Why Meditating is Intimidating

What's the first thing you think of when you picture yourself meditating?

You might picture sitting with your legs crossed and your hands on top of your knees, palms facing up, thumb and pointer fingers touching. Maybe your picture yourself feeling peaceful, with your eyes closed. Possibly you picture yourself free of thought....mind silent.

All of those things come together to create the stereotypical idea of meditation. This ideal image can be very intimidating for people wanting to start meditating. We often believe that meditating is for people who are on another level of spirituality, which makes it feel unobtainable to us normal people.

Along with the stereotypical ideal image of meditating, we have a lot of questions when we try to think about starting a meditation practice ourselves.

Do I need to wear certain clothes? Do I have to spend a lot of time in a meditation session to do it properly? What if I can't stop thinking?

Of all the questions I hear, these are the most common.

Most people worry about not being able to stop thinking. I get it. We have so much going on that it's hard to not think about past events or future plans. But here's the thing.... you don't actually have to stop thinking while meditating! The goal of meditation is not to stop our thoughts. Surprised? I was too! The goal is simply to stop our mind from spinning, allow thoughts to come to us, feel them, and release them so that they do not control us. Sitting alone in silence, we are able to relax, reconnect with ourselves, and calm our nervous system. Plus, there are tools available to help guide your thoughts and quiet your mind. For example, there are guided meditations, breathing techniques, sound baths, walking meditations, etc.

The truth is, there are many ways to meditate that don't fall in line with the stereotypical image of meditating. You can sit on a chair with your feet flat on the floor, you can go for a walk, you can lie down, or you can sit at your office desk. Plus, you don't have to spend ton of time doing it! In fact, I recommend starting with just 30 seconds at a time. We are so busy that it can be challenging enough to sit still for 30 seconds. Once you feel comfortable with that, you can slowly increase the amount of time that you are trying to meditate. It's recommended to start slowly and increase a little bit over time, much like you would when you are starting to exercise a certain muscle. Our minds are similar to muscles in that it takes practice and build-up to get to a certain goal. Don't put pressure on yourself to do a perfect meditation right away! Your meditation is specific to yourself, so also try to avoid comparing yourself to others.

I'll be writing a lot more about meditating in the future, but for now just understand that we were all intimidated by meditation at one point. It's important to know that most of the time meditation is very different from the stereotypical image, so loosen up a bit and try it for 30 seconds. What do you have to lose?!?