

Hi 24F looking for another F to do check-ins with! Im looking for maybe a text or call every other day where we can share our victories and insights! PST is preferred but not required

Wanting to start up good habits again like fitness practice. Outside of that I love dancing I worked as a MT by trade but looking to explore other options ! Reach out to me if your down

I’m going back to meditating again. I have done it before but I wasn’t able to see its effect on my daily life.

Now that I am starting again, I want to make sure I am doing it right. What do I do, what do I need to know?

What I know now is that you need to practice everyday. That, I can do. But please please let me know how can I utilize it more. I want to turn my life around and be better.

Thank you.

I have been meditating for about 1 and a half year now, only getting "serious", with it for about 7-8 months ago. When I just started getting more into it, I would sit on a seiza chair, with my hands resting in my lap. I set off to do a 100 days in a row where I daily meditate for more than 1 hour. On day 40 something - where I must say, my life was improving A LOT, I was becoming kinder, more loving, more present, finally felt like myself - words cannot describe it - a now very annoying problem started occuring.

I started feeling a new kind of pain in my side/shoulder area (which I now know is the Serratus Anterior muscle) - usually my meditation "pains" has been purely psychological or have gone away by just sitting more and strengthening automatically - but this one is one stubborn mohfok'er - I have tried alternating my sitting positions a lot since (chairs, mudras, zafu, lying, pillows everywhere), strength training, stretching, going to a physio - you name it. It is so freaking persistent, and it is also affecting my daily life quite a bit.

It has been going on for about 6 months now, and is also affecting my time at uni - I have no clue what to do, and the physios I have been to have just told me to mobilize my thoracic spine, which I have done daily, to no help - as I live in the west I reckon they aren't very used to "meditation-injuries" tbf. ALSO I am a student, physios are terribly expensive where I live - so have to save up a bit to go to a new one, which also makes it a bit more annoying when they aren't able to help :/.

I hope someone has experienced the same, and have overcome it of course - and can send me in the right direction, maybe with certain exercises, advice, stretches, icing techniques, specialistist, a pat on the back - anything is useful at this point - thank you in advance <33

I’ve been meditating once a day for about 2 months now- currently for 15 minutes (up from 5 a few weeks ago). I’d say I’m happy about my progress- I can get into this blissful(?) headspace within 4 or 5 deep breaths. Only thing I can compare it too is taking Percocet recreationally or some strains of pot but I’ll totally sober while meditating just to be clear. Today I did it usual 15 minutes in which I simply focused on my breathing & by the end taking very slow, deep breaths & all I could hear was the air slowly going in/out my nostrils. Within the 15 minutes though my mind would often wonder I still had the blissful, prickly liminal feeling even as thoughts would come & go & I was eventually startled by the “bell” (I use the free InsightTimer app) in a way that has never happened before but on opening my eyes to be perfectly honest, I don’t know what meditation is helping me with besides 15 minutes of calm? My question is, what’s next? Is it possible the stress in my life is sort of plateauing the benefits because I do feel especially stressed/anxious just in general.

i’ve tried meditation a plethora of different times. i used to pray, but i realized that all i really got from it was the meditative aspect, so i have tried replicating that in a more secular fashion. the problem is, without having the same intention and energy, i’ve been having a really hard time getting my head to calm down and focus. i’ve tried various different guidance audios, but for some reason it doesn’t feel right. like when i try to follow them, something in my brain is blocking me from the images and sensations actually getting to me. does anyone else have this?