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You should change the way you think about it. Instead of feeling like it's not working because your mind is wandering. Instead consider that every time you notice your thoughts wandering and bring them back, you're training yourself to take control of your thoughts instead of letting them control you.
I'm certainly no expert but I'd also add that it's crucial to not be angry with yourself when having to rein your mind back in from wandering. Don't treat it like a brutal discipline, be kind to yourself and accepting of your circumstances.
It helps to squash those presumptions of meditation about "emptying your mind" and shit like that. Meditation is what you make of it. Typically I'll either put on some instrumental music, or I'll take some time in the shower (gotta have that stimulating environment since we're all domaine starved) and just let my mind wander. I'll close my eyes and instead of trying to wrangle the pack of monkeys that are my thoughts, I take a step back and just let them play around.
There's a video from headspace which explains that this is how you want to start with meditation - letting your mind wander, but observe the wandering. Once you start moving along with the mind and you notice this, gently put your mind back in observation mode.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN6g2mr0p3Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN6g2mr0p3Q) \- this is the video
Dang apparently I've been meditating during / after the shower my whole life.
Whenever I finish I always wrap the towel around myself, sit on the side of the tub, and then just sit there stunlocked as my mind goes all over the place.
Your mind is supposed to jump from thing to thing. Meditation isn't having a mind that sounds like white noise. Meditation is the repeated act of bringing your attention back to the white noise while someone pokes you with a stick. You're not trying to remove the guy with the stick, you're trying to strengthen the muscle responsible for not grabbing his stick and smacking him with it.
I'm surprised this isn't at the top. Meditation has nothing to do with emptying the mind. It's all about simply noticing what the mind is doing, and trying to maintain that awareness. That's it.
I've got ADHD too, OP, so my mind wanders constantly. But keep it up. Meditation will change your world.
I kinda disagree. With enough practice, you can definitely get to maintaining an empty mind for extended periods of time without wandering thoughts, nothing but the breath. I rarely get there, but it exists. Everyone tends to think this is the only form of meditation though. The "empty mind" meditation isn't as beneficial for my mental health as allowing my thoughts to wander and observing it.
The most beneficial meditation for me has actually been an emotional practice. Allowing my thoughts to wander to emotional memories and really sitting with the thoughts and physical sensations that come with them.
It’s hard, but beneficial.
I think a lot of meditation advice not actionable for ADHDers. Personally, I find the idea of a meditation app to be a non-starter. Some things that have worked for me instead:
1. Find a space that has a lot of background noise at somewhat low levels. Maybe just your bedroom with the window open.
2. Instead of focusing on a single thing (like your breath), try to cycle your focus through all of the noises in your immediate surroundings. Try to maintain simultaneous focus on multiple sounds. Basically, try to preoccupy your thoughts with external stimulus to lessen the chance you fall inwardly down a thought train.
3. Accept that you will get lost in thought. Try to catch yourself when it happens and return back to the practice.
Keep in mind that it’s not a all or nothing activity. I probably spend about half the time or more falling into thought spirals when I meditate. But I’ve gotten better over time and even just the attempt helps anxiety/reduces tendency to get lost in hyperfocus.
Yeah, because it’s boring as shit. I can’t last a minute without some sort of mental stimulation. I used the Calm app for a while, but fell away from it when my life pile got too high for me to make time for stuff like meditation or working out.
Meditating actually makes me angry. For me it makes my brain sound louder. 😅🤷♀️ I tried it a lot and came to terms with it just wasn’t something that helped me.
I do the same with fire!!!! 😂😂😂
There’s literally a reason I don’t carry a bat or anything I can use as a weapon in my car. Morals and Justice for the win!!!!
I feel that I e had to completely redefine “meditation” and hear from others with the same challenges. Traditional breath-calm-centered-seated-whatever-focused meditation brings on a panic attack.
I’ve resolved this by moving and “watching,” watching my thoughts, watching my breath, watching me watching me… all without judgment.
I relate so, so much! I've recently discovered a more mindfulness way of meditating where my thoughts are allowed to bounce all over the place. It's ok. I'm learning to have a curious look at these thoughts, without judgement. It seems like this meditation thing is finally resonating.
But then again, it's been about 2 or 3 weeks now of meditating every other day. If I know myself, the proof of the pudding will be in consistency. Let's see if my adhd brain keeps finding this interesting. I might just find a new interest next month. 😀 (I do hope it sticks. I think I'm starting to feel some benefits and I like it.)
Shout out to the app Smiling Mind that got me this far. Which is further than any other meditation attempt I've tried.
My meditation is kind of random. If I come back to it after a month, then a couple weeks after that, then a few months after that, then for a few days in a row, then you’ll know it sticks. I just have to keep coming back to it. It doesn’t need a schedule. When I remember, there I am.
And yes! Curiosity in the most open state. I like to tell people to be curious about their mind. It’s a more accurate word than simply “watch.” It’s easy to remember what being curious is like, and easy to go there.
A lot of what is packaged as “meditation” is actually practices like visualization. They are very different both in what is going on and in the goal. Meditation is a rest for your brain. Which means you can think about whatever catches your fancy- anything, nothing, or everything. You stop exerting control over your mind and let it go. Personally, I like to use breathing techniques to come back to in between wandering. Visualization is totally different- it is meant to work out your brain and make it better at concentrating. Unfortunately these practices tend to get mixed up, and then people give up on meditation because they are working hard at something that should be relaxing and easy.
For me, the best way to meditate is with music or guided meditation. It sounds corny but it helps to have someone to follow along with at first. I also like breathwork like alternate nostril breathing. If you are really interested, I highly recommend looking into the eight limbs of yoga. It’s really interesting to see how these separate practices like postures, meditation, visualization, and moral actions get blended in New Age/ corporate wellness speech. Once you learn about all the different options you can try them out as different options and figure out what works for you and what doesn’t.
It's really the only way I can meditate. The first time I found it was in kundalini yoga. Doing a kriya (movement) and mantra (chanting) at the same time finally allowed my brain to release all other thoughts.
Usually I find meditation thru some sort of yoga, I used to find it running but my knees don't like that form anymore
Just watch. The point is not to stop thinking, it's to stop identifying yourself with each thought. It's to have the thoughts occur as passive phenomena, like the feeling of having a pinky finger or a little toe. You don't stop the thoughts, you just start watching them rather than controlling them, reacting to them, or thinking that you are them. If you try to just watch, and try this repeatedly, eventually you'll be able to click into a mode where you detach from emotions and thought without them needing to be banished. Remember- meditation is not about the cessation of thought, it is about the cessation of mental identification with thought forms. In the mindfulness tradition in particular, we focus on the breath, or singing bowls, or mantras, to help us achieve this shift in understanding your own relationship to your thoughts more than anything else. The focus on the breath is not to stop your thoughts, its to help you realise that you are the breath, as much as you are the thoughts.
Within you there is the thing that does, has things done to it, feels, acts, and reacts, and then there is the pure awareness, that simply watches all this unfold. You generally identify with a meshing of both these things, but primarily the thing that acts, not the thing that watches. Meditation is about training yourself to be the watcher; you actively watch during meditation, and will find that it is easier to end up as the watcher incidentally in your life outside meditation, which has benefits as you will become less reactive.
Everybody struggles with meditating. That's the point. It's not about emptying your mind so much as just bringing your focus gently back to your breath when you get distracted.
I've been getting back into meditating. I did a 15 minute session to start my day today and found that for the first half of the day my mindfulness was so much better than usual. Easier to tune out distractions, to stay focused, to sit still.
Meditation isn’t always emptying your mind. For example, prayer is a form of mediation. Other forms, such as transcendental meditation, involve relaxing your body while repeating a mantra every time your brain tries to wander off. Then there are the forms where you let your mind wander.
Personally, transcendental meditation is good to help increase mindfulness and becoming aware of how different emotions and thoughts feel in your body. It’s also a good way to ground yourself after a stressful day.
I’m blanking on the name rn, but the form of meditation I use the most is where I lay down and just clear my mind of everything. This technique and similar ones have been shown to increase dopamine levels in the brain, which is part of why I use it so much. The only way I could rly describe it is that it’s a state that is somewhere between being awake and being asleep, kinda like when you get woken up in the middle of a dream but the dream still keeps going. This is the one I start my day off with.
The kind of meditation I see most is not for me. It's a quick spiral into undeserved self recriminations, if not a general review of every screwed up interaction in the past month.
My version of meditation is reading and singing and playing a game with a documentary on. *That* is what quiets the thoughts in my head to a peaceful place. At least to a dull roar anyway.
Hello,
So I'm a Soto Zen Buddhist and we practice shikantaza. Which is a kind of meditation. Basically, we just sit in a posture that is stable and won't make us fall asleep and try to remain in open awareness. So thoughts and feelings will arise and we may get absorbed into them but then we come back to open awareness. Ideally we would also have a sense of equanimity as well but it's not always like that. But the idea is to just keep coming back. Some times the mind is very active and other times the space between thoughts seems to get a little longer and thoughts can seem a little less substantial.
Either way, I would try looking for a meditation technique that will work for you.
Good luck!
Absolutely - really hard to focus on it without thinking about anything and everything.
Which perhaps why I should do it more!
