The Anusara Sadhana: Overcoming Obstacles in Meditation

Overcoming Obstacles in Meditation

Discernment and dd

Written by Lorin Roche

A nationwide survey in 2022 found that about 40 million Americans practice some form of meditation. The number has been consistently growing for decades.

I do not know how many of these 40 million are frustrated with their practice or with themselves, but some days all I hear is people thinking they have failed, when they haven't at all. They are just experiencing something they have never heard of or don't know is natural.

Imagine if someone went to a strenuous yoga class or did a workout at home, then two days later said, "My legs are a bit sore and tender from the workout, I must have totally failed." Or even, "I went for a hike on Saturday, and started sweating, so I must have failed at hiking. Bummer. I guess I will give it up."

Meditation is like that. As a meditation teacher for 55 years, I continually hear people condemning themselves and feeling like a failure when actually they're doing fine and just exploring.

False Obstacles

There are many obstacles—or what seem like obstacles—to meditation. Any internal experience that arises, that you don't instantly know how to handle, can feel like an obstacle.

If you have a good mental map or atlas of experience, you might be thrown off your game for just a second, then relax and find your way through. But if you think you have failed somehow or are defective, then you might quit meditation altogether.

Strangely, a whole universe of feelings, sensations, tingling, emotions, and mental imagery that go with feeling alive and vital are ignorantly classified as obstacles to meditation.

It's common, for example, for a person with a busy life to sit down to meditate, settle in for a few seconds or a minute, then suddenly realize, "OMG," and then . . .

• I am so tired, I feel myself falling asleep . . .

• I am hungry

• I need to drink some water

• I need to go outside and walk, I've been inside and sitting for too long!

• I forgot to call Steve, or Julie, and that feels like the thing to do right now

• I want to stretch my muscles

• I feel lonely, I miss my friend, lover, dog, horse, and so on.

These are signs of success in meditation, not obstacles. When you tune in to your body, your heart, your life, and what you need, this is a win.

There's No Failure in Meditation - You Just Need a Different Map

Almost every day, sometimes many times a day, I hear someone say, "I tried to meditate but couldn't. I failed to make my mind blank," or some variation on this theme.

When I ask them what happened, it becomes clear they have a false feeling of failure. They just had the wrong expectation of what meditation is.

Say you set out to hike, anywhere in nature—a valley, along a stream, through a forest, up a hill or mountain. In your mind, you have a map that it should be all straight lines and so you march along, and if you can't, if there is a tree or boulder or river in the way, you declare, "Well, I failed to take a walk." Straight lines are rare in nature. It's all curves.

The problem is you are using the wrong map.

In meditation, once you set the intention, "I am going to discover my path in meditation, I am going to learn how and practice meditation," then everything you experience is part of your learning. In any such adventure, in the outer world and in the inner world, there are innumerable skills we have to learn and obstacles to overcome.

With hiking, we have to learn about what kind of shoes our feet like, what kind of hat and sunblock, dark glasses, clothes that keep us warm or cool, how to navigate, what kind of bugs or critters or predators are around, how much we can carry, and who to go with. Lots of little and big craft skills. Even how tight to tie your shoelaces can be an important skill. We learn as we go.

With meditation, we come face to face with our own inner life, which is the most interesting movie of all time. We're just not used to feeling the electricity flowing through our bodies with such intimacy and intensity. Even relaxation is intense. The easier your practice, the more effortless your approach, the quicker your body can drop into a profound state of healing and recovery. The whole body repair system says, YAY! Let's grab this time and do some cycles of release and review! And boom, you find yourself releasing emotions that you've been holding back, feeling sensations of tension and tension release, alternating between excitement and peacefulness.

So there is no failure in meditation! There is just experience. And there are many maps of experience. We have a wealth of maps from all over the world, from innumerable cultures, throughout time. You may find that if you are walking along a stream near your home, and you are using a map of Nepal from the year 890 A.D., that what you see and hear does not match what the map says. You might find that if you wander around your neighborhood, you can't find Kathmandu. This is not failure. Make your own map. Based on what you are actually experiencing. And if you find you need coaching, get it. There are lots of skills to learn.

There is crying in meditation. And laughter. Lots of feeling. Many sensations. All sorts of natural processes of healing and rejuvenation that we ordinarily only go through while we are sleeping and dreaming.

Meditation is working—you’re just experiencing it differently than you expected. And that’s exactly how it’s meant to be.

Watch Robin Christ;s presentation for Samudra Shakti Online. In this video you will find a brief explanation of each of the Dasha Mahavidyas, you will listen to a brief story of each of them, see their Iconography, visualize their Yantras and hear their mantras and receive their wisdom.

Thank you so much Robin. 

Ps.- Deepen your understanding of the Goddesses and Deity Yoga through Sally Kempton's book, 'Awakening Shakti: The Transformative Practices of the Goddesses of Yoga'

Buy your book here