Avoid Making These 5 Mistakes During Meditation as They Don't Let You Experience Its True Benefits

We are divine beings of pure light and majestic luminescence. This is what Buddhists, Hindus, and other spiritual teachers have been telling us all along. We have a joyful light deep within us and we can fill the world with love.

But not all of us have come to grips with our inner divinity. It’s not the lack of faith per se, but the little mistakes we make in trying to get it that keep us from seeing our true nature.

Meditation is the tool we can use to connect with this inner divinity. But most of us don’t really know how to meditate properly. Even this sentence is paradoxical because it implies that meditation has to be done in a certain way, and the truth is that meditation is just done.

There is no right or wrong way to meditate, just like laughing. However, there are mistakes we all make that make it something it isn’t and keep us from experiencing it. It may sound so simple, but so complex because of the way our minds have been conditioned to think.

For years our brains have been trained to focus on the intricacies of life and to chase after the outer things that bring immediate rewards. Meditation doesn’t work that way. In the practice of meditation, we often miss the truth behind it.

There are some things that prevent you from enjoying its true benefits. Find out what these blocks are and get rid of them to experience real meditation and the real benefits it provides. Stop making these 5 mistakes during meditation to unleash your true potential:

Table of Contents

1. Stop concentrating too much:

Meditation needs concentration, but not too much nor too little. Too much focus leads to being too tight and trying too hard, which can lead away to you being in the natural state.

Too little concentration leads you to a dreamy state where you become dull and are likely to fall asleep. Somewhere in the middle is the goal. And it takes a lot of practice to achieve this state. However, never give up on your first, second, or tenth attempt.

If you persist in your practice, you will soon come to what yoga teachers call, the state of effortless concentration. It is in this place that you can find perfect stillness. But before you get here, you must take the challenge of letting go of the need to manipulate, control or remove any object that prevents you from awareness.

2. Don’t expect way too much:

Meditation brings incredible benefits that you don’t have to cling to. When you are sitting on your mat, let it all flow without having any goals or expectations. If you meditate to relieve your mind of tension, you might miss the point.

Meditation is not about adding something to your life or deducing something from it. Meditation is about the beingness of things. It is timeless and therefore has nothing to do with your past or your future.

The great Tibetan Buddhist master Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche states that “meditation transcends effort, practice, goals, purposes and the duality of liberation and non-liberation…”

It is perfect as it is, so there is no need for you to correct anything that may come into your awareness. Stay away from the past or the future and just focus on the eternal here and now.

3. Stop controlling every single detail:

This is where you need to be more aware of your ego, it is constantly trying to control and manipulate your meditation practice. Its intentions are for its own benefit masked as if they were for yours. The ego longs for control and is afraid of change.

True meditation requires you to let go of the illusion of control and let things change and flow as they happen. This is why the ego tries to take the wheel. You don’t have to control your breathing, your energy, or your thoughts, because meditation is about being who you really are.

You just have to let go and be really present. You are not there to master a technique but to learn to let go. When you breathe, let it be, whether it’s a short or a long breath. When thoughts arise, let them. Just watch as your body breathes. Be a silent witness and allow yourself to fully experience the liberating freedom of being.

4. Stop making pretensions:

Since meditation is about beingness, you miss the point where you believe you are highly spiritual for having a meditation practice. No matter what name or a label you give to yourself or to this trip, it means nothing to your state of being.

You practice meditation not to have a new identity or to become someone special. You do it for the sake of doing it. An authentic state of meditation has nothing to do with the knowledge of meditation. It’s not even for the benefits, they are just a bonus, a gift, a reward.

It’s like laughing. You don’t laugh for its benefits, but for the laughs. The benefits of laughter come as a reward. Meditation is a state of being as natural as eating or breathing, and a form of non-attachment that is unaffected even when you pretend to love everyone. To be in a meditative state is to be your authentic self without the need for pretensions.

5. You don’t trust your real self enough:

Your real self is pure, wise, and fulfilling. When you don’t trust this, you’ll imagine yourself in a distorted version, other than who you really are, someone who fits your preconceived description of your ideal self.

This belief leads you to seek something more, to be something better. It makes you believe that you are not sufficient to be yourself and achieve satisfaction in life, or that you do not deserve happiness, freedom, and love. It keeps you from resting in the happy state of meditation.

To awaken to your true self, you have to stop looking for the things that you think will heal you and realize that in fact, you have always been whole. And to achieve this, you just need to look within, where the true silence resides. You must remove any doubts that prevent you from seeing your integrity.

Give yourself permission to be happy, free, and to express your love. Doing this builds the confidence you have in yourself. Your nature is all good. Trust it, your divine self is waiting to emerge and shine.

Recommended Book for You:

Meditation For Complete Beginners