Do others find it harder to meditate at certain times of the day?

[Diogenes]

Do others find it harder to meditate at certain times of the day?

I’m still relatively new to meditating and finding it much harder in the mornings. More precisely, I’m practicing mindfulness meditation and finding that I am swamped by intrusive thoughts when I try to meditate in the morning (much more so than at midday, the afternoon and evening, anyway).

Does anyone else experience anything similar and have any advice on how to handle it? Should I, for instance, try to persevere with morning meditation? Or just focus my attention on other times of the day for the time being? Or, to put it another way: does the fact that I find it difficult in the morning mean that this is the time when I most need to meditate to prepare myself for the day? Or, would I just be making it unnecessarily difficult for myself?

Any guidance on this would be greatly appreciated.

[Thanisaro85]

Do others find it harder to meditate at certain times of the day?

I’m still relatively new to meditating and finding it much harder in the mornings. More precisely, I’m practicing mindfulness meditation and finding that I am swamped by intrusive thoughts when I try to meditate in the morning (much more so than at midday, the afternoon and evening, anyway).

Does anyone else experience anything similar and have any advice on how to handle it? Should I, for instance, try to persevere with morning meditation? Or just focus my attention on other times of the day for the time being? Or, to put it another way: does the fact that I find it difficult in the morning mean that this is the time when I most need to meditate to prepare myself for the day? Or, would I just be making it unnecessarily difficult for myself?

Any guidance on this would be greatly appreciated.

If you are new to meditation, perhap you would like to meditate at any moment when u have less thoughts. It brings you to calmness easily where heartbeat slowdown, breath became shallow and you can see your mind clearly.   reaching this stage frequently allow you to build your foundation and know how to cope in the many thoughts moments. Its like getting familiar with holding a knife to cut onion, start slow, not unsettled, once you are familiar, u can cut fast as u already know the techniques.

Depend on individual, some can overcome this hurdles pretty quick.

[dharma bum]

Mornings are hard to meditate for me too. The brain isn't completely functional and there are more of anxieties and fears clouding the mind than any other time of the day. I think the reason is biological - something to do with the reptilian brain. I find it more beneficial to go for a walk in the mornings than to sit at home. My theory based on nothing at all is that my brain needs some extra oxygen in the morning.

There used to be a meditation group at a workplace. They started at 4 in the afternoon and I invariably fell asleep and woke up completely refreshed. I really needed the 4pm nap.

[stillpointdancer]

It really depends on your meditation practice. For me the earlier the better, as I am awake and refreshed after a night's sleep. I prefer meditating when I can stay alert during the meditation, but as a teacher I could only do that of a weekend and during holidays. Over the summer break I could get into a nice routine sitting, often with a morning cup of coffee, for an hour or so.

[Diogenes]

Thanks for the responses. I think that - for the time being - I'll focus on the afternoons for my meditation and try meditating in the morning once I have a stronger shamantha foundation to my practice.