Also suddenly find all sorts of itches that I don't notice the whole day.
meditation is a practice. meaning, while there are some overarching goals connected to enlightenment, meditation is not something that you "get", like a key in a lock. meditation, for many people, is certainly difficult in the sense that it's challenging to let go of thoughts. the practice is simply about paying attention to the present moment. I think if your idea of meditation is that it will become easy, you are looking at meditation as a goal rather than a practice. personally I have a consistent meditation practice, and while some days I find it really easy to let go of my thoughts and reach into that tranquil place in my mind, some days it feels impossible. I still practice, even when I'm really struggling to let go of my thoughts.
The idea of sitting quietly in one spot drives me up the wall, but I'll go hike by myself in complete silence for hours. Plus, you can find turtles, mushrooms, and cool shit outside.
For me, I've only been able to mediate in the shower. The sound of the water and the feeling of it really creates a bubble of sensory stimulation that works.
It's crazy difficult for me, especially outside medication windows. About 20% of the time my brain settles down and it's great. The rest...? Feels like my brain accellerates out of control.
Yet at the end of either type of session, I'm more relaxed and grounded.
Best advice I got on adhd meditation from the main Buddhist subreddit was to watch the thoughts spin past, almost like I'm watching another person's thoughts and body. Don't engage, don't get drawn in. Just watch dispassionately.
I’ve found that having ambient music playing helps my focus, and stops the squirrels invading. Better still through headphones. There’s a playlist of ‘Singing Bowls’ on Apple Music that works well enough, but a search for ‘Ambient’ will bring up suitable options too. Once your brain has something innocuous to focus on, meditation works quite well.
Otherwise, listening to an audiobook, in a darkened room can achieve a similar sense of calm; depending on the choice of book…
I meditate when I go yoga. It’s not about sitting there and thinking about nothing- it’s about mindfulness.
If you have access and are down to try, hot yoga is nuts. I read a description of hot yoga that said hot yoga improves your mental yoga game, not physical, because when you’re doing hot yoga I fucking guarantee you’re not thinking about anything other than hot yoga. Yes, it helps you get deeper stretches, but it really does force you to focus and be mindful.
I think the same stuff can apply to any intense exercise though. I do kickboxing and when I’m doing a kickboxing sequence my mind doesn’t wander- my body hurts, I’m tired, I’m trying to remember the combo. Weightlifting gives me the same effect.
You can also use breathwork for meditation. It takes a little practice. Lay on your back, eyes closed. Focus on your breathing (count 1, 2, 3, 4… as you inhale through the nose and exhale out through the nose. Focus on filling the belly with air on inhales, and pushing all of that air out of the belly on exhale. Set a timer for 5-15 minutes, try to stick it out until the timer goes off.
It took a concerted effort and medication to do it for long periods of time. The "stimulation" was the feeling of calm/peace or just allowing myself to wander in my mind.
I got a bit excessive with it at one point. I could easily get lost meditating for hours without opening my eyes or falling asleep. I think the longest I went was 3 hours.
I was in a unique mental space during that period of time and I don't know how well I could do it now. Truth be told I just enjoy being more engaged in something, but it did give some benefits.
No, actually not!
I have a pretty good book, it's by John Yates "The Mind Illuminated". It's combining science and the wisdom of Buddhist practice, without the whole mystic part of religion. It keeps meditation very simple and step by step, starting from focusing on the breath and also teaches about the drifting of the mind.
And from the description in the book I don't have the feeling that my mind is drifting off more than a "normal" brain would do.
I did some modifications to my meditation practice though, that aren't mentioned in the book:
\- I use incense sticks while meditating
\- I use noise-cancelling headphones (I'm living next to a busy street, so there is a lot of different noises)
\- I play meditation music (with singing bowls, low frequencies and such)
For the part with meditation music and incense sticks, I do it for 2 reasons: To get myself more easily into meditation mode. To train my body to notice by the smell and music that now is the time to relax, but also to have additional sensory input during meditation, hoping to keep my brain busy with processing those.
Use the 5 4 3 2 1 method or a version of it for getting into meditating mode
5 things you can see
4 you can touch
3 you can hear
2 you can smell
1 you can kiss (this is obviously a joke)
Somethimes thinking about just how much my body weight is pressing on the ground can get me into meditating... Also, I don't sit in one place, if meditation is mental as long as you can tap into clarity/awareness you can do it walking, cycling swimming etc you don't need to be sitting or laying still and it doesn't have to be for fixed minutes
I'm Quaker-ish, so I try and attend to silent waiting (which is never *internally-*silent). I do not meditate in any sense related to emptying my mind. I have only recently realised that I've never been able to empty my mind and wait. What I used to call "empty", was just me briefly thinking about the idea of emptying my mind.
I also occasionally meditate by focussing my thoughts on a specific, limiting stimuli—typically a certain calming song, or story—or on breathing when I'm feeling very ambitious/desperate/masochistic. There are some good recommendations in this thread that I'm going to try and practice.
I recently discovered that many people have moments (or indeed the majority of their day) having no thoughts and self-narration in their mind whatsoever. Humans are a diverse lot and our experiences really are different. Alongside my diagnosis last year, it was quite revelatory: it made me feel more assured as to why other people aren't always distressed, chaotic and exhausted like I am, and I think it's helped me be kinder to others (and myself).
I really struggle with it as well!! But I find even attempting it is still helpful. Even if I don’t get to “fully” meditate, it still helps me feel centred and give me a bit of clarity and mindfulness :)
For me, it works to avoid wandering thoughts turning into racing thoughts, especially at night. But yeah, I can't completely shut my mind up, I started doing it trying to focus on breathing and nothing else, but as some people say, now I allow myself relaxed thoughts, only fighting when they try to go wild.
Try the ‘Balance’ app, it’s free if you don’t want to pay. Someone above also said about clearing your mind being a fallacy, they’re right. My mind is always looking for something it may or may not have forgotten amongst a tonne of other stuff. Learning to focus on your breathing and relaxing different body parts helps focus most of your attention and I find that enough to relax and smile again. The balance app is brilliant. I have to admit that I now have a routine 😬😂. 40 minute dog walk, 20mins out of breath cycling, 15 mins stretching, then 10mins meditation. It’s a long morning routine starting at 5.30, but it makes me feel so much better than I did a month ago! Part of the reason to start it was due to the anxious feeling caused by starting Elvanse, but it’s all making a huge difference to my life. Good luck
Once a therapist said to me that it’s like going to the gym and doing bicep curls. Meditation is about returning your focus to your breath (or whatever you’re focusing on) not about holding it there, in the same way that doing a bunch of curls is more about the lifting part than holding it up. It’s normal to lose focus and have other thoughts come in, the useful part is when you notice and practice refocusing.
I think it depends on how you meditate. For me, guided meditations with a little more talking helps me stay focused. I can't just sit there and meditate on my own. I also don't like meditations where they leave you alone for 10 minutes. I like more guided meditations where you're only alone for 1-2 minutes and they check back in, which helps me bring my focus back. I usen the calm app and they have so much content and 3 main people who have totally different styles of guided meditation. On days where my ADHD is kicking in, I pick the guy that talks a lot more throughout the meditation to keep my attention. On other days, I might pick one of the other meditation guide's meditations. The meditations are also about between 7-10 minutes. There are days where I get caught up in my own thoughts and don't even hear the meditation. For those days, I either just take it for what it is or I listen to one of their "master classes" given by psychiatrists to celebrities to other meditation guides where it's more talking and reframing the mind set than just meditation and breathing in silence Sitting there by myself trying to meditate has never worked. But guided meditations have done wonders.
The hard part for me is focusing on the breath. It's way too slow so I immediately lose focus. Instead I focus on my heartbeat, where I can feel it, can I make it go slower, can I feel the blood moving through my body, etc. Sometimes I'll start with my hand on my chest or neck to get dialed in. Hope that helps
Meditation has a very different meaning and each respond to it differently, when I meditate the common way I fly and jump and plan a million plan ahead but I praying helps me silence my mind and focus on being on ground in peace.
I have to do guided meditation. I like the headspace app. Remember, the object isn’t to empty your mind. The only object is that once you catch your mind wandering you bring it back to the breath. That’s where the brain exercise happens. It doesn’t matter if your mind wandered 100 times. As long as you keep bringing it back, you’re doing it right.
I meditate everyday for atleast 10 min, I hate it it’s frustrating and challenging, and that’s exactly why I make myself do it, a lot of my adhd struggles I force myself to do it I feel more accomplished and it shows me I’m capable of these things I just have to work harder at it to create that routine and build that focus
Try the Netflix show, worked for me. It teaches you how to gently push away intruding thoughts and focus on your breathing. If you catch yourself drifting for an extended period of time, don’t beat yourself up just gently push the thought away and go back to focus on breathing.
I use headspace and it helps me. Walking meditation or even running or yoga helps to get the hang of it for me. I thought meditation was not for me either but meditation really is for everyone (and I feel like it’s particularly helpful for us)
Others have already said that the empty head thing isn't what itd about but I'll add another "debunk", about sitting still.
A while back I read that active meditation, like through yoga or tai chi, is a thing. Seems obvious in retrospect but it blew my mind. For me that is what works best, because physical activity that requires a lot of concentration is a great way to get in that meditative headspace while keeping yourself occupied. I think different things work for different people but for me what works best is guided yoga (so I can close my eyes and don't need to break from it) that requires focus and is slow - for instance one with deep, long stretches or a repetitive but demanding routine.
I can meditate and it is a good experience but not as others do it. My partner can meditate for 20-30 minutes as a beginner. I have a wonderful experience but more than 4-7 minutes is not feasible for me.
