When it comes to meditation, I often hear the same questions, queries, hesitations and challenges.
In this article, we take a look at the top things that might be hindering or stopping your meditation practice whether that’s mindset, expectations or technique.
Many of these meditation challenges might not be obvious, but are often really easily solvable with the correct know-how and proper techniques.
If you’re ready to start exploring your inner peace through mindfulness meditation or want to improve your meditation, read this article to help you overcome challenges in your practice.
What Are The Common Mistakes Preventing Your Meditation Practice?
1. My Mind Is Too Busy — I Can’t Stop My Thoughts
By far, the most common comment I hear is “My mind races, I have so many thoughts, I just can’t meditate”.
The thing is, you’re not alone—we all experience that. We all have moments when our mind is racing and we have an abundance of thoughts.
It’s not as if meditators have particularly serene minds which are easy to ‘control’. Far from it!
Furthermore, having a busy mind is even more of a reason to meditate.
So that you can slow down your thoughts, be more present and intentional, and be in control of your mind (and life) instead of being dragged along by a semi-conscious thought process.
The aim of meditation (dhyana) is not to stop your thoughts completely. Within meditation, the aim is to concentrate on a meditation technique that allows you to control and focus your thoughts so you can slow down, be present, and intentional, and effortlessly move into different states of consciousness.
During your meditation practice, you’re simply setting up the correct physical, mental, and energetic environment for meditation to effortlessly occur.
Meditation has a variety of benefits in your wider life such as improving your self-awareness and ability to consciously regulate your nervous system, emotions, and reactions.
A clinical study by Behavioural Brain Research noted that daily meditation can help to improve mood, reduce anxiety, and enhance attention span, cognitive function, and memory.¹
It might seem as if you have a really busy mind whenever you sit down to meditate, but the truth is, it’s just that you’re faced with your thoughts and have the conscious awareness that your mind is untamed and wandering.
It’s not necessarily busy or busier, it’s most likely always like that—just in meditation, you notice. Which is part of the purpose of meditation; to notice with conscious awareness and presence.
Your thoughts won’t necessarily stop during meditation, sometimes they might appear to (in deep meditation), but in general, you’re practising to observe your thoughts, allowing them to come and go without running away with each train of thought.
So you’re simply witnessing any thoughts that do happen to arise, without getting attached to them and drawn into the thought process that they’re proposing you start running with.
It’s almost as if each thought is a carrot on a stick—which you’re teaching yourself to ignore.
Training your mind to be more conscious and intentional can have a life-changing impact on your day-to-day life, and therefore can holistically improve your life.
Having present-moment awareness and choosing what you give your focus, time and attention to can help you to improve performance, aid you in reaching your goals, and increase your sense of fulfilment.
2. Inadequate Concentration And Meditation Techniques
The second most common reason that I find people are struggling with meditation, is due to using meditation techniques that don’t suit their needs.
Everyone is different, so you need to try a variety of different meditation methods to find out what works for you.
There are some meditation techniques that I know other practitioners gel really well with, but that I just can’t seem to resonate with. And there are other techniques that make my meditation practice a proverbial walk in the park.
A good meditation technique gives you something to focus and concentrate on (dharana) so that you can slip into meditation.
Without a good meditation technique that suits you, you might feel restless, bored, or frustrated during your practice.
Personally, I love meditation techniques that focus on the breath, and I use a variety of them with my students because I find them really powerful, accessible, and effective for most practitioners.
3. Disturbed Breathing Patterns
You will struggle to fall into a deep meditation if your breath is disturbed—and by disturbed I mean; short, quick, restricted, shallow, and without rhythm.
This type of breathing activates the sympathetic nervous system—responsible for your body’s fight or flight response, which makes it hard to drop into a deep meditation.
One of the reasons that meditation techniques which focus on the breath are effective, is because they prepare you for meditation by activating the parasympathetic nervous system—responsible for your body’s rest and digest response, which makes you feel calm and relaxed.
When your breathing pattern is calm, relaxed, rhythmic, deep, slow, steady, and smooth your parasympathetic nervous system becomes activated, and you’ll find it much easier to slip into a meditative state.
4. Poor Diet
Did you know that diet and nutrition can play a part in your ability to meditate?
