Meditating Girl… Interrupted

Ok yes, I am playing a bit off of the movie title, but if you have meditated for any length of time I’m sure you could have said “Yes! This title fits my practice today!”

It would be nice to think that every time you sit down to meditate that the world would pause and allow you that time of beautiful stillness. However that doesn’t always happen, I know because that was how my practice went this morning!

While my infant son was napping and my husband and toddler were at the grocery store, I decided that I would get in a much needed yoga and meditation practice. Everything was going perfectly until it came time for meditation. During the first two minutes of practice, my husband called me twice asking if I had anything I would like from the store in place of some things that the store was out of. My first reaction to his call was a bit of frustration at the very brief interruption. From there I tried to push the interruption incident out of my mind and focus on meditating.

Have you ever tried to not think of something and ended up thinking about it more?

That’s exactly what I ended up doing! I kept thinking about the interruption. Everything from how thankful I was that he called me to see what I wanted instead of grabbing a random ingredient hoping it would work in place of what I wanted originally to how rare moments of peace can be in this season of our lives. I kept trying to push the though of the interruption out of my mind. Before I knew it, my mind was very far away from my practice and the moment, not where I wanted it to be.

Have you ever noticed this tendency in your own life or practice?

Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky makes this observation "Try to pose for yourself this task: not to think of a polar bear, and you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute."

Give it a try now. Try not to think of polar bears. Try not to think about their white fur against the bright white snow of the arctic. Crazy how you now can’t get this image out of your mind right?

Daniel Wegner, a psychology professor at Harvard University and the founding father of thought suppression research called this Ironic Process Theory.

So if this is something we naturally do, how do we have any hope of having a meditation practice where we remain in the present moment and are at peace?

Wegner noted that when he encouraged students to think about polar bears as much as they wanted, the students did not think about the polar bears nearly as much as the students who were told not to think about the polar bears.

Instead of fighting the thoughts and our own natural mind wandering tendencies, we can welcome them. We can welcome our thoughts and notice them as they come and as they go. In allowing our minds to go wherever they wish, our minds do not become attached to one thought.

So what do you do if you realize that you have become focused on a thought like I did today about my husband calling during my practice? Return to your breath.

No matter if the interruption is from a thought that steals your attention or a toddler screaming for their favorite snack, simply allow it (address it if need be) and then return your focus to your breath. Focusing on your natural breathing is the perfect way to bring yourself back to the present moment.

While I may not say “Bring on the interruptions!” I do know how to handle them when they inevitably arise… and now you do too!