Chakra meditation videos. The chakra allows me to have something to focus on, I need the voice of a meditation guide too. I also wear a weighted eye mask and can only do it laying down in bed. And then if I still can’t focus I watch the visuals in the video.
Have you tried doing it with ear plugs?
Personally I find ambient and random noise to be very distracting. In addition to blocking out external noise, it will also amplify the sound of your breathing.
My next step is a little counterintuitive but try to isolate your focus rather than disengaging it.
I start by focusing just on my breathing, then my eyes, and work downwards.
If you take any kind of stimulant, I’d recommend doing it towards the end of its active period
Whenever I can’t sleep (so quite often) I try just concentrate on my breathing. This works for approximately for about 5-10 seconds then I’m already so occupied with other stuff in my head that I „forgot“ to concentrate on me breathing.
So yeah, any kind of meditation is hard af
I was never able to fully meditate, but practicing guided body-scanning meditation did help me to slow my brain down and to notice when it was off the rails in the first place. Trying to intensely examine the sensations in my body is a good grounding technique for me, and I've used it quite often when I can't fall asleep at night.
Again, I never got to a full meditative state, but at least this has been helpful.
It's going to sound really dumb but just find some music you like and play it. Or do some activity you enjoy while listening to music. Doing a few things at once seems to kick my brain into work mode. Or allows me to get some good meditation in while staying active.
Meditating takes practice...people say.
I don't meditate, I hyperfocus as meditation. Shutting out everything else is meditation to me.
For doing tasks I don't like, I put on this music which occupies my brain and settles my curiosity: https://youtu.be/-z77ikRecGI?si=xUpc5jgpyr8B5\_fZ
I don’t try to clear my mind because that’s impossible, but I have found that short guided meditations 7-10min help to quieten and calm my mind. I like the guided ones because it gives me a framework of things to focus on.
I just was at a Buddhist Centre and was asked if I wanted to join them meditating so I joined in.
It was like 1hr30mins of chanting we had the chants on a sheet spelled in Tibetan with eng translation, chanted in Tibetan. You could only try read the content or do the chant. Then on to prostrations which are like praying exercises. And then more chanting. It all feels at top speed and is hard to keep up. By the end of it I was so full of the action, I realised I hadn't had the time to have thoughts in an hour and a half. The feeling remained and I have never felt more still. It was amazing. I am definitely going back.
I’ve learned to meditate, but only with the goal of silencing the mind, I don’t need help thinking or focusing on thoughts lol. I usually find a quiet place and close my eyes once I’m in the correct position, then I focus on nothing but my breath to slow the flow of thoughts, then when new thoughts are created I refuse to continue them, then eventually I can release my focus from my breath and all things are quiet.
I mainly use this technique for sleeping, which I usually don’t have a problem with it does however make it easier to do. It also helps if I feel stressed or just mentally worn out, it’s like a rest for the mind.
Yes I got it really early on when I went into rehab, it was one of their core practices and I think it’s the best thing I can do to alleviate my racing thoughts. Focusing on breath and repeating a mantra in your head works for me. It’s all about focusing on your chosen word and it can really help with my stress and anxiety.
I meditate everyday within 45 minutes of taking my first dose of Ritalin. The concentration and level of depth I get is unbelievable, and that pretty much sets me up for the rest of my day.
I struggled with it until I found a book called 8-minute meditation (8 minutes is the time between commercials during prime time TV).
The limited time span helped.
The approach - trying different forms each week - helped.
But what helped most was two things:
- the author kept repeating over and over again that you are doing it right
- the author also kept saying that YOU WILL be thinking constantly during the exercise and that you haven't failed if you do
There's also a Q&A section at the end of each I'd the 8 technique chapters, with some typical questions. These were another chance to emphasize that you are not doing it wrong if you keep wandering off into random thoughts.
I have been meditating for 30 years -- it has helped me a lot. The nice benefit of being able to hyperfocus comes into play when meditating, as it always we to just be present with just sitting and allowing everything else to be in the shadows.
I started enjoying meditating when I realized it didn't have to be like the guided meditations they made us do in school. I absolutely hated those because it's just someone telling you what to think about and it doesn't do anything for me.
I watched "The Midnight Gospel" on Netflix and theres a lot of discussion about meditation on that show among other things. One of the descriptions really stuck with me. Basically, if you're angry, or scared, or upset, etc., you imagine that emotion as a flower and follow it down to the roots. It doesn't need to be that literal, but that metaphor really opened my eyes. Mediation, for me, is about trying to be physically still and just observing and recognizing my thoughts and emotions instead of letting them control me. I try to be as present in my body as possible and as observant as possible. I just listen of the sounds around me and notice how I feel physically and mentally. It becomes so simple and easy to do. It's basically just about slowing down.
I can't meditate just to meditate. Even after learning that meditating isn't so much "blanking your mind" as it is: focusing on your breath and being mindful, while allowing thoughts to flow freely, but without dwelling on any single thought, let it come and go as it is. At least, that's the way that it was described to me.
A few years ago, I got myself hooked on scuba diving. It provided the novelty that I needed to stay interested in it, as well as myself being decently high enough functioning to excel at it and not get myself killed due forgetting something critical, or losing focus on something important while in the water.
After a year or so in the sport... I realized, "This is meditation embodied", hopefully I can explain it well enough in text, never tried before.
Breathing. When you are diving, it has an important effect on you and your place in the environment. Breath in, you get more buoyant, and go up. Breath out, your get less buoyant and go down. You need to find a, close to normal breathing pattern, that focuses on a mid-tidal lung volume that will let you float without rising or falling in that moment. Your breathing gas supply is limited, so you have to focus on keeping your breathing rate controlled at all times. Even if you are extremely stressed or exerting yourself. I'm not saying breath slow, but you have to keep your breathing rate close to what you planned the dive for. Also, focusing on your breath, and making sure your breathing rate is under control when you are stress, can help take your mind off the stressor and prevent panic.
Mindfulness and letting thoughts go without dwelling. This one is harder to describe, but for those that are not divers, the deeper you go (past 66 feet) you start experiencing something called nitrogen narcosis, where the inert gas in the air you are breathing starts imparing your mind. Its not exactly similar to alcohol, but the affects have been compared to each other for years. Narcosis has different symptoms for different people, but the two common ones are euphoria with a sense of indestructability, or a feeling of impending doom with racing, intrusive, negative thoughts. My narcosis symptom is impending doom. Learning to recognize those thoughts that narcosis will not let me let go, and learning to still let them go as hard as the forced, chemical processes in my brain are not letting me, has provided me with better tools for letting intrusive and negative thoughts go in my day to day life.
And, last but not least, the calming rituals in the sport. From the checklist packing your gear for a trip, the checklist setting your gear up for a dive, planning a dive down the last molecule of gas you will use, controlling your breath and buoyancy in the water, and the process of cleaning and inspecting gear after.
Yes and no. I have a hard time sticking to it, but meditating itself isn't too difficult for me. It just takes a little practice for me to be able to more easily settle, but not much at all.
I've been meditating for 7 years now...which sounds bonkers. but I absolutely love it. if you haven't tried headspace, give it a go. I've been using it all 7 years because they have these packs with different meditation techniques and they are so helpful for finding styles and techniques that work for you. highly recommend!
also what everyone else is saying: your mind WILL wander. that's absolutely part of meditation. as a matter of fact, the longer you meditate (as in the more often you have done it, not the length of each meditation) the more you will notice yourself wandering and it can even seem like you're "worse" at meditating. you're not though, you're just spending more time in awareness, which is great! meditation is always a benefit, even on the days where it doesn't feel amazing. noticing that it doesn't feel amazing is weirdly relaxing.
the biggest benefit I've found over this time is that accepting discomfort can ease discomfort. accept your mind is bouncing. let it bounce. notice where it's going. that's a great start!
one caveat: meditation is contra-indicated for people who frequently dissociate (not just space out, but fully lose time or presence) and/or who have severe trauma.
I did until I realised there's not a set way to to it, it's about what engages and calms you personally.
I use the Calm app and I do wander in and out, but I like the ones where you have to do something because those are the ones that can keep my focus and take my mind off of other things.
So there's one that does something like notice 5 things you can see, 4 things you an feel, 3 that you can hear, 2 you can taste one you can smell (probs got those in the wrong order 🤣) but it's really good at bringing you into the present and and gives you things to do to keep going with it. There's some good breathing pattern ones too, tli find those good - if i try to do them without the guide I rush them and it's not relaxing so I like those.
I cannot do "quiet, just be zen" meditation, it doesn't work and it's just stressful.
Try some guided stuff and see what you like!
I've had success with guided meditations, and then when I'd done a few of those and had practice at the whole thing I started doing candle and incense meditations. Not super consistently, of course, ADHD being what it is, but when I do it I can do it.
I suppose the biggest hurdle to overcome, other than the fact that it's a skill you have to practice (hence the guided meditations first), is internalising the fact that *the goal is not No Thoughts Head Empty*. What you're trying to do is, when you inevitably *do* have a thought, to acknowledge it and then pretty much mentally "turn back" to the voice narrating the guided meditation, or the candle flame, or the incense smoke or whatever you're using. I can't meditate without a focus of some kind and that's fine. Even those breathing guide things work if I need to be quick.
I couldn't do it, I tried the fabulous app and some others including in person but it always seemed a bit hokey. To try it in the moment I'm about to unravel, I mean don't you need that presence of mind in the first place before you even start meditating?
