I can sit mostly still for 40 min, but I can't concentrate for 2 min

[Ampresus]

Hello everyone. After coming back from a school trip to Austria, my already backlog has only increased (before the trip I already have been struggling with this). My issue is that I can sit for long periods of time, I mean I sat mostly still for 40 min yesterday. I know that that might not be as long as 3 hours, but still. The problem is that I can't even concentrate for 2 min, let alone meditate for 40 min or self-inquire for 10 min. I get distracted so easily, it is actually insane. Why am I typing this considering I am still new (only 5 months in)? It is because I actually was doing better and better, until all of the sudden I backslided. I have had many mystical experiences, experienced non-duality (just for like 4 seconds) and even more things that I still don't know what they mean, but it is all gone now. When I try to concentrate for 2 min, I get lost after 30 sec. This shouldn't be a problem if I just started my concentration practice, but I have been having this habit for around a month now. Everyday, 3x a day 2 min concentration practice. Can someone help me with this?

[TheAvatarState]

You're doing the right practices, keep going. 

[Forestluv]

I've found kriya yoga and yin yoga helpful to relax the mind, because they give the mind body something to do.

[Aaron p]

6 hours ago, Ampresus said:

Hello everyone. After coming back from a school trip to Austria, my already backlog has only increased (before the trip I already have been struggling with this). My issue is that I can sit for long periods of time, I mean I sat mostly still for 40 min yesterday. I know that that might not be as long as 3 hours, but still. The problem is that I can't even concentrate for 2 min, let alone meditate for 40 min or self-inquire for 10 min. I get distracted so easily, it is actually insane. Why am I typing this considering I am still new (only 5 months in)? It is because I actually was doing better and better, until all of the sudden I backslided. I have had many mystical experiences, experienced non-duality (just for like 4 seconds) and even more things that I still don't know what they mean, but it is all gone now. When I try to concentrate for 2 min, I get lost after 30 sec. This shouldn't be a problem if I just started my concentration practice, but I have been having this habit for around a month now. Everyday, 3x a day 2 min concentration practice. Can someone help me with this?

One of my insights...

"Keep an eye out for nearby breakthroughs, things to look out for are; unusual, and *especially fluctuative* emotional and mental patterns, including difficulty to practise all of a sudden, sweeping depression...and apparently a dead giveaway is the natural intuitive sense that you are going to die."

However it depends on a lot of things, you, your mental health, your technique, your social life, family life, stress, horemons etc. For example, the natural resting place of my mind is a place of irritation, which becomes torement when it gets worse (when I try to fight it) and if I was to forget to meditate for a day it would come back. In which case it's a good sign, but not a sign of a nearby breakthrough

Edited February 19, 2019 by Aaron p

[universe]

What are you trying to focus on? By what you get distracted?

[Truth Addict]

@Ampresus

Try focusing on non-static objects, like a ticking clock, and follow along.

Edited February 20, 2019 by Truth Addict

[Ampresus]

@universe I try to focus on being the observers who observes his thoughts, observe the observer and concentrate on the feeling when your thumb and indexfinger.
 

18 hours ago, universe said:

By what you get distracted?

Thoughts, singing music that is stuck in my head

[Jack River]

I use to have that issue. I found that I couldn’t concentrate because I was to busy unconsciously concentrating on the endless arising activity of mind (objects of experience). 

Like a cat preoccupied or overly fascinated by the end of a laser pointer beam. 

Edited February 20, 2019 by Jack River

[Wisebaxter]

Try Modafinil for a while to build up your concentration skill, that's what I did and it worked like a charm 

[moon777light]

how much time do you spend on the laptop/phone/tv/games on average during the day?

[ajasatya]

3 minutes ago, moon777light said:

how much time do you spend on the laptop/phone/tv/games on average during the day?

this question is on point

what happens during meditation is a summary of your everyday life.