A yogic diet is mainly in line with an ayurvedic diet, but you don’t need to eat a full yogic diet to meditate—to be honest, a full yogic diet requires quite a bit of passionate dedication.
The traditional yogic diet helps to balance your subtle energetic system, which supports harmony in your body and mind, and increases your ability to drop into deep states of meditation.
But aside from a full yogic diet, there are a few things other easier things that you can be wary of that can affect your ability to meditate—such as stimulants like caffeine and sugar.
If possible avoid consuming caffeine and large amounts of sugar prior to practising meditation, and try to decrease them in your diet altogether if possible.
Within a traditional yogic diet, the guideline is to be free of stimulating foods and drinks, such as caffeine, and too much sugar—for good reason!
Having a coffee before meditating is similar to drinking a cup of coffee before going to bed—it’s counteractive.
You want to feel calm, grounded, and relaxed during meditation, but caffeine and sugar stimulate your nervous system making you feel more alert and energized.
5. Practising At The Wrong Time Of Day
The time of day can have a huge impact on your ability to meditate.
I recommend practising meditation at the start of the day.
First thing in the morning, you naturally start your day in somewhat of a meditative state after waking. And during the morning, the mind is somewhat naturally calm and clear of thoughts—especially before you have caffeine and sugar.
Before the thoughts of the day and your looming responsibilities creep in, the early morning is the perfect time to enjoy your meditation practice.
For many, meditation becomes considerably harder after starting their day and consuming caffeinated drinks and sugary or energizing foods.
6. Practising When You Have Too Much Energy Or Disturbed Energy
It’s important to take notice of your energy levels, because this also affects your ability to sit calmly and relax into a state of meditation.
Traditionally, when practising meditation as part of a holistic yoga practice, you would first practice asana (yoga postures) to balance the energy of the physical body, and then pranayama (breath work and energy work) to balance the subtle energy body, and then you would conclude with meditation—after the body, nervous system, energy field, and mind have been appropriately harmonized and balanced.
It is much easier to control and focus the mind when any excess energy has been used or any disturbed energy and the nervous system has been harmonised.
For example, if you’re feeling restless, anxious, or overexcited, it’s going to be hard to sit down and meditate whilst you have this excess dynamic energy and adrenaline running through your body and energy field.
In this case, do some yoga asana (yoga postures), take a walk around the park, or go for a light jog, and then sit down to meditate after you’ve used up some of that excess energy and calmed your nervous system.
7. Distracting Meditation Environment
Practising meditation in a supportive environment can improve and deepen or hinder the quality of your meditation.
If your meditation space has too many distractions, doesn’t feel comfortable, doesn’t feel like a safe space to relax and switch off, is too hot or cold, or is noisy and unpredictable—you’ll find it much harder to slip into a meditative state.
If you’d like to learn how to set up the perfect home yoga studio that will best support your meditation practice, read my article here.
8. Uncomfortable Meditation Posture
Your position for meditation needs to be comfortable and stable, allowing the body to feel steady but relaxed.
It is also preferable to sit in a cross-legged position, or an upright position on the floor or in a chair—as opposed to lying down horizontally.
Energetically, it is better to have the spine upright so your subtle energy has a clear vertical pathway upwards through the chakras from the base of the spine to your head.
Secondly, on a more practical level, lying down simply increases the chances of you nodding off!
It might outwardly appear easy to sit in a seated position for a long period of time, but often meditation practitioners can find it challenging.
It is common to experience aches and pains, discomfort or even pins and needles when sitting in the same meditation position for a prolonged amount of time.
Yoga asana is a great way to build the strength and flexibility required for seated meditation and, along with balancing the subtle energy body. is the purpose of yoga asana.
There are a variety of different meditation postures (and meditation props such as yoga bolsters and meditation cushions) available, and it is recommended to try a variety to see what works best for you.
If you’d like to learn more about the best props to use during your yoga and meditation practice, then check out my article here.
9. Unbalanced Subtle Energy Body
If your subtle energy is unbalanced, you’ll most likely struggle to slip into a meditative state—but there are things that we can do to help balance the subtle energy body such as asana (yoga postures), pranayama (breath work and energy work), shat karmas (yogic purification techniques), mantra, consuming a yogic diet, and a variety of other yogic rituals and traditions.
