Meditation struggle

[Jainarayan]

In my experience it is a lot easier if you don't burden your practice with expectations.

Indeed... grab a handful of sand; squeeze it tightly to hold onto it; what happens? It runs through your fingers and you lose it all. Hold in your open palm; what happens? It stays there. I'm starting to take my own advice on that. Imo 60 seconds of "zoning out" in meditation is better than 60 minutes of fighting to keep the mind focused.

 

[Maya3]

Indeed... grab a handful of sand; squeeze it tightly to hold onto it; what happens? It runs through your fingers and you lose it all. Hold in your open palm; what happens? It stays there. I'm starting to take my own advice on that. Imo 60 seconds of "zoning out" in meditation is better than 60 minutes of fighting to keep the mind focused.

oh yes, and those 60 seconds are so blissful, only when you had those, you want more so bad...and then you are back to struggling to get there again, forgetting to let go...

Maya

 

[spiritualhitchhiker]

Strange, I've never had this feeling of "zoning out" or peace in my meditation practice. I've heard and read a lot of people speak about it. When I asked my TM teacher about my meditation practice he said it is because I've gone through a lot of things and I'll feel it after those things are removed from me. How exactly do you feel just before you 'zone out' ?

 

[Jainarayan]

I have to be already kind of relaxed. I can't be uptight or wound up.

 

[Vinayaka]

Lately I've been meditating in noisy places, and I kind of enjoy the sense of not being affected. Just general business, like at the temple, not a place where there are sudden things. The other night my wife asked me (this was after I had sat without moving in my spot for about an hour) if I'd noticed that 40 people had passed and an abhishekham had gone on while I was there. "Just the basic hum was all."

No I don't plan to do this while driving.

 

[Jainarayan]

At home I have to wear foam earplugs or put headphones on with meditative music, but at temple or a quiet park I can go into the zone too. I think it's the energy.

 

[Maya3]

Strange, I've never had this feeling of "zoning out" or peace in my meditation practice. I've heard and read a lot of people speak about it. When I asked my TM teacher about my meditation practice he said it is because I've gone through a lot of things and I'll feel it after those things are removed from me. How exactly do you feel just before you 'zone out' ?

It is very hard to explain. Actually there arent really any words in the English language to describe it.
This may sound corny, but the closest thing to an explanation I have ever heard is in the Pink Floyd song Comfortably numb, specifically this:

When I was a child I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons
Now I've got that feeling once again
I can't explain, you would not understand
This is not how I am
I have become comfortably numb

and this:

When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now

Maya