Hey everyone
So i hope someone here is able to help me out in my spiritual journey.
I'm after a bit of general advice really
every time i try to meditate I just cant seem to do it
loads of thoughts come to my head the dominant one being that I always have the feeling someone is watching me/ standing next to me this always makes me open my eyes every single time I try this happens I cant figure out why though.
it makes me feel extremely uncomfortable because when i open my eyes I am alone.
even when I know I am home alone by myself with the door locked
Wondering if anyone here has experienced this and how i can overcome it.
Meditation isnt just all clearing the mind. Its learning how to control your thoughts. Personally to me it sounds like your having a hard time getting comfortable. If you are worried that an entity of some sorts is with you banish your area before meditation.
Keep in mind there are many ways of meditation. Perhaps see if a different way is more comfortable for you.
You are describing a very common thing. The mind hates being disciplined (I say that in the hypothetical sense, not that the mind is an entity to itself). Meditation aids in concentration amd focus.
Start small. Mindfulness is a bery beneficial practice, and leads to greater things. And try meditating with your eyes open. Perhaps focus on a single object.
The fact is that your mind will wander. It is up to you to bring it back to focus. Observe passing thoughts, but let them pass. Do not get involved with them. Remain in thw moment.
Start with a few minutes at a time. You will improve. Also read up on different methods of meditation, and by all means experiment.
I find letting the thoughts in my head bounce around helps me meditate. Instead of paying attention to them, simply watch them bounce around. If that doesn't help, try a breathing exercise to help keep your head busy. Count to three, breathe in, count to three, breathe out.
Meditation is a challenge. Don't lose hope! :)
As for feeling something around - Oh my. Maybe doing a meditation inside a circle or with a guardian spirit asked to protect you may help?
Everything comes with practise, and meditation is a lot harder than it sounds.
From what you've mentioned, it seems like you're not very comfortable which is the most important thing before you even begin meditating.
Perhaps you could try mediating in a smaller area, so a small room just to practise quietening down the thoughts in your mind,
There are also many different positions you could try, sitting on the ground cross legged or in a lotus position, sitting in a chair with your feet flat on the ground and hands flat on your knees, or perhaps lying down on your back head facing the ceiling, arms to your sides and palms on the surface you're lying upon, and your legs straight out. Choose a position that you could remain still in for a while.
You can also try some simple visualisation techniques to clear your thought. I like to do this one where I visualise a chest in front of me, any chest, and then to clear my mind I think about what is on my mind, eg family and friends, studying, my bf, money budget etc. I visualise those thoughts being put into a chest, closing the lid and then i visualise the chest going further and further away from me, the problems I have getting smaller and smaller. By then my thoughts are clear enough that I can start other mediating or visualising exercises.
If you're not too familiar with meditating, play around a bit, read up on new techniques or just try what ever you think might work. I don't believe mediation should be a very strict discipline, I think its just whatever that works for you. But the more advanced you go then there are more stricter things you need to be wary of, but thats for later.
Is there anything to be said about having suddenly getting bouts of anxiety from attempting to get back into meditation? Like, in terms of actual mental disorders, and mine usually arises exactly because I focus on my body and how it feels and breathing and the heart beat, and it never fails that I immediately get irrational thoughts about health(diseases, illnesses, etc).
It's not like something I can just observe and pass it away, and It's not something I actively think about, either, its like a phantom that just comes along and totally kicks the sandcastle into an indistinguishable pile of sand.
So does anyone here mediatate in despite of having mental illness of any kind? I didn't always have anxiety, but after I first got GAD, I am not the same, and doubt I ever will, because it literally alters the structure of your brain, and shrinks the area of your brain that regulates such gates and prevents such anxiety from flooding.
I agree to all the other answers... Meditation is controling of thoughts etc. Start slowly... Maybe listen a guided meditation. There are tons of different techniques to try. Don't get bored and discouraged, start and try them and see which ones best fits you.
You must relax. About the thoughts, don't think of them. I don't mean to make them not get created-you can't control this. I mean..just be the observer. Just observe them and Not get involved, let them to pass... Don't try by yourself to make them dissapear because this will bring more thoughts and more difficulty in focusing.
