Overcoming Distractions During Meditation: Practical Tips

It’s completely normal for us to lose focus during. We do it while working, exercising, reading, and a lot of other stuff. However, we tend to blame ourselves when it happens during mindfulness practices. Let’s get this clear: meditation distractions are absolutely normal. They will happen. The goal is not to completely eliminate them, but learn how to overcome them.

Understanding and Identifying Common Meditation Distractions

Simplifying, you can divide meditation distractions into two categories:

1. External – like noise, sudden lights, touch etc.
2. Internal – that we can further divide into:
   1. Mental – wandering thoughts, emotional distractions etc.
   2. Physical – discomfort, tensions, cramps etc.

While all of them are important, they of course need different approaches to tackle them. Keep in mind that we are all different. Thus, what is a huge distraction for me, might be nothing for you and the other way around.

Example?

I do not have a problem with external noises like cars, people shouting outside etc. However, I have a friend that must listen to music or use noise-canceling headphones while meditating. Even the sound of someone’s steps can disrupt her focus!

On the other hand: my number one external meditation distraction is touch. Whether it’s a human hand, my dog’s nose or an insect: it always tears me out of concentration.

Try identifying your strongest distractions before tackling them. It will help a lot!

Setting Up a Peaceful Environment to Minimize Distractions

Peaceful environment is a great way to tackle meditation distractions. Preferably, do not use the same place where you sleep, work, watch Netflix etc. If you have a nice, quiet corner, put some meditation cushion and practice mindfulness there.

However, sometimes it’s not possible. Maybe you have a small apartment, or you are renting a room. That’s okay. If that’s the case, just try to arrange it differently than during other activities.

For example: you can meditate in an office chair. The same one you use while playing video games. Just put it slightly further from a desk and rotate it 180 degrees.

This way you won’t think that much about your computer. 

Special rituals also help to focus during meditation. E.g.: try using scented candles, palo santo or incense. It will put your mind into a “meditation-state”, making it easier to focus and harder to get distracted.

I always recommend finding the quietest yet comfortable place in your home for mindfulness practices. Also, tell your family/partner/roommates that you need some time alone. Thanks to that, you won’t stress about someone barging in.

Physical Discomforts – Easy Techniques to Tackle Them

First things first: you CAN move while you are meditating. There is a common misbelief that you have to practice meditation completely still. If you need to adjust position, straighten your legs, relax shoulders—just go for it.

Also: practice in a position that you personally find comfortable in a cozy space. No reason for you to sit leg-crossed on a wooden floor when you find it unpleasant.

Just one small note thought—avoid fully lying down as a beginner. It is easy to fall asleep when you are not yet familiar with meditation, self-hypnosis etc.

Another practice that is effective is relaxing before meditation. Stretch tensed muscles, practice yoga, do a breath-work—whatever suits you best. In general, it’s a good idea to relax your body before relaxing your mind.

Effective Techniques to Refocus Your Mind During Meditation

Don’t blame yourself when you get distracted. It’s normal and happens to all of us. No matter how long you have been practicing. Instead, congratulate yourself on noticing that your mind wandered!

To go back into meditation, use one of the following techniques:

1. Focus on breath – bring attention back to your breath. Count it slowly, and feel the air entering and leaving your body. Once you re-focus, go back to your routine or continue breath-work.
2. Auto-suggestion – once you feel that you’ve detached from the goal of your meditation, say some simple suggestion. It might go like, “I bring my attention to observing my sadness”. Use it a few times and you should be back on track.
3. Body scan – this one is not obvious, but effective for many. When you notice distraction, pay attention to the body. Maybe you feel tensions, pain? Focus on that for a moment. It doesn’t necessarily help with the goal of meditation, but brings you back to the present moment. From that, just resume your mindfulness practice.
4. Labeling thoughts – when lost in thoughts, label them into different categories. E.g.: thinking, planning, stressing, worrying. Then pack them up (mentally, of course!) and put them away. This technique creates a detachment from the thoughts.
5. Visualization – picture a scene that calms you and lets you detach from distractions. Maybe a sandy beach or snowy forest? Use whatever you find best. Once you feel your scene (e.g.: warm sun on the beach) you can re-focus on meditation itself.

As almost always, I encourage you to experiment and mix those techniques. Visualization is basically also a suggestion, so it works great with auto-suggestion. While labeling thoughts, you can also visualize putting them in separate folders.

Going with a body scan? Mix it with mindful breathing. Find your own, unique techniques that work best for you!

Mindful Observation – Powerful Tool to Tackle Meditation Distractions

Mindful observation is a great tool to overcome meditation distractions. While meditating, you can use it as follows:

1. Identify your distraction – is it emotion? Singular one, or maybe two of them?
2. Observe them – and do nothing else. Don’t judge, don’t try to suppress it. Just observe.
3. Notice how it behaves – is that thought or emotion still the same while observing?
4. Visualize it – after some time, try to feel that distraction in your body. Is there any color, shape, form that it takes?
5. If distraction vanishes, go back to your mindfulness practice.
6. If distraction persists, gently retreat from meditation for that day and thank yourself.

Simply observing often helps. However, I’ve noticed that it’s not always the best way to tackle some powerful distractions. Try instead doing an entire meditation resolving around mindful observation.

Start with your usual routine, relax and do some light breath-work. Then, focus on the emotion/thought/feeling that distracted you last time. Follow the 1–4 steps mentioned above, but after that, try to feel that distraction in your body.

Does it take any particular shape? Maybe it has some unique color? You can feel it in the belly, legs or head? Does it move, or stays still?

Then, once again, observe it and remember: don’t judge. Just observe and with time you will notice that it is getting weaker and weaker. If it vanishes completely, fill up that space in your body with something positive.

For example: you felt fear, thus now you fill that place with bravery.

If the distraction doesn’t go away, just remember where and how you felt it. Then you can return to it during another meditation. And if it doesn’t vanish at all—don’t worry. There are some great semi-hypnosis tools to tackle that.

Most of the time, mindful observation will be more than enough to help you out!

Persistent Physical Discomforts – How to Tackle Them?

After some practice and learning basis of meditation, most distractions are either external or mental. However, there are some cases when physical discomforts are really persistent. No matter how much you stretch or relax.

Let’s say that changing position didn’t help. Straightening your legs or arms also. Moving side-to-side—no effect. Then follow this routine:

1. Localize the discomfort in your body.
2. Bring your attention to it and observe it.
3. As with mindful observation, don’t judge—just notice and watch it.
4. After getting accustomed, incorporate breath-work:
   1. Breathe in and follow your favorite breathing exercise (learn more about breath-work HERE).
   2. Imagine, that the air goes straight into the area where you are tense/feel discomfort.
   3. When exhaling, visualize that pain/tension is leaving your body.
5. While breathing, try to stay calm and relax your body.

Of course, it takes time and practice. Don’t worry if at first it doesn’t work wonders. Remember to treat it like any other skill that requires training to work best.

Overcoming Distractions During Meditation – Summary

Distraction can be both external and internal, which further divide into mental and physical. It is crucial to identify the source of distraction. The better you know it, the easier it will be for you to tackle them.

Remember: it’s completely normal to lose focus. Don’t blame yourself and just move on with your meditation. With time, your mindfulness practices will be longer and more stable.

Aforementioned techniques work great once you find your favorite. Personally, I love auto-suggestions and visualizations. Who knows, which combination will be the best for you? No other way to learn but practicing!

Curious about different meditation techniques for beginners? Then go here and learn more about them!