Swallowing Distracts Me When Meditating

[rrodriguez111]

I have been meditating for a couple of months now but recently, I started being mindful of my swallowing and the saliva in my mouth.  Turns out that if you think about saliva, you start salivating.  This can get REALLY distracting when meditating.  It is almost frustrating.  

 

Any tips on how to overcome this?  Seems like the less I try to focus on it, the more I end up thinking about it.  

Thanks!

[Vigi]

That's perfect! Now you got something to meditate on. Something to simply observe without doing anything. Without judging it as good or bad. Without starting to think about it. Without thinking that you should not think about it...

The swallowing thing is most likely a manifestation of something deeper. By meditating on it, you might end up solving the root cause and hence solving other manifestations of that root cause that happens in your daily life without thinking about it, if one is optimistic.  It's all connected.

[RandomPaul]

@rrodriguez111  @Vigi  , what a coincidence, i'm also dealing with deconcentration due to saliva these days. I recently started to practice zen meditation, zazen, after the techings of master taisen deshimaru, and i also attend a zen dojo.

Thing is, it's a lot about the position, and in the zazen position i cannot swallow without moving my head  / neck and loosing the correct position. Also, in the dojo i become aware of how loud i swallow and i get a feeling that i'm disturbing the people there silently meditationg.

is there any tip or hack to get this under control, o should it just be observed and let go of, over and over again 

[Leo Gura]

@rrodriguez111 The monkey-mind will latch onto anything it can find. It's not swallowing that distracts you. It's the monkey-mind.

It will fade away within a few weeks or months of consistent practice. You'll advance to other, more subtle distractions.

[Friend]

"Leave the tip of your tongue touching the roof of your mouth near the front teeth, which later will enable you to stay for long periods in meditation without drooling. It will also keep you from breathing too strongly, which would dry out your mouth and throat" - How to See Yourself As You Really Are, His Holiness the Dalai Lama