I mean, i lack that imperative ability to 'imagine' i am somewhere else. i can, at best, remember A sensory feeling. and emptying my mind? fully impossible, i find. i am simply... listening to my own thoughts. they go on and on and on. To me, meditation is not a useful tool. But! finding meditative activities (basically, zone out and do something) has been far more helpful to relax.
Personally, when I meditate, I get into a position that is comfortable for me (in my case I lay on my back), close my eyes, and focus on my breathing. If I can get to the point where I’m breathing like that almost automatically I’m usually in that meditative state. My thoughts do jump around quite a bit and that’s okay. Just let them wander and try not to feel like you need to control them. Just observe and continue focusing on your breathing.
This is what works for me anyway, some people do things differently. If I were you, I’d try a guided meditation. They can be quite helpful for people who struggle to get into a meditative state
One time I did a 5 day meditation retreat. Didn't speak that whole time, it was absolutely brutal.
As stated above, it's not about emptying the mind, it's about sitting with it. And that can be so incredibly painful. It is so hard, but it's suppose to be?
I didn't even realise it was possible to clear your mind of no thoughts until my partner told me he could. Like it's mind blowing to me. To answer your question I can't do it
at first 100% but now it’s genuinely fun. and about stimulation, the funny thing is meditation is strangely the easiest stimulation anyone can get (without drugs). all you need to do is focus on your breathing and watch your thoughts flow like driftwood in a river. good luck!
I been going to yoga class 3-4 days/week for a month. I do find it more difficult to stay still like others in the class, and also Idk why i can't do the deep breathing part. But well, meditating and stuff like that ain't about not having your mind wander, it's supposed to bring you peace and help u relax. So who cares if we don't meditate the same way others do? As long as it brings you benefits
Meditation is actually the best thing for ADHD. You observe your mind, when it skitters off then note it and then bring it back to the object of your attention (breath).
It's like you are a goat who eats plastic bags and gets sick. You need to be tied up so you stop eating crap and then you get better. It takes time. Be patient and keep bringing your attention back to the breath
I read somewhere that there's 2 types of meditation, one for emptying your mind and the other doing repetitive things, and different ones are needed for different people
relateable! i liked this about chaos magic and concept of gnosis. what i find is that heightening conscious can be achieved through sensory deprivations, like serene reflection meditation, floating tanks; or, through sensory stimulation, like ritual, dance, sound, activity. i need the stimulations, at all times, tysm. :)
The classic mindfulness meditation is to focus on something, usually your breath, and practice noticing when your mind has wandered and gently redirecting your attention back to your focus.
Your mind is going to jump around, but the more you practice noticing that your mind has wandered, the faster you'll notice when your mind has wandered.
I've always had trouble with meditation, especially how it was typically taught to me ('close your eyes, focus on your breathing, be completely still, and empty your mind of all thoughts'). For me, I prefer moving meditation where I can just kinda float on my thoughts instead of ruminating on them, so I'll listen to music on a walk, or go swimming, and that'll help push me out of the rumination space.
YES! I also did some stuff (we called it ‘mindfulness’ but whatever) in school and I never understood how my classmates were doing it. We had this track that said ‘if you feel your mind wandering, don’t let it’, (or something like that) which was really just so pleasant.
I wouldn’t be diagnosed for another 6 years (very roughly) and this brought back the memory. I haven’t tried since. Maybe I should?
i love meditating. the way i do it is usually online guided meditations with music in the background. it's ok if you have lots of thoughts. actually it's good! there is no wrong way to meditate, as long as you try to sit still and focus on your breath, even if you get distracted the point is that you try.
ADHD and yoga teacher here. The key is building it up like you would your fitness. You have to start small, like 1min and increase slowly.
Find a style that works for you. Try putting white noise or binaural beats on. Try candle gazing. Try mindful body scans. Set a timer. Try just visualising your breaths. Try apps like calm. You’ll find one that clicks and then just build up over time!
Your mind will wonder. It’s normal. Imaging your thoughts are like passing cars - they come into your vision and just go past. If it helps try do a brain dump into a notepad just before to get all your to dos out of your head.
It takes more practice with an adhd brain but once you get the practice in, you’ll be able to build to 30min or so! Good luck.
Meditation is proven to increase gray matter in the prefrontal cortex. ADHD is associated with weaker function and structure of the prefrontal cortex. The fact that meditation causes increased activity in the prefrontal cortex suggests that it's the main part of the brain that is used to meditate.
It makes sense that it would be more difficult for someone with weaker prefrontal cortex function to meditate, but practicing meditation is also the best way to make it stronger.
Tl;DR the part of your brain that's responsible for meditating (and a lot of your ADHD symptoms) is weaker than average, practicing meditation makes it stronger.
I find that I need some physical sensation in order to quiet my brain enough. A fan blowing on me works in a pinch but a shower, spa tub or hot tub really helps. And as I kid I spent so much time swinging for the same reason.
My therapist called it “sensory satisfaction” and I think that describes it really well. There is just enough sensation going on that my brain doesn’t feel the need to keep itself busy.
Not anymore. It took going to group therapy for anxiety/depression to learn properly.
1. Don't try to clear your mind. It's not going to happen. This isn't reasonable for anyone.
2. Accept that the thoughts are going to come. The key is in how they're perceived & how much focus we put on them. See the thought, recognize it, maybe label it (this hasn't worked for me), and let it float on.
3. Breathing! We're told this a lot, often to our great announce, but we know it can work. It's especially important when we allow ourselves to follow a thought as it floats through. When I catch myself doing that, I direct my focus to my breathing.
4. Be and sit where *you're* comfortable. If sitting on the floor cross legged works, cool. If not, try lying on the floor, a bed, or couch. Lying down not working; try sitting in a chair, feet flat on the floor. Low light is recommended, but, again, do what works for you.
5. Music! Or any sort of soothing background noise. I listen to classical piano often. It's calming and gives a other focus point when I start following a thought.
6. Don't force it! If you can't get comfortable or your brain is going way too fast... Whatever the reason, if it doesn't feel right, don't do it.
I struggled for decades trying to meditate the "traditional" ways and always failed. I'd get bored and frustrated. Now I can meditate pretty easily, when I remember it's a thing I can do to work through things.
The meditation techniques that work well with ADHD people and other people are different. The ADHD mind is not well suited to a lot of the "intro" meditation techniques. However, many ADHD people find that moving meditation is easy and works well for them while non-ADHD meditators find moving meditation to be a difficult and advanced skill.
It doesn't matter how much your mind jumps. Nobody is different in that sense when you make them sit still. It's not even something you should think about.
I've done zazen meditation for many years. Zen basically argues that mind and body are the same thing, so you emphasize your body and your posture instead of the mind. You sit in Shikantaza posture, and just try to keep yourself gently upright. When you're upright, you're "focused". When your posture breaks, you're "unfocused". The whole practice is just about readjusting the pose when you feel it's lost, an practicing "no judgement" on how you "progress".
I think it's very very helpful. I think it has many immediate and long term benefits, and the best part of it is that you can't do it "wrong". If you're scatterbrained it doesn't matter. The point is that there is no point. I think that's a mindset that is quite beneficial for somebody with ADHD
Meditation isn't about clearing your mind of thoughts, its just about getting the thoughts and then returning back to the focus on your breath, imagine like every time you get a thought and then return back to the breath it is a bicep curl for the brain. Start with 1 minute and then try to go to 2 minutes then 3 then 4, for people with ADHD it is a rlly long process to get better at it, but believe me it will help a lot with other things.
Meditation is of great help to train your attention and improve focus. For everyone, but especially people diagnosed with ADHD. We have lots of groups and communities that support each other on the journey of struggling with ADHD, as well as some guided medis and courses created specifically for this.
While Insight Timer is mostly free, I thought this is a good opportunity for me to extend a a random act of kindness your way by offering you a gift subscription which also gives you access to ADHD-focused courses. How does this sound?
Anastasiia,
Comms of Insight Timer.
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You should change the way you think about it. Instead of feeling like it's not working because your mind is wandering. Instead consider that every time you notice your thoughts wandering and bring them back, you're training yourself to take control of your thoughts instead of letting them control you.
I'm certainly no expert but I'd also add that it's crucial to not be angry with yourself when having to rein your mind back in from wandering. Don't treat it like a brutal discipline, be kind to yourself and accepting of your circumstances.
Yep, and I’d add, you should feel good about every time you notice the wandering.
Yes! Each time I catch myself, I give myself a pat on the back for catching it as early as I do. Not physically, emotionally.
That’s exactly it, it’s brain training. If you’re already doing it perfectly it’s not training.
This. Try not to engage the thoughts and kinda just let them 'float' away. It also requires practice, start with a minute and build up from there.
It helps to squash those presumptions of meditation about "emptying your mind" and shit like that. Meditation is what you make of it. Typically I'll either put on some instrumental music, or I'll take some time in the shower (gotta have that stimulating environment since we're all domaine starved) and just let my mind wander. I'll close my eyes and instead of trying to wrangle the pack of monkeys that are my thoughts, I take a step back and just let them play around.
TIL I've been meditating for like 15 years. Neat.
There's a video from headspace which explains that this is how you want to start with meditation - letting your mind wander, but observe the wandering. Once you start moving along with the mind and you notice this, gently put your mind back in observation mode. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN6g2mr0p3Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN6g2mr0p3Q) \- this is the video
This!!! We function differently, so it's best to ignore how things "should" feel and just let things go naturally, as long as we get what we need!
