Seven Secrets to Stop Interruptions in Meditation

How to Concentrate and Focus on Your Meditation and Deal with Distractions

Authored by Jerome Freedman Ph. D

 

Most people who hear about meditation either do not take up a meditation practice or abandon the meditation practice because they get interrupted and distracted.

They get interrupted by thoughts, feelings, emotions, plans, images, bodily sensations, dreams, sleep, and many other mental, emotional and physical phenomena and just give up.

This book will guide you in such a way that interruptions and distractions won’t deter you from meditating. You will learn that these are normal occurrences for even the long time practitioners.

This book is designed with you, the reader in mind. I know how difficult it is to not do anything but sit there!

I know how the mind can wander from here to there like the flow of a never ending river.
But that’s just the point!

We know our minds flit from one thing to another, seemingly without purpose. It happens because we are anxious or worried or fearful or stressed out or overweight or ____. (You fill in the blank!)

With meditation, you can learn to observe the river of your thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations and other objects of mind and not get carried away. All it takes is practice!

When you train in physical fitness, you know what happens when you start skipping your workouts. The same is true in mental fitness (i. e., meditation). It is important to realized that missing a day or two is not that harmful.

Giving up mental fitness because you feel distracted or interrupted is the wrong way to approach it. You can learn to concentrate and focus on your meditation and deal with distractions.

With all the scientific evidence for the benefits of meditation, it is a wonder that more people aren’t doing it. The scientific evidence points out two interesting findings.

First, people who have never meditated before can produce observable evidence in their brains that the meditation has been beneficial.

Second, these beneficial effects can wear off if the meditation practices are discontinued.
With all this evidence, don’t you think you should be meditating?

About the author: Dr. Jerome Freedman is a cancer advocate, physicist, author, mindfulness meditation teacher, and a cancer survivor since 1997.

He is a long-time practitioner in the tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in which he is an ordained member of the Order of Interbeing an Earth Holder.

His recent article in The Mindfulness Bell titled “Healthy and Free” touched many people.

He is also a certified teacher of the Enneagram in the Oral Tradition with Helen Palmer.

Jerome currently teaches Mindfulness in Healing at the Pine Street Clinic in San Anselmo, California and writes daily on his blog, Meditation Practices.

Dr. Freedman served on Board of Directors of the Marin AIDS Project and the Advisory Council of the Institute for Health and Healing between 2007 and 2010.

Now he is actively engaged in the Buddhist Climate Action Network, Plum Village Climate Response, the Order of Interbeing, Marin Sangha (with Phillip Moffitt), and the Shabbat Sangha near his home in Greenbrae, California.

Dr. Freedman holds a Ph. D. in computer science, along with two master’s degrees in physics and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. He still consults internationally on software engineering problems and expert witness cases.

He successfully interviewed Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson on cosmology and Buddhist thought in 2011.

He can be reached by for consultations, dharma talks, lectures, and days of mindfulness by email at jerome@mountainsangha.org.

Also by Dr. Freedman: Stop Cancer in its Tracks: Your Path to Mindfulness in Healing Yourself, Seven Steps to Stop Interruptions in Meditation: How to Concentrate and Focus on Your Meditation and Deal with Distractions, Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson – featured on The Lion’s Roar website, The Enneagram: Know Your Type! Awaken Your Potential!

He is a contributing author of I Am With You: Love Letters to Cancer Patients, Nancy Novak, PhD, and Barbara K. Richardson.

His Guided Meditation Recordings include Anger Control Guided Meditation, Achieve Goals Guided Meditation, Sound Sleep Guided Meditation, Stress Relief Guided Meditation, Reduce Symptoms Guided Meditation, and Weight Loss Guided Meditation .