Why Do I Feel Resistance to Practice?
BY NICOLE LAU
The Practice You Avoid
You know your spiritual practice helps you. Meditation, ritual, energy work—it all makes you feel better. Yet you resist doing it. You procrastinate, make excuses, or suddenly find everything else more urgent. This resistance isn't laziness. It's protection.
Why You Resist Practice
Fear of What Will Surface: Practice brings up emotions, memories, and truths you've been avoiding. Your ego resists to protect you from feeling uncomfortable things.
Fear of Change: Consistent practice will change you. Your current identity, relationships, or life might not survive your transformation. Resistance keeps you safe from that change.
Unworthiness: You don't believe you deserve the time, space, or benefits of practice. Self-sabotage shows up as resistance.
Perfectionism: If you can't practice "perfectly" or for long enough, you don't practice at all. All-or-nothing thinking creates resistance.
Energetic Opposition: When you're doing powerful spiritual work, lower energies or your own shadow may create resistance to keep you from growing.
Burnout or Forcing: You've been forcing practice from obligation rather than desire. Your soul resists what feels like another "should."
Wrong Practice: The practice you're resisting might not be right for you right now. Your intuition creates resistance to redirect you.
Common Resistance Patterns
- "I don't have time" (but scroll social media for hours)
- "I'll start tomorrow" (tomorrow never comes)
- Suddenly remembering urgent tasks when it's practice time
- Feeling tired or distracted only when trying to practice
- Starting strong then abandoning practice after a few days
- Judging your practice as "not good enough"
Working With Resistance
Get Curious: Don't fight resistance. Ask it: "What are you protecting me from?" "What are you afraid will happen?"
Start Smaller: If 20 minutes feels impossible, do 2 minutes. Consistency matters more than duration.
Release Perfection: Any practice is better than no practice. Let go of how it "should" look.
Check Your Why: Are you practicing from obligation or genuine desire? Reconnect with why this matters to you.
Try Different Practices: If meditation feels impossible, try movement, journaling, or nature connection. Find what flows.
Address the Fear: What are you actually afraid of? Name it, feel it, and choose to practice anyway.
Create Sacred Space: Make practice feel special, not like another chore. Light a candle, play music, create ritual around it.
The Truth
Resistance is information. It shows you where you're afraid, where you're protecting yourself, or where you need to adjust. Don't shame yourself for resistance—work with it. Your practice is waiting for you, exactly as you are, whenever you're ready.
