6 Common Obstacles to Meditation

Meditation has many benefits and it is something that does not keeps you well physically but also looks after your entire well being and keeps your healthy from within. It affects not only the body but also the mind and the spirit and it is something that each and every individual should try.

Meditation is simple and pure and you need to be completely in the moment to meditate. Have you ever been in awe of beautiful mountains or may be the sunset, so much that you forget about everything around you and there is nothing going on in your mind and you have just got lost in the beauty?

This is what meditation is and though it might seem simple, it takes years to be successful in learning the art of meditation and that is because, you will come across many obstacles in your path and you will need to overcome them in order to meditate effectively.

obstacles to meditationBelow given are some of the most common obstacles to meditaion:

  • Vyadi or illness is the first obstacle that you will face while meditating. Any kind of pain and/or sickness can create disturbances in the mind and hence, it is important that you improve your health in order to go with your meditation plans.
  • Styana is nothing but mental stagnation and lethargy. The presence of a heavy state of mind is the second obstacle that you would need to overcome. Your mind gets stuck at a place and it does not want to move. You get affected by your changing moods. A lot of factors can be responsible for this starting from poor diet to changing weathers.
  • Samsaya is the third obstacle and it means doubt. You will start to question yourself while meditating or doing yoga and ask whether something is good or bad and whether you should change your directions. You might even start to question your teacher.
  • The forth obstacle is pramada or haste. It is important that while meditating, you should be patient and learn to hold your ground firmly as without patience, you will have a hurry to reach your destination and slip midway. Meditation is time consuming and you should be ready to invest that time for that and think about what you are doing.
  • Alasya is the fifth obstacle and it means laziness, fatigue and the lack of motivation. It is the time when you stop meditating with thoughts like “why me?” in your mind. You have no enthusiasm and you have no positive energy within you. Being enthusiastic is very important as this only would keep you going.
  • The sixth obstacle is avirati which means distraction of your five senses which try to take over your mind.

There are few other obstacles as well like bhrantidarsana which means that you think that you have reached your destination when you are not even half way through and the reason behind is ego. Getting mentally stuck and mental distractions are some of the other obstacles to meditation.