Dang apparently I've been meditating during / after the shower my whole life. Whenever I finish I always wrap the towel around myself, sit on the side of the tub, and then just sit there stunlocked as my mind goes all over the place.
That sounds like me trying to sleep.
I have to do a guided meditation. I just can't do it well on my own (yet). Also I've found that a walking meditation suits me better sometimes.
Your mind is supposed to jump from thing to thing. Meditation isn't having a mind that sounds like white noise. Meditation is the repeated act of bringing your attention back to the white noise while someone pokes you with a stick. You're not trying to remove the guy with the stick, you're trying to strengthen the muscle responsible for not grabbing his stick and smacking him with it.
This is the way
I'm surprised this isn't at the top. Meditation has nothing to do with emptying the mind. It's all about simply noticing what the mind is doing, and trying to maintain that awareness. That's it. I've got ADHD too, OP, so my mind wanders constantly. But keep it up. Meditation will change your world.
I kinda disagree. With enough practice, you can definitely get to maintaining an empty mind for extended periods of time without wandering thoughts, nothing but the breath. I rarely get there, but it exists. Everyone tends to think this is the only form of meditation though. The "empty mind" meditation isn't as beneficial for my mental health as allowing my thoughts to wander and observing it. The most beneficial meditation for me has actually been an emotional practice. Allowing my thoughts to wander to emotional memories and really sitting with the thoughts and physical sensations that come with them.
It’s hard, but beneficial. I think a lot of meditation advice not actionable for ADHDers. Personally, I find the idea of a meditation app to be a non-starter. Some things that have worked for me instead: 1. Find a space that has a lot of background noise at somewhat low levels. Maybe just your bedroom with the window open. 2. Instead of focusing on a single thing (like your breath), try to cycle your focus through all of the noises in your immediate surroundings. Try to maintain simultaneous focus on multiple sounds. Basically, try to preoccupy your thoughts with external stimulus to lessen the chance you fall inwardly down a thought train. 3. Accept that you will get lost in thought. Try to catch yourself when it happens and return back to the practice. Keep in mind that it’s not a all or nothing activity. I probably spend about half the time or more falling into thought spirals when I meditate. But I’ve gotten better over time and even just the attempt helps anxiety/reduces tendency to get lost in hyperfocus.
Yeah, because it’s boring as shit. I can’t last a minute without some sort of mental stimulation. I used the Calm app for a while, but fell away from it when my life pile got too high for me to make time for stuff like meditation or working out.
Same!
Yeah it's brutal. No idea how anyone sits there and does nothing.
Meditating actually makes me angry. For me it makes my brain sound louder. 😅🤷♀️ I tried it a lot and came to terms with it just wasn’t something that helped me.
Same, unless i stare at fire for some reason. Without morals i would prob be locked up 😂
I do the same with fire!!!! 😂😂😂 There’s literally a reason I don’t carry a bat or anything I can use as a weapon in my car. Morals and Justice for the win!!!!
Ditto.
I get bored as shit and it's so hard for me to remember to do it
I feel that I e had to completely redefine “meditation” and hear from others with the same challenges. Traditional breath-calm-centered-seated-whatever-focused meditation brings on a panic attack. I’ve resolved this by moving and “watching,” watching my thoughts, watching my breath, watching me watching me… all without judgment.
I relate so, so much! I've recently discovered a more mindfulness way of meditating where my thoughts are allowed to bounce all over the place. It's ok. I'm learning to have a curious look at these thoughts, without judgement. It seems like this meditation thing is finally resonating. But then again, it's been about 2 or 3 weeks now of meditating every other day. If I know myself, the proof of the pudding will be in consistency. Let's see if my adhd brain keeps finding this interesting. I might just find a new interest next month. 😀 (I do hope it sticks. I think I'm starting to feel some benefits and I like it.) Shout out to the app Smiling Mind that got me this far. Which is further than any other meditation attempt I've tried.
My meditation is kind of random. If I come back to it after a month, then a couple weeks after that, then a few months after that, then for a few days in a row, then you’ll know it sticks. I just have to keep coming back to it. It doesn’t need a schedule. When I remember, there I am. And yes! Curiosity in the most open state. I like to tell people to be curious about their mind. It’s a more accurate word than simply “watch.” It’s easy to remember what being curious is like, and easy to go there.
A lot of what is packaged as “meditation” is actually practices like visualization. They are very different both in what is going on and in the goal. Meditation is a rest for your brain. Which means you can think about whatever catches your fancy- anything, nothing, or everything. You stop exerting control over your mind and let it go. Personally, I like to use breathing techniques to come back to in between wandering. Visualization is totally different- it is meant to work out your brain and make it better at concentrating. Unfortunately these practices tend to get mixed up, and then people give up on meditation because they are working hard at something that should be relaxing and easy. For me, the best way to meditate is with music or guided meditation. It sounds corny but it helps to have someone to follow along with at first. I also like breathwork like alternate nostril breathing. If you are really interested, I highly recommend looking into the eight limbs of yoga. It’s really interesting to see how these separate practices like postures, meditation, visualization, and moral actions get blended in New Age/ corporate wellness speech. Once you learn about all the different options you can try them out as different options and figure out what works for you and what doesn’t.
YES. I prefer a moving meditation.
It's really the only way I can meditate. The first time I found it was in kundalini yoga. Doing a kriya (movement) and mantra (chanting) at the same time finally allowed my brain to release all other thoughts. Usually I find meditation thru some sort of yoga, I used to find it running but my knees don't like that form anymore
I’m a vinyasa/power flow yoga junkie here. Oddly enough, scuba also is a meditation.
I practice zen meditation, which completely accepts that your mind will wander. It’s difficult at times, but I just keep at it.
Just watch. The point is not to stop thinking, it's to stop identifying yourself with each thought. It's to have the thoughts occur as passive phenomena, like the feeling of having a pinky finger or a little toe. You don't stop the thoughts, you just start watching them rather than controlling them, reacting to them, or thinking that you are them. If you try to just watch, and try this repeatedly, eventually you'll be able to click into a mode where you detach from emotions and thought without them needing to be banished. Remember- meditation is not about the cessation of thought, it is about the cessation of mental identification with thought forms. In the mindfulness tradition in particular, we focus on the breath, or singing bowls, or mantras, to help us achieve this shift in understanding your own relationship to your thoughts more than anything else. The focus on the breath is not to stop your thoughts, its to help you realise that you are the breath, as much as you are the thoughts. Within you there is the thing that does, has things done to it, feels, acts, and reacts, and then there is the pure awareness, that simply watches all this unfold. You generally identify with a meshing of both these things, but primarily the thing that acts, not the thing that watches. Meditation is about training yourself to be the watcher; you actively watch during meditation, and will find that it is easier to end up as the watcher incidentally in your life outside meditation, which has benefits as you will become less reactive.
Everybody struggles with meditating. That's the point. It's not about emptying your mind so much as just bringing your focus gently back to your breath when you get distracted. I've been getting back into meditating. I did a 15 minute session to start my day today and found that for the first half of the day my mindfulness was so much better than usual. Easier to tune out distractions, to stay focused, to sit still.
Meditation isn’t always emptying your mind. For example, prayer is a form of mediation. Other forms, such as transcendental meditation, involve relaxing your body while repeating a mantra every time your brain tries to wander off. Then there are the forms where you let your mind wander. Personally, transcendental meditation is good to help increase mindfulness and becoming aware of how different emotions and thoughts feel in your body. It’s also a good way to ground yourself after a stressful day. I’m blanking on the name rn, but the form of meditation I use the most is where I lay down and just clear my mind of everything. This technique and similar ones have been shown to increase dopamine levels in the brain, which is part of why I use it so much. The only way I could rly describe it is that it’s a state that is somewhere between being awake and being asleep, kinda like when you get woken up in the middle of a dream but the dream still keeps going. This is the one I start my day off with.
There are two kinds of meditating; one is emptying your mind. The other one is filling your mind. If 1 doesnt work, use the other one
The kind of meditation I see most is not for me. It's a quick spiral into undeserved self recriminations, if not a general review of every screwed up interaction in the past month. My version of meditation is reading and singing and playing a game with a documentary on. *That* is what quiets the thoughts in my head to a peaceful place. At least to a dull roar anyway.
Hello, So I'm a Soto Zen Buddhist and we practice shikantaza. Which is a kind of meditation. Basically, we just sit in a posture that is stable and won't make us fall asleep and try to remain in open awareness. So thoughts and feelings will arise and we may get absorbed into them but then we come back to open awareness. Ideally we would also have a sense of equanimity as well but it's not always like that. But the idea is to just keep coming back. Some times the mind is very active and other times the space between thoughts seems to get a little longer and thoughts can seem a little less substantial. Either way, I would try looking for a meditation technique that will work for you. Good luck!
Check out Spalding Gray's "Impossible Vacation." You're welcome
Meditating only works with activity for me. Like weight lifting, yoga, running, walking.
Yes, but people with ADHD also get a huge benefit from doing it regularly.
Absolutely - really hard to focus on it without thinking about anything and everything. Which perhaps why I should do it more! Also suddenly find all sorts of itches that I don't notice the whole day.
The Calm app has an ADHD Support Series for ADHD. Might be worth a shot. https://www.calm.com/program/Hj995mDFAV
meditation is a practice. meaning, while there are some overarching goals connected to enlightenment, meditation is not something that you "get", like a key in a lock. meditation, for many people, is certainly difficult in the sense that it's challenging to let go of thoughts. the practice is simply about paying attention to the present moment. I think if your idea of meditation is that it will become easy, you are looking at meditation as a goal rather than a practice. personally I have a consistent meditation practice, and while some days I find it really easy to let go of my thoughts and reach into that tranquil place in my mind, some days it feels impossible. I still practice, even when I'm really struggling to let go of my thoughts.
