Meditation helps people practice mindfulness and has been effective for thousands of years. But when starting off the process, people often experience difficulty in putting concentration due to a restless mind. But to obtain mindfulness and peace, how can you ensure an undivided concentration? How to meditate when your mind is racing?
Some specific tips such as meditation with a Guru, or meditating in groups can help you concentrate. More ways include a consistent schedule, having space at your home for meditation, warm-up yoga and breath work beforehand, slow soothing music to go, or meditating using technological advancements that can help with your agitated psyche.
At least one of the tips from the 7 will help you when you are meditating and need to calm the racing mind. I have elaborated these tips in this article, keep on reading to know more.
7 Tips On Meditation When Mind Is Racing
If you are failing to put your mind at rest and meditate, then do not give up just yet. Read about the 7 tips and their implementation below. You will be able to find at least one of these as a perfect fit for your meditation routine.
As you proceed with meditation, you might yourself figure out ways beyond these tips to soothe the racing mind and concentrate better.
1. Meditate With A Guru Or Instructor
When you have an instructor or a Guru with you, then chances are, you will be able to proceed the best way there is. Their guidance will help you in taking those mindful steps to get into the deeper stage of meditation.
A guru will help you put those bits of restless issues away that are invading your mind. Without instruction, people often meditate in the wrong way and eventually cannot do it at all. Thus, you may try the meditation classes and learn from your instructor for self-implementation later.
2. Meditate With More People
If not a guru or instructor, try to have friends or people over who also meditate. When you have more people around you for a particular purpose, your mind is likely to be more alert. Being with people often creates a sense of togetherness and eagerness to reach the deepest stage of meditation faster.
The collective energy in your meditation amplifies the experience of meditation. With a partner, your soul feels more secure and like you are not alone in this journey to mindfulness.
3. Follow A Consistent Schedule
If you want to meditate properly- keep practicing. An even better measure would be to do it at a scheduled time every day or the days you prefer. The more you proceed and have the sense of maintaining a time for meditation, the better your mind gets in concentration.
Consistency and practice can help with everything. Once you grip a mid-point while meditating every day, you will get to pick out thoughts that usually disturb you, so, the next time you can leave them out.
4. Create A Space In Your Home For Meditation
Sometimes it is the environment that is not soothing or comfortable enough for meditation. Try to have a space that is detached from the chaos of your household, where you can meditate without disturbance.
Decorate the room or corner with things that make you feel happy and content. It can be a particular color, a picture of your favorite person, or a painting. Aromatic candles help freshen the environment too. Plants, flowers, clean carpets, and fresh cloth or covers for your sofa will help create a space of your own.
Make sure to keep the vibe of that space as relaxed as possible. Chances are that entering that room itself will help you release stress and connect with your spiritual self, as meditation is a connection you draw spiritually. This will further make the meditation most effective and calm.
5. Warm-up with Yoga And Breathing Exercises
Yoga is often one of the things advised when you meditate. Yoga is a good way to wake your body up through very soothing movements. When you do that, coordinate your breathing, do not halt it. Inhale and exhale properly. Engage the movements of your body parts with your mind as well.
If you also do not prefer sitting still during meditation, you can add the movements during the meditation session. It is a challenge to do this, however, if you can master that, then a racing mind will not disrupt your meditation.
A small exercise of breaths before meditation feels like a release of the negative feelings inside you. Your nervous system gets relaxed through breath work. It also helps in a temporary let go of the load in your mind.
6. Listen To Soothing Music During Meditation
Music with meditation is not an unknown concept. In most meditation classes, they use soft humming music that helps bring concentration and makes people relaxed. Similarly, you will find music online that are great to be played during meditation.
As you play them, you will notice how the background and environment you are in will completely feel dissolved, and you will get inside the depth. There are sounds of rain, nature, other soothing sensational sounds that also give a tingling feeling.
Pick out music that gives a feeling of tranquility and helps the circulation in your brain. You will know the best once you shuffle through them.
Similar to music, the new trend- ASMR sounds has become one of the popular add-ons for those who meditate. It stimulates the cells in your brain, giving a vibrating and soothing sensation.
7. Take Aid Of Technological Advancements
There are other facilities too. Such as VR, 3D videos, and visuals that help grasp attention. With a VR machine, you can select a location that you love. It could be a peaceful forest, a mountain top, a cabin by the lake, green nature, or even underwater, basically wherever you prefer to be.
For example, if you want to feel that you are on a sea beach, buy beach aroma candles that will further emphasize your experience while you have a sea beach visual in your VR. But if you prefer 3D videos rather than having a heavy gadget on your head, you can buy the 3D glasses and turn on videos that give a 3-dimensional experience.
Sometimes visuals that help the brain stimulate also work amazingly in calming the mind. By visuals, I mean videos that are repetitive and have abstracts. So, before starting the meditation, you can watch a brain stimulation video.
How Effective Are Meditations With A Racing Mind?
It cannot be specified, as some people give up when they sense that they cannot proceed calmly with a racing mind, while some keep going and eventually make it. It will be effective if you do not stop in the middle and take the help of the tips I have mentioned above.
Some people who meditate also claim that feeling agitated, overwhelmed, and having a stream of consciousness as you start meditation is very natural. It happens to even those who have been meditating every day for many years.
All you need to do is find a pattern that helps you the most in bouncing back to calmness. As you practice mindfulness, eventually, even a racing mind will not be able to disturb your successful meditation.
Conclusion
Meditators seek and obtain a calm state through meditation. But sometimes it could be difficult to achieve a calm and tranquil state of mind for deep meditation. But after reading this article you now have a proper idea of how to meditate when your mind is racing and restless.
Thanks for reading and best of luck to you.
