Why is it that people stop meditating?

[JonW]

Hi Pjharii,
I'm not sure there's any great secret to it.
I find that it helps to vary my practice, mixing sitting meditations with body scans, mindful movement, walking meditations, meditating to music etc.
Like anything in life, a bit of variety is no bad thing.
Also, as Jon Kabat-Zinn is fond of saying, 'You don't have to enjoy it - just do it.'
Meditation is not about having a blissful time on the mat/bench/cushion. It's about being with what is in the present moment. Maybe try approaching it with that it mind,
Cheers,
Jon

[Emm]

For me its habit energy. I also have a very clear addiction to suffering. When I have my practice, and meditate formally and regularly, everything is so much better. Likewise when I eat good nutritious food and exercise. But I still find myself slipping into my old unhappy habits at certain points. Kindness and compassion towards myself helps a lot. Being with a community that practices also helps a lot too.

[MindfulnessJar]

Meditation is not about having a blissful time on the mat/bench/cushion. It's about being with what is in the present moment.

This is so true.

I think every meditation experience is different.

When I first tried meditating I thought I was doing it wrong and that I had to achieve a quiet mind. I didn't really get what all the fuss was about and I stopped.

A few years later I came back to it. Slowly I established a regular daily meditation practice. It changed everything for me. I found that meditating helped me to be more mindful off the mat as well as on it.

Things were going well for me and I soon became complacent. So, as I was finding it relatively easy to remember to be mindful, I decided that I could still be mindful without meditating. Gradually I let my daily practice drop away.

After only a short while without meditating, I became less and less mindful and more caught up in unnecessary thoughts and habits. Once I noticed this it became obvious to me that I needed to return to a formal daily meditation practice. No more kidding myself.

Some days my sessions are easy, some are not. It does not matter. The most important thing is to make some time to sit in silence. Everything else then falls into place.

[Happyogababe]

Meditation is not about having a blissful time on the mat/bench/cushion. It's about being with what is in the present moment.

This is so true.

I think every meditation experience is different.

When I first tried meditating I thought I was doing it wrong and that I had to achieve a quiet mind. I didn't really get what all the fuss was about and I stopped.

A few years later I came back to it. Slowly I established a regular daily meditation practice. It changed everything for me. I found that meditating helped me to be more mindful off the mat as well as on it.

Things were going well for me and I soon became complacent. So, as I was finding it relatively easy to remember to be mindful, I decided that I could still be mindful without meditating. Gradually I let my daily practice drop away.

After only a short while without meditating, I became less and less mindful and more caught up in unnecessary thoughts and habits. Once I noticed this it became obvious to me that I needed to return to a formal daily meditation practice. No more kidding myself.

Some days my sessions are easy, some are not. It does not matter. The most important thing is to make some time to sit in silence. Everything else then falls into place.

Very well said

[beherenow.space]

I agree; my experience has been very similar. One of the reasons I started to run small mindfulness practise sessions was to ensure I kept attending regularly!
Stephen

[Karen]

Hello.
I'm new to the site. I've been reading the Mark Williams mindfullness book and I thought that mindfulness helped prevent anxiety from returning and getting out of control.,
I started my practice in Jan 2015 during a depression. I stopped medication in March this year and my anxiety came back 5 weeks ago. I've been meditating but I'm struggling so I started my medication again last night.
I suppose I want to belive I can be free of this one day.

[Gareth]

Hi Karen,

Take a look at these two blogs:

https://www.everyday-mindfulness.org/ma ... y-anxiety/

https://www.everyday-mindfulness.org/on ... r-over-me/

They may help you.

I don't think any of us can be completely free of anxiety. Sometime's anxiety points us in the direction of something we need to take a closer look at. This is not to minimise it's debilitating effect on people sometimes.

My advice to you would be to start practising and keep practising. Maybe you could take a look at some resources that are specifically aimed at mindfulness for anxiety.

[blloyd]

This group is sponsored by a site called Everyday Mindfulness. I was attracted to the group because of the name.

But I find that what is written here seems more like a Buddhist support group to support Buddhist meditation. So it might seem that I'm argumentative and negative. From where I am, I am able to make a clear distinction between Buddhist meditation and Mindfulness meditation. They are quite different in practice and intention.

I am also able to make a clear distinction between everyday Mindfulness and non-conscious living. I clearly do not need to do formal meditation to practise Mindfulness, to live consciously.

As far as I can tell, Mindfulness is not the meditation. Mindfulness is something that you would do in your everydaily life as you go about your business. Mindfulness meditation is something that you can do to practise the skills of conscious living. Clearly the practise is not the practice. To begin with one is a verb and the other is a noun. In other words, the game is the game and the practise is for you to develop the skills that you need in the game. There's always more than one way to skin a cat, if you are a cat skinner.

In my 16 years of Private Practice I well and truly gave up years ago expecting people to meditate as a means of resolving or defusing anxiety. Instead I focus on the Mindful skills of paying attention to what the mind is up to with its perceptual distortions and unrelenting expectations. My clients do seem quite interested in that approach.

[JonW]

'This group is sponsored by a site called Everyday Mindfulness. I was attracted to the group because of the name.
But I find that what is written here seems more like a Buddhist support group to support Buddhist meditation.'

This site is not sponsored by anybody or anything. We are purely secular in our approach.
It sounds like you may have got Everyday Mindfulness mixed up with another site altogether. Our mindfulness model is Jon Kabat-Zinn who writes/teaches in a secular manner.
I hope this clarifies matters.
Best,
Jon