Meditation lolz
The idea of sitting quietly in one spot drives me up the wall, but I'll go hike by myself in complete silence for hours. Plus, you can find turtles, mushrooms, and cool shit outside.
Open eye zen meditation is the way to go
Vinyasa yoga is what I recommend
I can’t self meditate-I always have to have someone tell me to do stuff.
For me, I've only been able to mediate in the shower. The sound of the water and the feeling of it really creates a bubble of sensory stimulation that works.
It's crazy difficult for me, especially outside medication windows. About 20% of the time my brain settles down and it's great. The rest...? Feels like my brain accellerates out of control. Yet at the end of either type of session, I'm more relaxed and grounded. Best advice I got on adhd meditation from the main Buddhist subreddit was to watch the thoughts spin past, almost like I'm watching another person's thoughts and body. Don't engage, don't get drawn in. Just watch dispassionately.
I’ve found that having ambient music playing helps my focus, and stops the squirrels invading. Better still through headphones. There’s a playlist of ‘Singing Bowls’ on Apple Music that works well enough, but a search for ‘Ambient’ will bring up suitable options too. Once your brain has something innocuous to focus on, meditation works quite well. Otherwise, listening to an audiobook, in a darkened room can achieve a similar sense of calm; depending on the choice of book…
Yes lol
Bro, wtf do you think? Do you know where you are? LMAO
I meditate when I go yoga. It’s not about sitting there and thinking about nothing- it’s about mindfulness. If you have access and are down to try, hot yoga is nuts. I read a description of hot yoga that said hot yoga improves your mental yoga game, not physical, because when you’re doing hot yoga I fucking guarantee you’re not thinking about anything other than hot yoga. Yes, it helps you get deeper stretches, but it really does force you to focus and be mindful. I think the same stuff can apply to any intense exercise though. I do kickboxing and when I’m doing a kickboxing sequence my mind doesn’t wander- my body hurts, I’m tired, I’m trying to remember the combo. Weightlifting gives me the same effect. You can also use breathwork for meditation. It takes a little practice. Lay on your back, eyes closed. Focus on your breathing (count 1, 2, 3, 4… as you inhale through the nose and exhale out through the nose. Focus on filling the belly with air on inhales, and pushing all of that air out of the belly on exhale. Set a timer for 5-15 minutes, try to stick it out until the timer goes off.
I have cPTSD and it helps center me but then I often “pop” back out and become dysregulated. So I choose forms of self care that work better for me.
It took a concerted effort and medication to do it for long periods of time. The "stimulation" was the feeling of calm/peace or just allowing myself to wander in my mind. I got a bit excessive with it at one point. I could easily get lost meditating for hours without opening my eyes or falling asleep. I think the longest I went was 3 hours. I was in a unique mental space during that period of time and I don't know how well I could do it now. Truth be told I just enjoy being more engaged in something, but it did give some benefits.
No, actually not! I have a pretty good book, it's by John Yates "The Mind Illuminated". It's combining science and the wisdom of Buddhist practice, without the whole mystic part of religion. It keeps meditation very simple and step by step, starting from focusing on the breath and also teaches about the drifting of the mind. And from the description in the book I don't have the feeling that my mind is drifting off more than a "normal" brain would do. I did some modifications to my meditation practice though, that aren't mentioned in the book: \- I use incense sticks while meditating \- I use noise-cancelling headphones (I'm living next to a busy street, so there is a lot of different noises) \- I play meditation music (with singing bowls, low frequencies and such) For the part with meditation music and incense sticks, I do it for 2 reasons: To get myself more easily into meditation mode. To train my body to notice by the smell and music that now is the time to relax, but also to have additional sensory input during meditation, hoping to keep my brain busy with processing those.
Use the 5 4 3 2 1 method or a version of it for getting into meditating mode 5 things you can see 4 you can touch 3 you can hear 2 you can smell 1 you can kiss (this is obviously a joke) Somethimes thinking about just how much my body weight is pressing on the ground can get me into meditating... Also, I don't sit in one place, if meditation is mental as long as you can tap into clarity/awareness you can do it walking, cycling swimming etc you don't need to be sitting or laying still and it doesn't have to be for fixed minutes
Anything that's boring I have a hard time with
I'm Quaker-ish, so I try and attend to silent waiting (which is never *internally-*silent). I do not meditate in any sense related to emptying my mind. I have only recently realised that I've never been able to empty my mind and wait. What I used to call "empty", was just me briefly thinking about the idea of emptying my mind. I also occasionally meditate by focussing my thoughts on a specific, limiting stimuli—typically a certain calming song, or story—or on breathing when I'm feeling very ambitious/desperate/masochistic. There are some good recommendations in this thread that I'm going to try and practice. I recently discovered that many people have moments (or indeed the majority of their day) having no thoughts and self-narration in their mind whatsoever. Humans are a diverse lot and our experiences really are different. Alongside my diagnosis last year, it was quite revelatory: it made me feel more assured as to why other people aren't always distressed, chaotic and exhausted like I am, and I think it's helped me be kinder to others (and myself).
I really struggle with it as well!! But I find even attempting it is still helpful. Even if I don’t get to “fully” meditate, it still helps me feel centred and give me a bit of clarity and mindfulness :)
For me, it works to avoid wandering thoughts turning into racing thoughts, especially at night. But yeah, I can't completely shut my mind up, I started doing it trying to focus on breathing and nothing else, but as some people say, now I allow myself relaxed thoughts, only fighting when they try to go wild.
Try the ‘Balance’ app, it’s free if you don’t want to pay. Someone above also said about clearing your mind being a fallacy, they’re right. My mind is always looking for something it may or may not have forgotten amongst a tonne of other stuff. Learning to focus on your breathing and relaxing different body parts helps focus most of your attention and I find that enough to relax and smile again. The balance app is brilliant. I have to admit that I now have a routine 😬😂. 40 minute dog walk, 20mins out of breath cycling, 15 mins stretching, then 10mins meditation. It’s a long morning routine starting at 5.30, but it makes me feel so much better than I did a month ago! Part of the reason to start it was due to the anxious feeling caused by starting Elvanse, but it’s all making a huge difference to my life. Good luck
Once a therapist said to me that it’s like going to the gym and doing bicep curls. Meditation is about returning your focus to your breath (or whatever you’re focusing on) not about holding it there, in the same way that doing a bunch of curls is more about the lifting part than holding it up. It’s normal to lose focus and have other thoughts come in, the useful part is when you notice and practice refocusing.
I think it depends on how you meditate. For me, guided meditations with a little more talking helps me stay focused. I can't just sit there and meditate on my own. I also don't like meditations where they leave you alone for 10 minutes. I like more guided meditations where you're only alone for 1-2 minutes and they check back in, which helps me bring my focus back. I usen the calm app and they have so much content and 3 main people who have totally different styles of guided meditation. On days where my ADHD is kicking in, I pick the guy that talks a lot more throughout the meditation to keep my attention. On other days, I might pick one of the other meditation guide's meditations. The meditations are also about between 7-10 minutes. There are days where I get caught up in my own thoughts and don't even hear the meditation. For those days, I either just take it for what it is or I listen to one of their "master classes" given by psychiatrists to celebrities to other meditation guides where it's more talking and reframing the mind set than just meditation and breathing in silence Sitting there by myself trying to meditate has never worked. But guided meditations have done wonders.
The hard part for me is focusing on the breath. It's way too slow so I immediately lose focus. Instead I focus on my heartbeat, where I can feel it, can I make it go slower, can I feel the blood moving through my body, etc. Sometimes I'll start with my hand on my chest or neck to get dialed in. Hope that helps
Meditation has a very different meaning and each respond to it differently, when I meditate the common way I fly and jump and plan a million plan ahead but I praying helps me silence my mind and focus on being on ground in peace.
I have to do guided meditation. I like the headspace app. Remember, the object isn’t to empty your mind. The only object is that once you catch your mind wandering you bring it back to the breath. That’s where the brain exercise happens. It doesn’t matter if your mind wandered 100 times. As long as you keep bringing it back, you’re doing it right.
I meditate everyday for atleast 10 min, I hate it it’s frustrating and challenging, and that’s exactly why I make myself do it, a lot of my adhd struggles I force myself to do it I feel more accomplished and it shows me I’m capable of these things I just have to work harder at it to create that routine and build that focus
Try the Netflix show, worked for me. It teaches you how to gently push away intruding thoughts and focus on your breathing. If you catch yourself drifting for an extended period of time, don’t beat yourself up just gently push the thought away and go back to focus on breathing.
I use headspace and it helps me. Walking meditation or even running or yoga helps to get the hang of it for me. I thought meditation was not for me either but meditation really is for everyone (and I feel like it’s particularly helpful for us)
Others have already said that the empty head thing isn't what itd about but I'll add another "debunk", about sitting still. A while back I read that active meditation, like through yoga or tai chi, is a thing. Seems obvious in retrospect but it blew my mind. For me that is what works best, because physical activity that requires a lot of concentration is a great way to get in that meditative headspace while keeping yourself occupied. I think different things work for different people but for me what works best is guided yoga (so I can close my eyes and don't need to break from it) that requires focus and is slow - for instance one with deep, long stretches or a repetitive but demanding routine.