These techniques help to cleanse, balance, and harmonise your chakras (subtle energy centres) and nadis (subtle energetic channels) in order to prepare you for deep states of meditation, spiritual awakening, and enlightenment.
10. Lack Of Consistency In Practice
Lack of consistency, not enough practice, and unrealistic expectations are common but easily solvable hurdles.
It’s important not to expect immediate results, or that it’ll all click overnight.
The first time you learned to walk, drive—or anything else for that matter—did you give up when it didn’t immediately click? No, you didn’t.
You persisted, you were consistent, and you kept trying and learning until you got a grasp of it—and the process of learning meditation isn’t any different.
It’s important not to expect too much too soon, which can lead to over-striving. Over-striving often leads to frustration and a sense of disappointment—which will hinder your meditation and simply feels unenjoyable!
Be gentle and kind to yourself, whilst also being consistent, dedicated, and persistent with a regular meditation routine.
Much like the gym, you need to keep practising and doing the work on a regular basis to maintain the results and benefits. As soon as you stop practising, your results and benefits quickly fall away.
Trust that if you keep practising, and refining your meditation practice, you will get better, and will maintain the wonderful fruits of your labour.
11. Falling Asleep
Every now and then, I think everyone finds themselves nodding off during meditation—because in general we live in a modern world where we overwork, and don’t get enough rest.
So the minute you do allow yourself to relax and slow down—you nod off to catch up on the rest you need.
However, if you regularly find yourself falling asleep during meditation and feel like it’s becoming a bit of an issue, there are a couple of ways you can tackle it.
Firstly, check if the room you’re practising meditation in is too warm. If the environment is too warm, this has the tendency to make us feel sleepy.
Also, ensure that you’re doing a seated meditation whether that’s with or without a chair, and avoid lying down horizontally.
You can also play with meditation at different times of the day. I would suggest trying early morning after waking—which is my usual recommendation anyway.
You can also try late morning or early afternoon—because you might find it’s more common for you to fall asleep during meditation towards the late afternoon or evening because you’re tired from your day.
Another little trick is to use jnana mudra during meditation, because as you start nodding off you’ll feel your fingers letting go of the seal—which draws your awareness towards your sleepiness.
Some also find that a gentle interval alarm can also prevent you from falling asleep, but I personally find that this is a bit too intrusive, and can be annoying.
Especially if you’ve found yourself in a particularly good meditation and you’re being drawn out of it to turn off the alarm. But, it is worth a try to see if you like it—you can find smartphone apps for interval alarms.
12. You Remember Important Things
As you begin to slow down and create mental space, it’s highly likely that you’ll either remember important things that you really don’t want to forget, or that you’ll be met with valuable inspiration and creativity that you want to take advantage of.
I tend to remember really important things or get really creative and valuable ideas as I move towards a meditative state.
There are different opinions on what to do here. Some meditation teachers advise you to let go of the thoughts and trust that you’ll remember them later.
Whereas I advise, that if the thought is really that important—to make a note of it on your phone or a piece of paper and then continue with your meditation practice. Here you’ll need to make your own judgment call of whether it’s really important enough to interrupt your practice for.
I find that if I don’t make a note of the thought, it keeps circling in my mind because I’m worried about forgetting it, and so making a note of it allows me to totally let go and resume my meditation. Try out what works for you!
13. Being Scared Of What You’ll ‘See’
The journey of meditation requires us to slow down, to be present, to self-reflect, and to build our self-awareness. This sounds amazing, but it can be quite unpleasant and scary if you’re struggling with your mental health, sitting upon unresolved trauma, mental discomfort or emotional pain and suffering.
Meditation helps you to slow down and uncover what’s underneath, but if you’re trying to avoid or deny parts of your psyche and your current reality—such as distressing thoughts or emotions—you might find a lot of resistance to the journey of accepting ‘what is’.
Meditation and mindfulness can be really helpful and powerful tools for recovery.
They can support the recovery of your authentic self, and your healing journey of intentionally rebuilding your life in a way that best supports your happiness.
But, even though meditation helps to reduce suffering in the long-term—it’s highly likely that you’re going to have to ‘unpack some stuff’ in the short-term before you get to the good stuff.
