Are You Trying Too Hard To Meditate?

Who do you believe: those who tell you that meditation should be enormously hard work? Or those who tell you it should be effortless?

Discover the secret problem that most beginner meditators encounter and how you can fix it – right now – easily. {Bonus article from the 28 Day Meditation Challenge}

Should meditation be easy? Should it be difficult?

Great question. Here’s my view – as an experienced meditation teacher and NLP Trainer:

Firstly, dump the word ‘should’. It’s one of the most dangerous words in the English language and all it ever does is trigger those old friends of ours: guilt and obligation. Dumping the word ‘should’, in this case, sets you free to experience things for yourself and draw your own conclusions.

Then, here’s the answer I give to the initial question, when asked by my students.

The harder you try, the harder it is. The less hard you try, the more you accept, the more you ‘let go & trust’, the easier and more natural it becomes.

Meditation can involve changing habits we have cultivated for a lifetime. We have spent many years practising being busy, thinking three things at once, multi-tasking and doing anything other than sitting still. Meditation and mindfulness can feel like hard work at first, but once you start practising for the odd few minutes during the day, it eventually becomes effortless – like a switch you can flick. Just imagine it!

Remember: meditation is about calming your body, mind and emotions, to reconnect with the ‘truth’ of your current-moment experience of life. It is about accepting your thoughts as thoughts and no longer engaging with the emotional conversation. It’s not about a totally silent mind.

If your monkey mind is playing games, rather than fighting it and feeling annoyed, imagine softening your body, mind and emotions – melt away the tension – stop resisting – accept. Let go of the effort. Just allow yourself to experience the results. Surrender to the fact that a state of meditative awareness is actually our natural state. This whole ‘busy-ness’ thing is learned behaviour – so we can unlearn it!

Yes, we really CAN train our mind to be more still and quiet. And it doesn’t need to be difficult or take years; it does take gentle, consistent effort and CHOICE. That’s why I created the 28 Day Meditation Challenge – to help make this easier for you.

Typical signs that you are trying too hard include a clenched jaw, a furrowed forehead, tense shoulders, upper chest breathing, breathlessness and even holding your breath during meditation. That’s why the first step of each meditation we do is to relax the body and then do certain simple breaths to release tension and relax the mind.

Meditation doesn’t have to be hard work, but it does require consistent effort.

Just like learning a sport or a foreign language, you wouldn’t expect results if you’re just popping by once in a while.

Dedication – gentle, relaxed dedication – and consistent effort will produce much better results than ‘trying hard’ ever could.

Meditation doesn’t require you to ‘do your best’ or ‘try really hard’. It simply asks you to show up, bring an open mind, practise the techniques, and let them work their magic.

If you’d like to dive in and discover how 10 minutes of meditation and mindfulness each day could change your life, you could start the 28 Day Meditation Challenge today 🙂

Student have reported that it makes a real difference to their stress levels, sense of calm and even inner peace, in under a week.

Do you have your own favourite ways of letting go and trying less hard? I’d love to hear from you, via the comments box.