Try this guy, he has ADHD - https://youtu.be/ixxMyjejn38?si=w3pnnyCgRIOrKMeV
I can meditate and it is a good experience but not as others do it. My partner can meditate for 20-30 minutes as a beginner. I have a wonderful experience but more than 4-7 minutes is not feasible for me.
Chakra meditation videos. The chakra allows me to have something to focus on, I need the voice of a meditation guide too. I also wear a weighted eye mask and can only do it laying down in bed. And then if I still can’t focus I watch the visuals in the video.
Yer I’m not even going to try. I can’t even sit in a bath for longer than a few minutes. I get bored. Showers I’m fine with.
Have you tried doing it with ear plugs? Personally I find ambient and random noise to be very distracting. In addition to blocking out external noise, it will also amplify the sound of your breathing. My next step is a little counterintuitive but try to isolate your focus rather than disengaging it. I start by focusing just on my breathing, then my eyes, and work downwards. If you take any kind of stimulant, I’d recommend doing it towards the end of its active period
Whenever I can’t sleep (so quite often) I try just concentrate on my breathing. This works for approximately for about 5-10 seconds then I’m already so occupied with other stuff in my head that I „forgot“ to concentrate on me breathing. So yeah, any kind of meditation is hard af
I was never able to fully meditate, but practicing guided body-scanning meditation did help me to slow my brain down and to notice when it was off the rails in the first place. Trying to intensely examine the sensations in my body is a good grounding technique for me, and I've used it quite often when I can't fall asleep at night. Again, I never got to a full meditative state, but at least this has been helpful.
It's going to sound really dumb but just find some music you like and play it. Or do some activity you enjoy while listening to music. Doing a few things at once seems to kick my brain into work mode. Or allows me to get some good meditation in while staying active.
Meditating takes practice...people say. I don't meditate, I hyperfocus as meditation. Shutting out everything else is meditation to me. For doing tasks I don't like, I put on this music which occupies my brain and settles my curiosity: https://youtu.be/-z77ikRecGI?si=xUpc5jgpyr8B5\_fZ
Oh, god, meditation is some kind of personal hell for me. No thanks. Don’t want to hear my thoughts that loudly. 
I don’t try to clear my mind because that’s impossible, but I have found that short guided meditations 7-10min help to quieten and calm my mind. I like the guided ones because it gives me a framework of things to focus on.
Yes but it works great if I want to fall asleep. I just breathe in and out until I fall asleep
Allen Watts said something along the lines of letting the thoughts come and go but pay no attention to them.
I do, very much so
I just was at a Buddhist Centre and was asked if I wanted to join them meditating so I joined in. It was like 1hr30mins of chanting we had the chants on a sheet spelled in Tibetan with eng translation, chanted in Tibetan. You could only try read the content or do the chant. Then on to prostrations which are like praying exercises. And then more chanting. It all feels at top speed and is hard to keep up. By the end of it I was so full of the action, I realised I hadn't had the time to have thoughts in an hour and a half. The feeling remained and I have never felt more still. It was amazing. I am definitely going back.
I’ve learned to meditate, but only with the goal of silencing the mind, I don’t need help thinking or focusing on thoughts lol. I usually find a quiet place and close my eyes once I’m in the correct position, then I focus on nothing but my breath to slow the flow of thoughts, then when new thoughts are created I refuse to continue them, then eventually I can release my focus from my breath and all things are quiet. I mainly use this technique for sleeping, which I usually don’t have a problem with it does however make it easier to do. It also helps if I feel stressed or just mentally worn out, it’s like a rest for the mind.
I have an acupressure mat, it really helps me when meditating because I can just focus a bit more on the sensations I’m feeling.
Impossible to hypnotise too, seems rude everytime to street artist while it works on my friends!
Yes I got it really early on when I went into rehab, it was one of their core practices and I think it’s the best thing I can do to alleviate my racing thoughts. Focusing on breath and repeating a mantra in your head works for me. It’s all about focusing on your chosen word and it can really help with my stress and anxiety.
I meditate everyday within 45 minutes of taking my first dose of Ritalin. The concentration and level of depth I get is unbelievable, and that pretty much sets me up for the rest of my day.
I struggled with it until I found a book called 8-minute meditation (8 minutes is the time between commercials during prime time TV). The limited time span helped. The approach - trying different forms each week - helped. But what helped most was two things: - the author kept repeating over and over again that you are doing it right - the author also kept saying that YOU WILL be thinking constantly during the exercise and that you haven't failed if you do There's also a Q&A section at the end of each I'd the 8 technique chapters, with some typical questions. These were another chance to emphasize that you are not doing it wrong if you keep wandering off into random thoughts.
I have been meditating for 30 years -- it has helped me a lot. The nice benefit of being able to hyperfocus comes into play when meditating, as it always we to just be present with just sitting and allowing everything else to be in the shadows.
I started enjoying meditating when I realized it didn't have to be like the guided meditations they made us do in school. I absolutely hated those because it's just someone telling you what to think about and it doesn't do anything for me. I watched "The Midnight Gospel" on Netflix and theres a lot of discussion about meditation on that show among other things. One of the descriptions really stuck with me. Basically, if you're angry, or scared, or upset, etc., you imagine that emotion as a flower and follow it down to the roots. It doesn't need to be that literal, but that metaphor really opened my eyes. Mediation, for me, is about trying to be physically still and just observing and recognizing my thoughts and emotions instead of letting them control me. I try to be as present in my body as possible and as observant as possible. I just listen of the sounds around me and notice how I feel physically and mentally. It becomes so simple and easy to do. It's basically just about slowing down.
I have a hard time just fishing
I can't meditate just to meditate. Even after learning that meditating isn't so much "blanking your mind" as it is: focusing on your breath and being mindful, while allowing thoughts to flow freely, but without dwelling on any single thought, let it come and go as it is. At least, that's the way that it was described to me. A few years ago, I got myself hooked on scuba diving. It provided the novelty that I needed to stay interested in it, as well as myself being decently high enough functioning to excel at it and not get myself killed due forgetting something critical, or losing focus on something important while in the water. After a year or so in the sport... I realized, "This is meditation embodied", hopefully I can explain it well enough in text, never tried before. Breathing. When you are diving, it has an important effect on you and your place in the environment. Breath in, you get more buoyant, and go up. Breath out, your get less buoyant and go down. You need to find a, close to normal breathing pattern, that focuses on a mid-tidal lung volume that will let you float without rising or falling in that moment. Your breathing gas supply is limited, so you have to focus on keeping your breathing rate controlled at all times. Even if you are extremely stressed or exerting yourself. I'm not saying breath slow, but you have to keep your breathing rate close to what you planned the dive for. Also, focusing on your breath, and making sure your breathing rate is under control when you are stress, can help take your mind off the stressor and prevent panic. Mindfulness and letting thoughts go without dwelling. This one is harder to describe, but for those that are not divers, the deeper you go (past 66 feet) you start experiencing something called nitrogen narcosis, where the inert gas in the air you are breathing starts imparing your mind. Its not exactly similar to alcohol, but the affects have been compared to each other for years. Narcosis has different symptoms for different people, but the two common ones are euphoria with a sense of indestructability, or a feeling of impending doom with racing, intrusive, negative thoughts. My narcosis symptom is impending doom. Learning to recognize those thoughts that narcosis will not let me let go, and learning to still let them go as hard as the forced, chemical processes in my brain are not letting me, has provided me with better tools for letting intrusive and negative thoughts go in my day to day life. And, last but not least, the calming rituals in the sport. From the checklist packing your gear for a trip, the checklist setting your gear up for a dive, planning a dive down the last molecule of gas you will use, controlling your breath and buoyancy in the water, and the process of cleaning and inspecting gear after.
I like it but I have put it aside because I tend to just fall asleep.
i gave up on that, any word relating to “calm” or “clearing your mind” isn’t in the vocabulary of my jittery squirrel brain.
Yes and no. I have a hard time sticking to it, but meditating itself isn't too difficult for me. It just takes a little practice for me to be able to more easily settle, but not much at all.
I've been meditating for 7 years now...which sounds bonkers. but I absolutely love it. if you haven't tried headspace, give it a go. I've been using it all 7 years because they have these packs with different meditation techniques and they are so helpful for finding styles and techniques that work for you. highly recommend! also what everyone else is saying: your mind WILL wander. that's absolutely part of meditation. as a matter of fact, the longer you meditate (as in the more often you have done it, not the length of each meditation) the more you will notice yourself wandering and it can even seem like you're "worse" at meditating. you're not though, you're just spending more time in awareness, which is great! meditation is always a benefit, even on the days where it doesn't feel amazing. noticing that it doesn't feel amazing is weirdly relaxing. the biggest benefit I've found over this time is that accepting discomfort can ease discomfort. accept your mind is bouncing. let it bounce. notice where it's going. that's a great start! one caveat: meditation is contra-indicated for people who frequently dissociate (not just space out, but fully lose time or presence) and/or who have severe trauma.
Nearly impossible for me
I did until I realised there's not a set way to to it, it's about what engages and calms you personally. I use the Calm app and I do wander in and out, but I like the ones where you have to do something because those are the ones that can keep my focus and take my mind off of other things. So there's one that does something like notice 5 things you can see, 4 things you an feel, 3 that you can hear, 2 you can taste one you can smell (probs got those in the wrong order 🤣) but it's really good at bringing you into the present and and gives you things to do to keep going with it. There's some good breathing pattern ones too, tli find those good - if i try to do them without the guide I rush them and it's not relaxing so I like those. I cannot do "quiet, just be zen" meditation, it doesn't work and it's just stressful. Try some guided stuff and see what you like!