You could try breathing techniques. Breath in slowly to five (seconds), hold in for five and breath out slowly to five. Try to focus on your breathing, it is difficult but you can do this; everyone can. Any thoughts that come by, try to observe and ingore them and continue to focusing on your breathing. You may see it difficult in the beginning but ass time passes, you will getting better and better.
About the precense... You may not be alone. Actually you're never alone... If you felt a precense next to you, it may was you Spirit Guide/s. Spirits and non-physical entities can pass through materialy, so a locked door won't do anything to prevent them from coming. I wouldn't advise you to want that entity/Spirit Guide(s) leave, but I would advise you to continue your meditation normally and relaxed, and see where it goes. For feeling a precense, they may want you to know they are there for you, and you're not alone..they may try to help you, or give you a message. So in my opinion, you shouldn't get upset and maybe ask them to leave, because you never know... Search well before you act.
However, if you don't want that precense be felt to you, ask that from your Spirit Guides...you could also ask them if this precense is any other spirit, to prevent them from getting involved.
Personally yes, I have experienced sometimes some feelings with spirits. Three or four times though..three or two with my Spirit Guide and one with a random person (still alive). But I cleary remember that all times when times that I was trying to meditate, and once when trying to achieve Astral Projection... And another sure thing is that in all felt precenses, they were Just trying to help and protect me. That's why I'm trying to say to you not to be scared by that precense but understand...
One time I was meditating in my third eye while laying down in bed. After one or two minutes, I saw a light white hand upon my hand, reaching my third eye. I saw it with close eyes but it was Really realistic. It was my Spirit Guide.
One other time, I was in a trance state, ready to Astral Project (I can't Astral Project yet). Suddendly, I saw the same hand again, but the whole couple this time. Which means both hands. This time they were not up my head, but to the area kinda of Crown chakra. Hands were open palms-one next to the other- and they were facing me, in that area. Eyes were closed and I still saw it through a vission, very realistic.
This may happened one more time, I don't remember cleary.
Last time was when I was trying to achieve Astral Projection. A guy from America has projected into my house (I didn't even know it). I wrote a letter to my Spirit Guides and stick it in the wall.... After some min that practise has got started, my body was getting heavier...then I felt a precense, to my left. I also was able to hear him breath. That seemed to me preety weird because I thought on Astral plane we don't have to breath... I remember, the first Spirit precense I felt in this life. But I didn't open my eyes to see what it was, because I know I wouldn't see anything, I know it was a spirit. So-as I adviced you-I stayed there with close eyes trying to AP and see where this would go. Eventually I fall asleep. But some weeks later the guy has told me he was just trying to help me achieve Astral Projection.
I wish you good luck in meditation and you're going to do excellent some day, just enough to have courage, self-confidence and most of all mood and to do it. ^_^
If you want the ability to focus, then yes - meditating while maintaining focus will increase focus ability.
You could trying laying down, sitting, standing, swimming, dancing, hanging, etc. That is just how your body moves.
I would recommend trying slow dancing meditation if you find you have issues with focus. If you don't care about focus, then don't. Don't focus. Instead work on developing your connection to the energies around you.
Sensing people or things that are not their is normal. You could be sensing guides/spirits etc.
Explore the energy more next time you get that experience. Ask them why they are here. Are they here to help? Ask them to come closer if you are ok with that. Ask them to leave if you are not.
Being able to recognize the difference between spirit and just the room's energies or your nerves is a big step.
Also, by taking the time to understand it you will be working towards removing your fear.
Sensing a presence, or feeling like one is being watched, may well be a symptom of a mind wanting more stimuli. While awake and alert, one receives the vast majority of information visually. Closing one's eyes shuts off this input at an effective level. The brain dislikes not having stimuli while awake.
There may also be instinctual response, such as a feeling of vulnerability -- the great 'what if,' as in, "What if something comes by to attack, and I don't see it because my eyes are closed?" It is another common subconscious response. It is something else which can be disciplined through meditation.
This is why meditating with open eyes can be an answer to that; the visual stimulus is still there.
Also remember that meditation does not necessarily mean cutting off all thought eventually, and being unaware of one's surroundings. While meditating, one still hears everything with eyes closed, and with eyes open, the peripheral vision will still detect movement.
