How to meditate when your nose is running

Day 2/90 — How to gain focus

I have a problem. I really want to get into meditating but there’s always something bothering me a tiny bit too much to be able to fully focus.

Last week it was the fact that the heating was loud. Three days ago my neck felt really stiff. Yesterday my dog decided me meditating was a great opportunity to start a staring contest (which resulted in me having a laughing breakdown halfway through my meditation) and today, well, today my nose is running.

But I don’t give up that easily. So this piece is all about exploring how to increase focus and stay focused while meditating.

Why meditate?

The Journal of Neuroscience reported recently that newly-trained meditators showed a 40 percent reduction in pain intensity and a 57 percent reduction in pain unpleasantness after just a few sessions of meditation. Other recent research found that mindfulness-based stress reduction methods can decrease loneliness and may reduce “pro-inflammatory gene expression” in older adults.

Wow. Gimme’ some of that. I want it.

Here are some of my favorite benefits meditation is said to have:

• reduces stress
• decreases anxiety
• enhances self-awareness
• expands attention span
• improves memory
• improves sleep

Honestly, I need all of that and if I can just get one of the things in the list above, I’m willing to dedicate a few minutes every day.

How I (try to) meditate

Most recently I’ve been meditating with the help of Headspace. Headspace offers several guided meditation options to get you started on your mindfulness journey. Most popular is their Take 10 approach that talks you through 10 minutes of meditation on 10 consecutive days.

I’ve also tried scanning through the body on my own or listening to meditation music. Three weeks ago, I tried meditative Yoga together with my mindfulness group. None of these options got me as close to a zen-state as Headspace has (so far). That’s why I’ve decided to stick with the app for now and try to improve everything else to boost my focus instead of experimenting with meditation methods altogether.

How to meditate when your nose is running

Here are some things I’ve tried and that have helped me improve my meditation practice — even when my nose was running.

Start with one breath

While most guided meditations focus on breathing sooner or later, making it the first thing I do when starting to meditate makes it a lot easier for me to keep my focus throughout.

Here’s what I do:

• First I listen to about 10–20 of my breaths without trying to change them.
• Next I focus on breathing in and out through my nose while counting up to 10 (breathe in = 1, breathe out = 2).
• When I’ve reached 10, that’s when I start breathing in through my nose on 1 and breathing out through my mouth on 2, all the way up to 20. Every time I noticed my focus drifting away, I start at 1 again.
• I do this until I’ve completed at least 2 full cycles of 20 breaths. Believe it or not, but I find this really difficult.

Once I’m done with the above exercise, I pop-on Headspace and get started with the actual guided meditation.

Perfectly still

I walk around the room when I’m on the phone. I usually stand at my desk, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. It’s not natural to me to sit perfectly still. Yet, sitting perfectly still is one of the base criterias for successful meditation. I underestimated this. I realized I have to learn to sit still. So I came up with two sweet and easy practices I could incorporate in my day:

• I do sitting sessions. I set a two minute timer and focus on finding a comfortable position at my desk that I can easily sit still in. I repeat this a few times throughout the day.
• I try to be aware of how I sit. For example, when I’m on the train, I try to be aware of how my weight presses against the seat and what adjustments make me more or less comfortable.

Is sitting still foreign to you? Try this!

Early bird

I used to meditate late in the afternoon or even during the evening. Until one morning I woke up and decided to meditate right away. What a difference. The feeling of a new day offering plenty of opportunity to get things done in opposition to an evening after an eventful day had a massive impact on my meditation mood and made it overall easier for me to keep my focus.

It’s also an easy way to ensure you actually meditate daily, as you avoid delaying it until it’s too late. Just plan in an additional 10 minutes during the morning and make meditating a fixed part of your schedule.

What are your tips for a wholesome meditation practice?

Let me know.

Want to contribute to shared and done?

Send in your submission via medium or email me.

This is day 2 of 90 days that I will be sharing something I’ve learned here in this publication. Don’t miss it.