Meditation & Mantras: How to Deal with Distraction

Ahead of our Meditation Event Series beginning this January, we wanted to explore the ins and outs of practising meditation with our new resident meditation and yoga guru, Simon. Promising to guide us in our meditation practice, Simon will be sharing his favourite techniques, tips and advice on how to live a more mindful life. From 3 minutes a day in the comfort of our homes, to Simon's meditation classes exclusively for our members, there are many ways to practice meditation. So let's use the new year to discover this new state of consciousness for ourselves, taking the time to shift our focus, harness a sense of mindfulness little and often, and see how it can benefit our day-to-day mindset.

With our chaotic minds, endless to-do lists and noisy thoughts, we just had to ask Simon... how on earth do you begin to push these thoughts out of your mind and clear your head space?

When practising meditation Simon advises that you must sit still, clearing your mind of all distraction and distress. However, this can be easier said than done. All it takes is a sound to pull us away, a sight, a smell, a taste, any change in our thoughts or senses that will stimulate us and distract our mind from meditation. Yet, rather than trying to stop these thoughts and distractions, blocking them with resilience and a concrete wall, Simon suggests it is far more helpful to allow them in and to then let them pass over you. Indeed, the more you try to stop and block out these thoughts and distractions, the more they will keep coming in. The things is to try and ignore them, and...

“Imagine thoughts like clouds in the sky. The clouds will keep coming in. But if you ignore them, the clouds will then go away again. Sometimes the clouds will be really thick... it can be really cloudy and dark. But, you know it will not be forever. You can keep coming back to the clouds and allow them to blow over. Then, you will notice eventually that small spaces start to gather between the clouds, the thoughts. Or, they won’t come in so loudly, or they won’t come in so often. It just takes practice, it takes consistency. It might be the same thought comes in time and time again, or it might be lots of different thoughts. But trust that they will pass.”

The mind has a clever habit of playing tricks on you. When you're practising in this quiet and still state, if you're anything like us you might notice itches at first, or a hair on your face, all kinds of sensations that might pull you away from your moment of calm. Yet, you have to treat these just the same as distractions, like thoughts or as sounds. Through practice, you can try to ignore them, and soon, like clouds, they will pass you by.

“And know that everything is impermanent. We know in life that everything is going to change. One guarantee in life is that everything will change. It’s when we become attached... that’s when a lot of our problems can happen. But if we accept that everything is going to change and that’s the one certainty in life, then it’s the same as these sensations, these thoughts and distractions, we know that these too will change in some way.”