[moon777light]

1 hour ago, ajasatya said:

what happens during meditation is a summary of your everyday life.

exactly! same thing is happening to me during my daily meditation habit. I still waste a relatively large amount on internet, and so lyrics from songs i've listened to that day, faces from people from youtube videos, and words from articles i've read/watched that day start popping up persistently. This monkey mind is much more intense than the monkey mind i have on days where im not online, or minimally online. 

Its amazing to see highschoolers and people as young as 14 start doing this stuff, like holy crap.

Edited February 21, 2019 by moon777light

[Matt23]

There's an online version of a book called Mastering The Core Teachings Of The Buddha 2 (called MCTB2) by Daniel Ingram. 

It goes into some depth and subtleties about maintaining and balancing a meditation practice.  

In one part it talks about being able to balance wisdom with faith, concentration with energy, and mindfulness.  He likens these five aspects to wheels on a cart, with mindfulness being the driver, and how if one wheel is off or wobbly it will send the whole cart off course.

Here's a couple quotes. 

- "...too much energy is related to a lack of concentration and vice versa."

- "With excess energy, we may be completely unable to focus at all because we are overemphasizing effort at the expense of focusing on the object of meditations."

Here's a link to the site as well

https://www.mctb.org/

 

I don't know if this is your specific issue, but it might help.  The book also has lots of information on other aspects of keeping and developing a spiritual practice that are pretty straight forward and practical with the more religious aspects of Buddhism taken out.  At least as far as I've read.

[Ampresus]

4 hours ago, moon777light said:

how much time do you spend on the laptop/phone/tv/games on average during the day?

@moon777light
1. Who uses a laptop when you can use an expensive gaming computer? Usually around 3 hours a day. Maybe a bit more or less.
2. I actually stopped using my phone so much a few months ago. After realizing how useless social media are, I deleted most of them. Besides Spotify, YouTube and (recently downloaded) Quora.
3. I don't watch TV
4. I don't play games that much. For me they get really boring after a few rounds. I tried a lot of games before joining this forum, but none of them are really for me. Doing the same thing everytime gets boring. I will admit that there is this one girl online that, whenever she asks, I can play together with for hours.

I waiste most of my time by hanging around on YT, watching video's like ''New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe Worlds 1-9 Full Game (All Star Coins)'' or ''Travis Scott, Drake - Sicko Mode (8D AUDIO) ?''. Don't judge me, I miss the times when I played Super Mario Bros on a hot summer night

[Ampresus]

2 hours ago, moon777light said:

Its amazing to see highschoolers and people as young as 14 start doing this stuff, like holy crap.

@moon777light I started 5 months ago, I am a big boy now.


 

[Girzo]

You are over-dramatizing.

Keep up the work, you are doing good.

Whatever the situation, learn to accept it and climb your way up.

[seeking_brilliance]

My problem is the narrative never shuts up. NEVER. the last couple of days I've been chanting 'relax the narrator' and it helps, except I'm still not really shutting up.   

[Solace]

Know that most people do not meditate properly with the correct technique, especially beginners.

This is the most effective technique if you want to find Unconditonal Love, enlightenment, God because it places our awareness directly on that deepest part, it requires lots of concentration:

 

[FreeThoughtFlow]

You are doing well. If you actually can concentrate for 2 minutes that's insanely good. You are just noticing how bad your concentration is. The problem here comes when you compare yourself to others and you think others can concentrate for more than 2 minutes. They can't even concentrate for 1 minute. Try watching your clock for 2 minutes and see if a thought doesn't distract you before the 2 minutes are over.
 

The goal you should have in mind when meditating is to be aware over your concentration without any judgment and then focusing your awareness to your breath (or whatever) again.

[universe]

On 20.2.2019 at 7:44 PM, Ampresus said:

@universe I try to focus on being the observers who observes his thoughts, observe the observer and concentrate on the feeling when your thumb and indexfinger.
 

Thoughts, singing music that is stuck in my head

Sounds good, its normal to get distracted. Be gentle on yourself. Just let yourself think and sing and come back to observing once you notice your mind drifted away. This will happen hundreds of thousands of times.

I can also recommend focusing on your breathing.