Biggest barrier when I’ve tried is with four of us permanently working/studying at home, finding somewhere quiet to sit for half an hour is actually really bloody hard!
Been there MCTD! When I initially learnt to meditate I was still living in the parental home with a noisy family. Like kaiser, I’ve found earplugs, and meditating in the car while sat in the driveway (although maybe not so much at this time of year!) to be useful. Also, I found fitting it into the day early on when people weren’t up and about yet – or at least not yet at full volume – was helpful. Also, even a shorter time – maybe 10 minutes – may be more doable, or doing it even before getting out of bed in the morning. Once my family could see how important it was for me to have that time to myself, and could see the benefits, that really helped.
bonzodog – Like you, the period immediately after I learned TM was superb, and since then I’ve had periods of obvious benefit and other periods where the benefit was not so obvious. I suspect any process of self-discovery or self-improvement doesn’t follow a linear path. Anyhow, my understanding is that introducing any element of ‘trying’ into the process of TM can mean you don’t get the full benefits. It might be helpful to contact your local TM Centre to arrange to get your meditation checked (although whether that’s possible at the moment I don’t know) – in case you are inadvertently interfering with the process. I’ve done this and have found it helpful – like a wee refresher – especially if you learned so long ago.
kaiser – hope all goes well for you with the result. Sounds like you are in a good place to deal with whatever comes.
