Why Can't I Meditate?

There are now thousands of students completing Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and other mindfulness programmes around the world. However, on completion many will struggle to continue or will stop, with the intention of starting again in the future. WHY CAN'T I MEDITATE? addresses this problem. It combines accounts by new meditators of their struggles, and successes, with insights from a wide variety of the most accomplished teachers, representing every school of mindfulness teaching. It identifies, investigates and offers many practical solutions to get our mindfulness unstuck and firmly establish a regular practice. This is a book for anyone who has sat on their meditation seat or cushion and wondered whether they should go on.

Contributors include: Stephen Batchelor, Rebecca Crane, Christina Feldman, Geshe Tashi Tsering, Choji Lama Rabsang, Willem Kuyken, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Franklin Sills, Philippa Vick and Martin Wells.

“Why Can't I Meditate? is, as far as I know, the first in-depth and pragmatic analysis of a key issue that bedevils many people who undertake the practice of meditation. It is not at all uncommon for someone to encounter a deep resistance to meditation even though they are sincerely committed to it. This important study is an invaluable handbook that provides practical guidance and advice for anyone who strives to understand and overcome the obstacles that prevent meditation from becoming an integral part of one's life.”

I am very happy to finally see someone writing about why people can't meditate. I've known Nigel for many years; he's a sincere practitioner who has been thinking about how to untangle the blockages in the human mind for some time now. We had a lot of discussion together about the ideas presented here and I think his book will be very useful. It's helpful to know the underlying causes of meditation problems - this book shows how to work with them. - Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Author, 'Open Heart, Open Mind'

People learning mindfulness often ask, "I know mindfulness practice is helpful, how can I best establish my meditation practice?" Now I can recommend this wonderful book. Nigel Wellings offers insightful, compassionate and eminently practical guidance based on his extensive personal experience as a teacher and practitioner and interviews with some of the most accomplished mindfulness teachers in the field. - Willem Kuyken, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Exeter

.... insightful and helpful.... I really like your discussion of the different selves within us and how one can be in conflict with another and that people who are fearful of unknown parts of themselves, their shadow, are going to struggle with compassion, becoming caught up in conflicts and struggles in contrast to observing them as 'nature's mind at work'. - Professor Paul Gilbert, author of The Compassionate Mind

This book is easy to read and accessible. The format of its clear chapters addressing particular points and its many accounts from personal practice makes it very digestible. It is delivered with a lightness of touch and some humour. It helps to normalise and universalise the processes that seem so personal and which give rise to so much internal judging. - Rebecca Crane, Director, Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice, Bangor University

Nigel Wellings is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist who works within a contemplative perspective. Initially training with the Association for Group and Individual Psychotherapy (AGIP) he later became a member of the Association for Independent Psychotherapists (AIP) and has also served as Director of Training at the Centre for Transpersonal Psychology. He is a founder member of the Forum for Contemplative Studies and a facilitator on the Bath and Bristol Mindfulness Courses. He is the author, with Elizabeth Wilde-McCormick, of several books, including Nothing to Lose: Psychotherapy, Buddhism and Living Life.

Practising mindfulness meditation can help us lead a less stressful more balanced life - yet, despite understanding this, many of us find it difficult to cultivate and maintain a daily practice. Why Can't I Meditate? is essential reading for anyone who is considering meditating, is struggling to continue or who has stopped but wants to start again. It shows how we may understand and begin to successfully work with the barriers that prevent our mindfulness practice flourishing. Written by Nigel Wellings, a psychotherapist and experienced mindfulness teacher, this accessible and highly practical book shares the insights he has gained through over 30 years of engagement with practice and many years of teaching. It also features a wealth of advice from leading meditation teachers from many traditions, as well as accounts by new meditators of what they find hard and what helps. Gentle, compassionate and wise, this book will help you make mindfulness an enriching and integral part of your life.

There are now thousands of students completing Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and other mindfulness programmes around the world. However, on completion many will struggle to continue or will stop, with the intention of starting again in the future. WHY CAN'T I MEDITATE? addresses this problem. It combines accounts by new meditators of their struggles, and successes, with insights from a wide variety of the most accomplished teachers, representing every school of mindfulness teaching. It identifies, investigates and offers many practical solutions to get our mindfulness unstuck and firmly establish a regular practice. This is a book for anyone who has sat on their meditation seat or cushion and wondered whether they should go on. Contributors include: Stephen Batchelor, Rebecca Crane, Christina Feldman, Geshe Tashi Tsering, Choji Lama Rabsang, Willem Kuyken, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Franklin Sills, Philippa Vick and Martin Wells.

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