Why tantric meditation is great for ADHD and focus
The first meditation retreat I ever went to was a tantric one. I was 20.
Now this is where there’s a lot of misunderstanding. There was no sex on that retreat (that I'm aware of).
Instead, we visualized a thousand petal lotus coming out of our heads, with Vajarasatva, a beautiful white female deity, sitting on top. She had a container of nectar that dripped down the lotus and into the top of my head, filling up my body, my chakras lighting up different colours, until I finally became her.
There were countless little details we needed to remember and visualize. We also recited a mantra, and at the end we would turn into a rainbow and then into nothing at all.
So what does this have to do with ADHD?
Well I once heard a Tibetan Lama say that tantric practices are perfect for the modern multitasking mind. They give our mind a lot to do.
But more impactful than that, and what I didnt totally get at the time, is that we are practicing to embody the qualities of compassion and an awakened state of consciousness.
If I was doing this practice properly, and I’m sure I wasn’t, I would have been forming a connection with these awakened qualities of mind.
It’s basically a “fake it until you make it” thing.
But it actually works.
What we now know is that when we pretend to be a certain way, we actually become more that way.
This is why method acting is potentially harmful, if someone is playing the role of a crazy person, they can start to lose it.
But on the other hand, if we start pretending to be our best selves, our most focused, aligned, self-assured selves, we start to really become that way.
I just released a YouTube video with some explanation and then a guided practice that’s highly customizable.
But if you’re really struggling to focus, I don’t think this is the strongest practice to start with (though there’s nothing wrong with starting here).
I boiled down the practices that I see as being most effective for dealing with distractibility into my new course, Meditation for ADHD, which is really for anyone struggling with restlessness and focus.
The feedback coming in so far has been extremely good, which is just giving me more confidence to promote it harder. So check it out, you can watch the first module for free.
OK that’s it for today!
Much love,
Jude