\n| “My story telling mind is always trying to steer me away from the pillow! The thing is, if I don\u2019t meditate first thing in the morning, I won\u2019t do it. I then notice my day feels a little more rushed, and I feel a little more on edge. What I can\u2019t figure out is I see and feel the benefits of my morning meditation practice yet every morning the desire to \u2018skip it\u2019 still lingers?”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Why would this be so? Part of the answer may be avoidance. As biological creatures we are motivated to avoid things that are not pleasant. Sometimes–often–depending upon the current context of your life, meditation may not be a fun time. The quiet space of practice makes us vulnerable to intrusive thoughts, images, and feelings.<\/p>\n A difficult situation that we are dealing with has to compete with the activities of daily life for attention, but when we are meditating there is an open space where that situation can take center stage. The unpleasant feelings may intensify. The natural tendency as biological creatures is to dodge that pain.<\/p>\n However, mindfulness meditation is metabolizing. When you can sit with those difficult feelings and pay attention to them as sensations in your body, you are digesting the experience. Each time you touch that energy without the accompanying story, you diminish its hold on you. Confronting painful emotions may seem like a counterintuitive solution, but with persistence you can move through it.<\/p>\n The idea of meditating may not coincide with the actual experience of it. We may idealize the practice, but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, moment-to-moment experience we discover that meditation can sometimes be hard work. It’s not some mystical connection to the infinite, but a slugging through petty thoughts, aches and pains, and the intensity mentioned above.<\/p>\n If we can acknowledge that it is normal to want to avoid something that is unpleasant, we can grant ourselves permission to be with whatever arises during practice.<\/p>\n Lest I sound cynical, practice is not always arduous. It can be a mystical connection to the infinite, a spacious bliss can emerge in the quiet of practice. But we can’t control what comes up during a practice session.<\/p>\n I know that practice is going to generate some discomfort in my body. Most of the time, I welcome these sensations as opportunities to explore how I related to discomfort, knowing this exploration will lead to more freedom in the future. These uncomfortable sensations may often become painful and the same opportunity presents itself–explore with acceptance and generate freedom.<\/p>\n So, too, with intensity. I try to see practice as a crucible for burning away the obstacles to emotional freedom. When I find myself trying to aver the cushion, I remind myself that I am bigger than the need to be comfortable all the time. I encourage myself to embrace confidence to deal with whatever arises as it arises. I chide myself gently to move towards rather than away from, what Pema Chodron called, “the places that scare” me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today I continue the series on obstacles to practice with a focus on affective factors that may keep us off the cushion. Denise commented that: “My story telling mind is always trying to steer me away from the pillow! The thing is, if I don\u2019t meditate first thing in the morning, I won\u2019t do it.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,8,9],"tags":[450,447,409,448,65,449],"class_list":["post-2318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddha-101","category-mindful-living","category-mindfulnesss","tag-intrusive-thoughts","tag-mindfulness-meditation","tag-obstacles-to-practice","tag-pain","tag-pema-chodron","tag-trauma"],"yoast_head":"\n Obstacles to Practice: Discomfort, Pain, and Intensity - Mindfulness Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2012\/04\/obstacles-to-practice-discomfort-pain-and-intensity.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obstacles to Practice: Discomfort, Pain, and Intensity - Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today I continue the series on obstacles to practice with a focus on affective factors that may keep us off the cushion. 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Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2318"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2322,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318\/revisions\/2322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |
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<\/a>Today I continue the series on obstacles to practice <\/a>with a focus on affective factors that may keep us off the cushion. Denise commented that:<\/p>\n