Concentration meditation help

[thestruggler]

I have been attempting concentration meditation for the past 6 months and continuously failed moving from practice to practice. I cant seem to find something I am comfortable with and cant even focus for like 20 seconds straight. I have always struggled with not being able to concentrate since I was a child hence my ADHD diagnosis. 

If anyone has had success improving their concentration skills I would really like to know what practices you have used and what you did to cope with the struggles of this practice. 

Thank you, 

[RedLine]

When you realize you are not in the object refocus again. The trick is don't feel guilty when you realize you are not in the object, it is normal, just gently focus again

Edited November 20, 2020 by RedLine

[Consilience]

Start working through The Mind Illuminated, it has what you're looking for. The rewards of a deep concentration practice are truly a gift... Once you can start accessing Jhana’s and deep Samadhi states it’s game over, you’ve truly discovered one of life’s greatest treasures. 

[snowyowl]

Our monkey mind uses distractions like not focussing and changing techniques as a backlash against the meditation discipline. As a beginner I found it helpful to meditate in a group to not fidget, constantly look at the time, want to finish early etc. There's mutual support when meditating with others. 

It's difficult to meet up now with the coronavirus, but have you thought about online meditation meetings? 

Edited November 21, 2020 by snowyowl

[Michal__]

If you are focusing on the breath are you counting the breaths? That's very important.

[The0Self]

21 hours ago, Consilience said:

Start working through The Mind Illuminated, it has what you're looking for. The rewards of a deep concentration practice are truly a gift... Once you can start accessing Jhana’s and deep Samadhi states it’s game over, you’ve truly discovered one of life’s greatest treasures. 

^^ This.

 

@thestruggler Fill the whole body with awareness kind of like filling up a balloon, so there's not a whole lot of room left over for distractions. Get there by gently but firmly returning to the breath whenever you gleefully notice that you're distracted.

Unless you can remain attentive to the breath sensations indefinitely, your main focus should be cultivating the readiness to emit appreciative joy upon noticing you're distracted - this positive feedback will cause your mind to associate "noticing you're distracted" with "good," and eventually you'll rarely ever get distracted (because as soon as distraction would arise, it instantly would turn into "noticing you're distracted," meaning there just is no distraction).

[Enlightenment]

Try these techniques, especially mantra ones ~35minutes in the video

 

 

Edited November 24, 2020 by Enlightenment

[The0Self]

From where I'm standing, if you haven't read The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa (or at least listened to the free audiobook part 1 and 2 available on YouTube), you may be wasting your time.

Cultivate the readiness to seriously appreciate the "aha!" of noticing that you're not attending to the (breath) sensations. This is the first and most crucial foundation that can blossom into a beauty you cannot imagine. Well, I guess sitting every day itself is step zero. This is step one though.

Edited November 24, 2020 by The0Self

[Jacko]

Don't give up, keep trying!

As Davidji says- If your mind wanders, or becomes distracted by thoughts that's great, it means your alive! Just gently come back to the object in focus. I've been enjoying using Mantras silently as a form of concentration/meditation. Maybe you could look for some guided options?