Concentration

Julia H.,

Any mental effort such as concentration prevents transcending and creates strain in the mind and body. Naturally, when we begin to meditate incorrectly like this, we will want to meditate less and less. Eventually, we will give up, stop meditating, and return to accumulating stress in daily life. Our life, like those of people around us, will again become narrower, more limited, more fatigued, more unhappy, or more "stressed-out" with time instead of freer, happier, more peaceful, more intelligent, more creative, and more productive with time.

This is a very common experience, and fortunately one that is very easy to fix. All you have to do is understand that thoughts are part of correct meditation. Even if the mind is filled with other thoughts, there is no problem.

As explained in the NSR manual, thoughts during meditation indicate that stresses are being released. It is actually impossible to release a stress without having a thought or other experiential indicator associated with the particular stress.

With this understanding, our attitude changes. Instead of resenting thoughts, and trying to concentrate on the syllable, we welcome the thoughts. We may even have meditation sessions that are completely filled with other thoughts. We now know that such sessions are successes, not failures. We confirm this by seeing how many benefits we start finding in daily life when we meditate correctly, not resenting thoughts in any way.

Note: you could be of great help to other meditators if you would be so kind as to post your experiences here again in a few days or weeks. Your experiences, in your own words, would help others to understand the great value of understanding the role of thoughts in NSR meditation.

David Spector
NSR Meditation/USA