Mindfulness Blog for Educators: Common Challenges to Mindfulness Meditation- Part One

I recently had an experience where I was convinced that I had a stomach bug. After a few hours of feeling uncomfortable and restless, I got up to wash my face. The act of doing a task that I do every day provided a chance to shut my eyes and focus on my breath. I started to feel relief, so I threw on a face mask that allowed me to sit with my eyes closed for a while longer. A few thoughts can up that were swirling in the background of my mind, and piqued my curiosity. I wrote them down and realized that 1) my stomach felt better and 2) I haven’t sat down to meditate in a hot minute. I find that I have to relearn this again and again: our feelings will make themselves known if we do not follow through on regularly checking in with ourselves. .

Starting a mindful meditation practice is proven to provide relief from the stressors that we are all too aware of as well as the ones that we are ignoring. Yet, people continue to say that mindful meditation isn’t for them because they tried and were unsuccessful. There are a number of reasons that people give for not adding a mindfulness practice into their lives and most are common challenges that we all face.

Reason #1

“I can’t shut my mind off”

I often hear people say that they can’t meditate because they can’t shut their thoughts off or sit still for more than 5 minutes. The reality is that no one can turn their thoughts off, even a person seasoned in mindfulness meditation. I wonder if what they are trying to say is, “I don’t know what to do with all of these thoughts and am not interested in another happiness hack that won’t work for me.”

We are taking a bite of something that nourishes us. It’s up to each of us to choose to take a second bite.

Meditating and being mindful are being aware of what we are doing in any given moment and dropping into that moment like an anchor drops into the water to hold a ship in place. There are no rules for how long we stay anchored or what we choose to anchor us.

The prevailing thought is that we use our breath as an anchor. It makes sense as breathing is always with us- in the classroom, making dinner, driving the kids to soccer. Within the breath, we have options on where our anchor arises. We can focus on how our breath feels around our nostrils or the rise and fall of our chest or belly. One deep inhalation and a slow exhalation and we have had a mindful moment using our breath as an anchor. Stay dropped in that breathing and we are meditating. We are taking a bite of something that nourishes us. It’s up to each of us to choose to take a second bite and no choice we make is wrong.

Reason #2

"Focusing on my breath is not a harbinger of peace, but a source of panic"

Sometimes it is easier to reach out, rather than in, for our anchor. When I teach my students about using their breath as an anchor, I often refer to it as the superpower that they can turn to at any time. However, we have to remember that our body has other superpowers at the ready, such as our senses. I often recommend grounding exercises as a way to anchor ourselves to the present when the breath hasn’t been a source of comfort. Just like the breath, we can use our five senses to anchor ourselves at any time or anywhere.

Whether we are aware of it or not, our mind and body are dropping into our senses when we are tapping our foot to the beat of a song, listening to the birds outside of the window, smelling a flower, rubbing our hands on a soft blanket or petting an animal. Grounding is something we are already doing, it becomes mindful when we add more intention to the experience.

I’ve found two great ways to drop into our senses. The first asks us to use all of our senses by silently describing five things we see, four things we hear, three things we can smell, two for touch, and one for taste. Check out this great video for a guided example: https://youtu.be/30VMIEmA114.

The second technique simply asks us to choose a color, look at our surroundings to find as many things that have that color, and then silently describe them-a fancy red car, a hard, red stop sign, or shiny, red fingernails. I use this strategy when I am running and I start to get anxious about my breathing. This is also something I recommend to students who are experiencing mild symptoms of anxiety while they are in their classes.

Movies and comic books have shown us that superpowers are called on in times of crisis, this is also true of our mindfulness practice. Our power to drop into the present is helpful when we employ it proactively and in our day to day living. Once it becomes an extension of us, that same power is our most valuable tool when we are faced with bigger challenges. It is not easy to find the time or motivation to drop into the moment but with some courage and practice we can all be curious about the thoughts swirling in our minds.