To stop living in a state of disassociation, autopilot, and disconnection, first, you must start operating in conscious awareness and connect to the reality of what is—and the journey of acceptance can be uncomfortable. You might not like what you see and uncover.
Many people are in a perpetual state of doing, such as overworking or scrolling on social media, because it prevents them from having to be present with themselves or think about their unresolved pain and suffering.
Becoming aware of your thoughts and emotions might reveal things that you’re unhappy about, things you wish to change, or trauma you haven’t yet processed.
It is possible to love the life you lead, and you don’t need to exist in a state of suffering. It’s possible to heal the parts of yourself that require deep self-love in an intimate and unique path of self-growth.
But first, you must face what you’re running from so that you can be conscious, intentional, and the master of your mind and life.
Meditation is about being present and noticing what is present—not running from, denying, avoiding or ignoring it.
And this conscious self-awareness is the only way you can effect positive change in your life—by being fully aware of what you’re dealing with so that you can take control and make the changes you need to make.
There is no self-development without self-awareness.
If necessary, it is advisable to get support from a certified mental health professional, such as a therapist, so that you can deeply process and heal alongside your meditation practice. The combination of professional therapy combined with yoga and meditation is often very effective.
14. Not Being Prepared For Mental Resistance
Being still, silent, and present with yourself might seem like an easy practice on paper, but at times, it can be extremely challenging. It takes time to learn and get comfortable with it.
When you see people meditating, it might seem as though it’s effortless and ethereal, but the truth is some days it is uncomfortable and a struggle.
Our modern world is filled with things and a variety of stimuli designed to grab your time and attention, all the way from smartphones and TVs to flashing billboards. We have become very accustomed to constant mental and sensory stimuli.
So it’s quite natural for it to take time to learn how to be alone with yourself and your thoughts.
At times, you’ll notice that your mind pushes back and fights. Meditation is not always easy. Just because you want to meditate, doesn’t always mean that your mind will cooperate.
Sometimes you might feel frustrated or disheartened.
Perhaps your mind even chimes in with a variety of opinions such as; “This doesn’t work”, “you can’t do it”, “it’s too hard, what’s the point”, or “This is silly, you’re wasting your time”.
The mind can be really creative when it comes to resistance against meditation and trying to get you to give up.
With meditation, each day is different—because each day your mental, emotional, energetical, and physical environment is different. Some days will be easy and other days you’ll be faced with varying levels of resistance.
On days when it’s particularly hard and you’re finding yourself getting frustrated, it’s best not to push yourself and to come back to your practice the next day, when you feel calmer.
Sometimes it’s best not to push through, because meditation is not supposed to be a form of self-torture, and tomorrow is a new day. Come back to your practice the next day with a fresh and open mindset.
Even on days when your meditation practice is tough, the win is in noticing the frustration and resistance, accepting it, and being self-aware enough to be kind and loving to yourself.
15. Trying To Meditate For Too Long
Another common mistake with meditation is trying to force yourself to meditate for too long, and expecting too much too soon.
It’s best to start with short bursts of meditation and to build your way up. As opposed to setting yourself time-frames and forcing yourself to sit there whether you’re meditating or not.
Meditation is not a form of self-torture, it’s a tool for self-awareness.
In order to fall into meditation you need to feel comfortable and relaxed, so you want to avoid high levels of frustration.
Try meditating for 2 minutes at a time, and when that feels comfortable, move up to 5 minutes. When 5 minutes feels comfortable, move up to 10 minutes, and so on.
And even as an experienced meditator, if you usually meditate for 20 minutes at a time, but today only 5 minutes feels good—be aware of that, and allow yourself to stop at 5 minutes if you wish so you can enjoy your meditation experience.
As opposed to forcing yourself to sit there for 20 minutes, and coming away feeling defeated and disappointed because the last 15 minutes of your practice were a demotivating inner battle filled with negative thoughts.
Let go of your ideals, and allow your meditation practice to unfold from day to day.
Conclusion
There are a variety of different obstacles that can arise on your journey to meditation. The most important thing in each meditation session is to be present and self-aware at every step, irrespective of what arises.
Through your inner peace and self-awareness, you gain clarity and can become the master of your own reality.
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