BLOG Mind Wandering is an Essential Part of Meditation

In Reiki training, you learn a simple form of meditation called Gassho. When you are doing Gassho (or any meditation) you may find that you are wrestling with your mind constantly wandering and feel very frustrated. In Gassho, you are instructed to gently bring your focus back to your long middle fingers. But what to do with the frustration and feeling like you aren’t meditating properly?

What if I told you that “mind wandering” is actually part of meditation?

In my Bliss Retreat, I shared fascinating research in Neuroplasticity, which is the ability of the brain to rewire itself quickly. In the book Bliss Brain by Dawson Church, he shares brain research on how meditation can help you achieve high states of ecstasy and bliss. And here is something that will really make your day:

PERSISTENCE PAYS

“The act of persistence may be more essential to the meditator than the permanent attainment of Bliss Brain. The true hero may be she who persists, not she who wins. So in your meditation practice, fail happily. Fail an infinite number of times. Falling from ecstasy isn’t the problem; it’s part of the process. Choosing to elevate your state back to Bliss Brain even if you only succeed in maintaining it for a second is the crucial component of a successful meditation practice.” 

MIND WANDERING TO FOCUS: 4 Parts to Meditation

1. FOCUS
2. Mind Wandering
3. Awareness
4. Focus

“Focus is when attention is centered in the meditative state.Then mind wandering begins. We become aware that the mind is wandering, then shift ourselves back into focus. Seeing meditation as this four-part cycle, rather than as a single ideal state, gives us a more realistic picture of what to expect in our meditation sessions.”

Each time you meditate, and re-focus, you are re-training your brain to choose to unplug from perpetual thinking and doing, and to strengthen your circuitry to experience pure Being, without constant stimuli, and this is where all the magic and healing possibility resides.