“I can’t meditate; my mind just won’t slow down. Every time I try to meditate my mind jumps all over the place, I get so frustrated, meditation just isn’t for me.”

Sound familiar?

Meditation is definitely for you, the fact that you can’t slow your mind down isn’t that unusual for someone new to meditation and continuing will help with the impatience that you feel.

The mind can be very temper mental when we first start working with it; too much effort and the mind will become agitated, too little effort and you might fall asleep.

The trick is to find the balance; think of the mind as a small child who needs patient guidance. You wouldn’t scream at your child for wandering off a path, we need to give our mind the same treatment.

Here are a couple of meditations to try, if one doesn’t work, try the other. Start with a reasonable time period like five to ten minutes then gradually increase the time period.

Starting with the crown of your head, focus your attention on an area of your body and repeat ‘Relax crown’, feel the tightness in the area loosen, breathe out as you ask the area to relax, then move to the next area, ‘Relax back of head’ etc., on down to your toes.

When you have moved through your entire body, scan your body again looking for any areas of tightness. If you find areas of your body are still tense, focus your attention there and repeat the process.

This meditation isn’t a race, it is meant to be soft and relaxing, take your time and enjoy the peaceful feelings. After you have done this meditation your mind and body should be in a more cooperative state. If you continue on, simply watching whatever thoughts arise, without yelling at them, gently bringing yourself back to your breathe, you will likely find less frustration in your meditation.

Another Meditation

Find a mantra, many people use phrases such as; ‘om mani padme hum’.

If you want the definition of this particular mantra you can find the Dalai Lama’s explanation below, but for our purposes, it probably isn’t necessary.

The idea with this meditation is to keep the mind busy on something other than its normal chatter. Repeat your mantra over and over at a nice even pace…not too fast, but fast enough so that lots of thoughts aren’t still flooding your mind. If you do notice other thoughts then gently bring yourself back to the mantra and step up the pace.

When I do this type of meditation I use meditation beads and repeat the mantra while moving from one bead to the next.

H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama’s definition

“It is very good to recite the mantra Om mani padme hum, but while you are doing it, you should be thinking on its meaning, for the meaning of the six syllables is great and vast… The first, Om […] symbolizes the practitioner’s impure body, speech, and mind; it also symbolizes the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha[…]”

“The path is indicated by the next four syllables. Mani, meaning jewel, symbolizes the factors of method: (the) altruistic intention to become enlightened, compassion, and love.[…]”

“The two syllables, padme, meaning lotus, symbolize wisdom[…]”

“Purity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized by the final syllable hum, which indicates indivisibility[…]”

“Thus the six syllables, om mani padme hum, mean that in dependence on the practice of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha[…]”

n      H.H. Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, “Om Mani Padme Hum”

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