Forcing yourself to meditate? (longer)

[Breakingthewall]

Less than a year ago, meditating was like holding my breath underwater. after a few minutes I was drowning. As I understood the need to do it, I continued doing it in sets of 5 minutes, at different times of the day. In a few months I began to notice the difference between meditating and not doing it, and I began to be able to meditate properly, even so for a short time, 15 min maximum. I started with the psychedelics and the opening they caused made the meditation more profound. recently meditating has become the best thing I do, time is no longer a goal. finally there are moments of true emptiness, something intimate and of great beauty. As they said above, in the future not meditating will be like not knowing how to read.

[ardacigin]

On 05.04.2021 at 2:41 PM, meow_meow said:

Hey everyone, 

I was wondering if there is any point to force yourself to meditate if you don't really feel like it?
is there any point forcing yourself to meditate for longer periods of time when it starts to get boring? 

No. Teach yourself to enjoy your practice rather than brute-forcing with aversion and resistance.

[Michal__]

Gradually increase. 

Maybe 5 minutes extra every week until you hit your desired length.

[Nahm]

On 4/5/2021 at 7:41 AM, meow_meow said:

Hey everyone, 

I was wondering if there is any point to force yourself to meditate if you don't really feel like it?
is there any point forcing yourself to meditate for longer periods of time when it starts to get boring? 

Where is the yourself you speak of?

Wouldn’t you first need to find it, and then think about wether to force it or not? 

And what’s this “force” you’re talking about in the first place?  Giant magnet under your house? Sup?

[Insane butterfly]

 

[Carl-Richard]

When I used to meditate, my body would start to ache at around 45 minutes and that is where most of the progress happened. I say push through unless you're afraid you're hurting yourself.

[erik8lrl]

Try something else, there are many different forms of meditation and many different forms of spiritual practice. Some people are naturally good at meditation. Others are not. If you truly experience no joy in doing this practice or do not see any small progress, you should consider trying other practices until one clicks with you. Don't get me wrong, you need discipline in any practice to see the result, but observe your intuition and see if your heart is telling you to try other things first. Another good way to make things more interesting is to have a practice rotation of all the practices that you resonate with the most. This way, you are never bored, and you will often gain more spiritual experience since you are mastering multiple paths at once. 

Edited April 20, 2021 by erik8lrl