Torpor and Unstable Mental Object

[Annicca]

Hello!

Can anybody tell me how to overcome torpor and unstable mental object? Well, my mind is clear for the first 40 min and after this period, the mind seems to lose its focus and the mental object becomes very unstable. I can blurry see that "it 's there" but I cannot focus to it, I mean it seems to be unclear. How can I overcome this? Plus, I find myself in irritation and become restless and inpatient after 40 min and feel like to stop, how can I overcome restlessness or the impatience?

With Metta,

[catmoon]

Just a suggestion here... set an alarm for 40 minutes. When it goes off, get up, maintaining mental state as best you can, and do a solid 10 minutes of prostrations. The idea is it should hurt some, and get your heart pounding. Then return to meditation. Unless I miss my guess, meditating will appear much more attractive and the impatience will be greatly reduced.

[viniketa]

Just a suggestion here... set an alarm for 40 minutes. When it goes off, get up, maintaining mental state as best you can, and do a solid 10 minutes of prostrations. The idea is it should hurt some, and get your heart pounding. Then return to meditation. Unless I miss my guess, meditating will appear much more attractive and the impatience will be greatly reduced.

The next day, set it for 41 mins, then 42, etc...

[Annicca]

Yeap, now it works better! But I would like to know the mental object in the anapanasati meditation is to focus on the upper lip area, feeling the entrance and the going of the breathing here. But I can focus on this area, I mean very shortly, and instead of focusing this area I begin to focus on the incoming and the outgoing of the air and my mind is very distracted. I know, I should focus on this area but my mind just cannot rest there. I always chose the motion of the air, is there any advice to overcome this problem?

[underthetree]

Explore the distraction itself. When you find yourself distracted, look at the phenomenon. Investigate where the sensation/state/thought comes from and where it goes.

[Annicca]

I had done this before and I 've found that each time your mind is away is bcs it has found a "NEW" mental object, may you begin to think on other things or to be distracted by the pain of your feet. But how can I make my mind stay correctly on the anapanasati mental object area? I mean on the upper lip area and not on the air. I just cannot discern clearly that area.

With Metta

[catmoon]

You might just want to go with the flow, so to speak.

If you read this -http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/breathmed.html - you'll see that not all teachers insist on the nose thing. It's only a page or so.