Meditation with ADD

Hey everyone, any good tips for meditating for people with ADD?

For the last year and a half I've been trying to meditate and I've been doing about 15 minutes meditation almost every morning for the past 8 months. My thoughts just take over every time

I've been able to reach the quiet place three times but each time I got instantly bored and start doing energy work or something similar

The main types of meditation I've tried so far are
breath awareness
guided meditation
meditating with music

So yeah, any advice for meditating with ADD? Specifically quieting the mind and getting to the quiet/trance like state?

If you have ADD, you may find grounding meditations helpful. I would stay away from trance meditations and focus on simple grounding methods. So you can start each morning with a small routine.

Take some time to breathe while you are still in bed and focus on one part of your body at a time. Move your fingers, your toes, anything really and try to focus on that and being present. Just pay attention to how it feels. I found this improves my focus quite a lot and clears my mind too.

[WonderLau]

ADDLife,

The thing i find is that meditation may not work with everybody, nor does it need to. Born comunicators have some trouble with quieting the mind, because it is in its nature to talk. That happens too with experiencers, that are too eager to live it all they practically dont pay attention. I had a hard time meditating at first because of that, because when i reached a certain state of joy, i just wanted to share it. So I found it is helpful to connect in a positive way. Connect with people, I mean. Great lessons are learned through love, and it is the ultimate tool to reach wisdom. So, my advice is, if you cant meditate, make it your job to make someone happy everyday. All the answers will come in record time.

[LunaAngel]

Make sure whilst meditating that if anything comes into your head you acknowledge it then let it go, shorten the period you meditate and extend it when necessary .

[Awakened Queen]

Originally Posted by ADDlife

Hey everyone, any good tips for meditating for people with ADD?

For the last year and a half I've been trying to meditate and I've been doing about 15 minutes meditation almost every morning for the past 8 months. My thoughts just take over every time

I've been able to reach the quiet place three times but each time I got instantly bored and start doing energy work or something similar

The main types of meditation I've tried so far are
breath awareness
guided meditation
meditating with music

So yeah, any advice for meditating with ADD? Specifically quieting the mind and getting to the quiet/trance like state?

I have ADD and I struggle with meditation. I do yoga instead, which was described to me by one of my instructors as "moving meditation." You get the same effects, and it's easier for me to focus on my breath.

Guided meditations are always the way to go. If you're going to meditate with music, use music with a trance-like beat. There's an electronic music genre called ambient that works well. I've also meditated to trance music. You could also try meditating to youtube recordings of Tibetan singing bowls.

[jonesboy]

Yoga asana is in no way close to meditation.

ADD is the inability to maintain focus right? Just remember ADD and the thoughts that tell you that you can't do something is just that thoughts.

TM has shown amazing results for ADD and it is a mantra based system. What that means is you are using concentration and then letting go.

So if you have ADD or not your will focus on, let's say your breath. You are concentration on your breath and then the next moment you are off on your thoughts.

Perfect!

That is what we all do. We are on our breath, lose it and then come back to it. ADD or not we can all do that right?

Do let your thoughts/ego or anyone else tell you that you can't do this. Everyone can do this.

Here is a thread with some more examples for further reading. http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/sh...ad.php?t=76070

Good luck :)

P.S. My 6th grade daughter has ADD inattentive ADD and she can meditate. She likes Mindfulness as described in the above thread.

[Dwerg]

Whenever I meditate I usually only focus on how it feels. If I feel good it doesn't matter what's going on inside my mind, letting my thoughts go crazy isn't a problem if it doesn't feel bad. As far as I know I don't have ADD, I've never checked it and wouldn't be surprised if I got that diagnosis. Sometimes I think waaaay too much, but I have to ways of stopping it. If trying to stop it doesn't work I willingly start pushing it. Essentially thinking so much that it just breaks down and then it stops, a bit counter-intuitive but that type of approach seems to work for me.

I'm pretty good with words, but that's because I play around with them all day long. It's not my only way of handling things though, I rely heavily in visual thinking and memory.

[umbridge]

ADD means actually that you are ungrounded. Since I have been on a spiritual path, there is often times too much noise and I find it very hard to concentrate.

Your mind is really a tool. And you should work like a channel. First of all try thinking nothing at all. I started with kundalini yoga. The good way how to get your head clear is "Sat Nam"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxKjOOR9sPU
breathe in "Sat", breathe out "Nam".

Also you should try some gemstones for lower chakras. Obviously the energy is all up in the higher chakras and like a tree you need to be rooted.

You can also ask some help from different healers.


Just my 2 cents.


Much light to your way!
You can do it!

[umbridge]

Originally Posted by jonesboy

Yoga asana is in no way close to meditation.

ADD is the inability to maintain focus right? Just remember ADD and the thoughts that tell you that you can't do something is just that thoughts.

TM has shown amazing results for ADD and it is a mantra based system. What that means is you are using concentration and then letting go.

So if you have ADD or not your will focus on, let's say your breath. You are concentration on your breath and then the next moment you are off on your thoughts.

Perfect!

That is what we all do. We are on our breath, lose it and then come back to it. ADD or not we can all do that right?

Do let your thoughts/ego or anyone else tell you that you can't do this. Everyone can do this.

Here is a thread with some more examples for further reading. http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/sh...ad.php?t=76070

Good luck :)

P.S. My 6th grade daughter has ADD inattentive ADD and she can meditate. She likes Mindfulness as described in the above thread.

Beautifiul!

I have always thought that we should learn to children how to meditate. Children in a very young age are very sensitive. The more we embrace them as they are, the more loved and accepted they feel.
We should always take them as our teachers. Because they actually are. They often see life more clearly then we do.

Love and light to you and your daughter!

[jusmail]

Meditation in children should be kept to low limits till age 18.