Chanting Challenges: No sooner do chanters begin their meditation session than the mind becomes restless, digging into past memories, running again and again over present worries, and exploring the future. Much of this mental life is fantasizing about all the ways we can enjoy and all the ways we can suffer-reliving experiences, painful or pleasant,and planning endlessly. Anything but being present while we’re chanting. We have to wonder why chanting makes the mind so defiant.