Thread: Does meditation get easier with practice?

I would like to be able to use meditation to help with things like MILD, SSILD and WILD. The reason is that I have a very busy mind which wanders very easily, and this is obviously a major hindrance to LD’ing!

So I have tried meditation (mostly Vipassana), but it’s very difficult indeed! My mind is just too busy for meditation. I have been successful once and got to a state of very little thoughts, but it took a great deal of time and effort, as well as constantly having to ward off distracting thoughts.

But does it get easier? If you were to practice meditating every day, does your mind somehow learn to block out unwanted thoughts with greater ease, making it easier each time? Also, do you get the benefits of meditation even when you’re not meditating, like finding that your thoughts are easier to control in general?

Thanks for your help!

Yes, sort of yes, and yes.

It takes a lot of work before the mind does not have resistance to sitting down and practicing. Eventually, this pleasure in stilling the mind will come. It does become easier to still the mind, as well, depending on your lifestyle and how you treat meditation. If you meditate, still the mind, and then sit down for a television marathon followed by video games, don't be surprised if the mind is active and all over the place when you're done.

Depending on tradition, the second question will have different answers. The purpose of meditation is not to eradicate thought, however. The purpose is to become familiar with your mind. If you try to push away every thought that is "unwanted, " then you aren't becoming familiar with anything--you're just wearing yourself out. But it will get easier to bring the mind to rest (or something close to that).

And yes, meditation carries over into daily life, but again, it has to be part of your lifestyle. Meditation is practice for living mindfully.

Originally Posted by ThreeCat

Depending on tradition, the second question will have different answers. The purpose of meditation is not to eradicate thought, however. The purpose is to become familiar with your mind. If you try to push away every thought that is "unwanted, " then you aren't becoming familiar with anything--you're just wearing yourself out. But it will get easier to bring the mind to rest (or something close to that).

Thx 3C. Yes I think I read once that meditation is not about emptying your mind, but acknowledging your thoughts. It does make sense actually because your mind is probably going to have wandering thoughts anyway, because it is simply programmed to be like that, but observing thoughts and not getting caught up in them is perhaps more along the lines of mindfulness.

Originally Posted by ThreeCat

And yes, meditation carries over into daily life, but again, it has to be part of your lifestyle. Meditation is practice for living mindfully.

Ah, I see. So meditation isn’t really a quick fix for anything, but has to be more of a long-term thing. The whole area of meditation still remains a bit of mystery to me. I’m guessing from this that “meditation” doesn’t have to be the traditional act of sitting down, closing eyes etc. for 20 minutes, but is actually something you do generally as part of your every day life, like paying attention to your self-awareness?

Dolphin: Thx, that’s a good diagram.

You have to crack the whip figuratively speaking and say NO to mind wandering. You have to do this a lot at first but it becomes less of a problem to more you do this.

It does make sense actually because your mind is probably going to have wandering thoughts anyway, because it is simply programmed to be like that, but observing thoughts and not getting caught up in them is perhaps more along the lines of mindfulness.

Yes.

Ah, I see. So meditation isn’t really a quick fix for anything, but has to be more of a long-term thing. The whole area of meditation still remains a bit of mystery to me. I’m guessing from this that “meditation” doesn’t have to be the traditional act of sitting down, closing eyes etc. for 20 minutes, but is actually something you do generally as part of your every day life, like paying attention to your self-awareness?

Yep. There are many types of meditation, and you need not sit to do any of them (though sitting is recommended for stabilizing and calming the body). Particularly for LDing, shamatha is considered to be incredibly effective in promoting both mental stability and overall mindfulness. Being "aware" can be a form of meditation as well, but is more difficult because there is no support (like the breath or an object).