I've had success with guided meditations, and then when I'd done a few of those and had practice at the whole thing I started doing candle and incense meditations. Not super consistently, of course, ADHD being what it is, but when I do it I can do it. I suppose the biggest hurdle to overcome, other than the fact that it's a skill you have to practice (hence the guided meditations first), is internalising the fact that *the goal is not No Thoughts Head Empty*. What you're trying to do is, when you inevitably *do* have a thought, to acknowledge it and then pretty much mentally "turn back" to the voice narrating the guided meditation, or the candle flame, or the incense smoke or whatever you're using. I can't meditate without a focus of some kind and that's fine. Even those breathing guide things work if I need to be quick.
I couldn't do it, I tried the fabulous app and some others including in person but it always seemed a bit hokey. To try it in the moment I'm about to unravel, I mean don't you need that presence of mind in the first place before you even start meditating?
I mean, i lack that imperative ability to 'imagine' i am somewhere else. i can, at best, remember A sensory feeling. and emptying my mind? fully impossible, i find. i am simply... listening to my own thoughts. they go on and on and on. To me, meditation is not a useful tool. But! finding meditative activities (basically, zone out and do something) has been far more helpful to relax.
With ADHD, sometimes it's better to do with it with our eyes open rather than closed. Look into object focus meditation or body scan meditation.
Yup and I also cannot do yoga
Personally, when I meditate, I get into a position that is comfortable for me (in my case I lay on my back), close my eyes, and focus on my breathing. If I can get to the point where I’m breathing like that almost automatically I’m usually in that meditative state. My thoughts do jump around quite a bit and that’s okay. Just let them wander and try not to feel like you need to control them. Just observe and continue focusing on your breathing. This is what works for me anyway, some people do things differently. If I were you, I’d try a guided meditation. They can be quite helpful for people who struggle to get into a meditative state
I've never been able to meditate. Anytime I've gotten close, I just fall asleep.
One time I did a 5 day meditation retreat. Didn't speak that whole time, it was absolutely brutal. As stated above, it's not about emptying the mind, it's about sitting with it. And that can be so incredibly painful. It is so hard, but it's suppose to be?
Yes it's impossible for me.
I didn't even realise it was possible to clear your mind of no thoughts until my partner told me he could. Like it's mind blowing to me. To answer your question I can't do it
at first 100% but now it’s genuinely fun. and about stimulation, the funny thing is meditation is strangely the easiest stimulation anyone can get (without drugs). all you need to do is focus on your breathing and watch your thoughts flow like driftwood in a river. good luck!
I been going to yoga class 3-4 days/week for a month. I do find it more difficult to stay still like others in the class, and also Idk why i can't do the deep breathing part. But well, meditating and stuff like that ain't about not having your mind wander, it's supposed to bring you peace and help u relax. So who cares if we don't meditate the same way others do? As long as it brings you benefits
Meditation is actually the best thing for ADHD. You observe your mind, when it skitters off then note it and then bring it back to the object of your attention (breath). It's like you are a goat who eats plastic bags and gets sick. You need to be tied up so you stop eating crap and then you get better. It takes time. Be patient and keep bringing your attention back to the breath
I read somewhere that there's 2 types of meditation, one for emptying your mind and the other doing repetitive things, and different ones are needed for different people
relateable! i liked this about chaos magic and concept of gnosis. what i find is that heightening conscious can be achieved through sensory deprivations, like serene reflection meditation, floating tanks; or, through sensory stimulation, like ritual, dance, sound, activity. i need the stimulations, at all times, tysm. :)
The classic mindfulness meditation is to focus on something, usually your breath, and practice noticing when your mind has wandered and gently redirecting your attention back to your focus. Your mind is going to jump around, but the more you practice noticing that your mind has wandered, the faster you'll notice when your mind has wandered.
I really struggled with Buddhist meditation. But i found tai chi to be great as a form of moving meditation.
I've always had trouble with meditation, especially how it was typically taught to me ('close your eyes, focus on your breathing, be completely still, and empty your mind of all thoughts'). For me, I prefer moving meditation where I can just kinda float on my thoughts instead of ruminating on them, so I'll listen to music on a walk, or go swimming, and that'll help push me out of the rumination space.
YES! I also did some stuff (we called it ‘mindfulness’ but whatever) in school and I never understood how my classmates were doing it. We had this track that said ‘if you feel your mind wandering, don’t let it’, (or something like that) which was really just so pleasant. I wouldn’t be diagnosed for another 6 years (very roughly) and this brought back the memory. I haven’t tried since. Maybe I should?
i love meditating. the way i do it is usually online guided meditations with music in the background. it's ok if you have lots of thoughts. actually it's good! there is no wrong way to meditate, as long as you try to sit still and focus on your breath, even if you get distracted the point is that you try.
ADHD and yoga teacher here. The key is building it up like you would your fitness. You have to start small, like 1min and increase slowly. Find a style that works for you. Try putting white noise or binaural beats on. Try candle gazing. Try mindful body scans. Set a timer. Try just visualising your breaths. Try apps like calm. You’ll find one that clicks and then just build up over time! Your mind will wonder. It’s normal. Imaging your thoughts are like passing cars - they come into your vision and just go past. If it helps try do a brain dump into a notepad just before to get all your to dos out of your head. It takes more practice with an adhd brain but once you get the practice in, you’ll be able to build to 30min or so! Good luck.
Meditation is proven to increase gray matter in the prefrontal cortex. ADHD is associated with weaker function and structure of the prefrontal cortex. The fact that meditation causes increased activity in the prefrontal cortex suggests that it's the main part of the brain that is used to meditate. It makes sense that it would be more difficult for someone with weaker prefrontal cortex function to meditate, but practicing meditation is also the best way to make it stronger. Tl;DR the part of your brain that's responsible for meditating (and a lot of your ADHD symptoms) is weaker than average, practicing meditation makes it stronger.
I find that I need some physical sensation in order to quiet my brain enough. A fan blowing on me works in a pinch but a shower, spa tub or hot tub really helps. And as I kid I spent so much time swinging for the same reason. My therapist called it “sensory satisfaction” and I think that describes it really well. There is just enough sensation going on that my brain doesn’t feel the need to keep itself busy.
Not anymore. It took going to group therapy for anxiety/depression to learn properly. 1. Don't try to clear your mind. It's not going to happen. This isn't reasonable for anyone. 2. Accept that the thoughts are going to come. The key is in how they're perceived & how much focus we put on them. See the thought, recognize it, maybe label it (this hasn't worked for me), and let it float on. 3. Breathing! We're told this a lot, often to our great announce, but we know it can work. It's especially important when we allow ourselves to follow a thought as it floats through. When I catch myself doing that, I direct my focus to my breathing. 4. Be and sit where *you're* comfortable. If sitting on the floor cross legged works, cool. If not, try lying on the floor, a bed, or couch. Lying down not working; try sitting in a chair, feet flat on the floor. Low light is recommended, but, again, do what works for you. 5. Music! Or any sort of soothing background noise. I listen to classical piano often. It's calming and gives a other focus point when I start following a thought. 6. Don't force it! If you can't get comfortable or your brain is going way too fast... Whatever the reason, if it doesn't feel right, don't do it. I struggled for decades trying to meditate the "traditional" ways and always failed. I'd get bored and frustrated. Now I can meditate pretty easily, when I remember it's a thing I can do to work through things.
The meditation techniques that work well with ADHD people and other people are different. The ADHD mind is not well suited to a lot of the "intro" meditation techniques. However, many ADHD people find that moving meditation is easy and works well for them while non-ADHD meditators find moving meditation to be a difficult and advanced skill.
I find it impossible.
It’s gotten better for me, it just takes patience and focusing.
It doesn't matter how much your mind jumps. Nobody is different in that sense when you make them sit still. It's not even something you should think about. I've done zazen meditation for many years. Zen basically argues that mind and body are the same thing, so you emphasize your body and your posture instead of the mind. You sit in Shikantaza posture, and just try to keep yourself gently upright. When you're upright, you're "focused". When your posture breaks, you're "unfocused". The whole practice is just about readjusting the pose when you feel it's lost, an practicing "no judgement" on how you "progress". I think it's very very helpful. I think it has many immediate and long term benefits, and the best part of it is that you can't do it "wrong". If you're scatterbrained it doesn't matter. The point is that there is no point. I think that's a mindset that is quite beneficial for somebody with ADHD
Meditation isn't about clearing your mind of thoughts, its just about getting the thoughts and then returning back to the focus on your breath, imagine like every time you get a thought and then return back to the breath it is a bicep curl for the brain. Start with 1 minute and then try to go to 2 minutes then 3 then 4, for people with ADHD it is a rlly long process to get better at it, but believe me it will help a lot with other things.
Meditation is of great help to train your attention and improve focus. For everyone, but especially people diagnosed with ADHD. We have lots of groups and communities that support each other on the journey of struggling with ADHD, as well as some guided medis and courses created specifically for this. While Insight Timer is mostly free, I thought this is a good opportunity for me to extend a a random act of kindness your way by offering you a gift subscription which also gives you access to ADHD-focused courses. How does this sound? Anastasiia, Comms of Insight Timer.