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Meditation is an incredible tool to help you feel calmer, happier, and more grounded BUT maybe you haven't given it a good go because you think it's really hard or requires an epic amount of mental willpower? Or, like a lot of people, perhaps you are under the mistaken impression that you are supposed to stop your thoughts when you meditate. So you try it once or twice, and find that not only can you not stop your thoughts, but it seems like your mind is as crazy as a bunch of monkeys on speed!
Trying to stop your thoughts is a recipe for failure. Meditation is actually quite easy. Though there are countless meditation techniques out there (for example breath awareness, mantra repetition, noticing the sensations in your body, or gazing at a candle or a mandala), none of them require you to try to stop your thoughts. Basically there are just 2 steps to most types of meditation practices.
To begin with, ones attention is brought to focus on an object of concentration, (such as the breath, mantra etc) and then, when the mind inevitably wanders OVER and OVER again, all that has to be done is to notice the mind has wandered and then patiently bring it back to the object of concentration. We do this each time we become aware that the mind has wandered.
Over time, rather than stopping your thoughts, you start to develop the ability not to get LOST in your thoughts, not to be dragged away by the stream of your mind and you start to tap in to this whole other aspect of your consciousness: your AWARE MIND.
Most of us spend the majority of our daily lives caught up in our THINKING MIND rather than our aware mind, and our thinking mind is where we experience our stress, frustration and worry. The nature of the thinking mind is to chew on problems, create a lot of internal noise and fixate on the future or the past. Unfortunately, the present moment is never enough for the thinking mind, it is always searching for something better or different, which of course, is a recipe for unhappiness.
The aware mind, on the other hand, is where you can experience surrender and acceptance of the moment because it is not bound to the past or the future, but the experience of here and now. It is spacious, calm and free from drama, negativity and mental stories. It is also satisfied because it seeks nothing, it simply experiences the moment as it is. Regular meditation starts to train your mind to slip into this state of awareness more easily, and then with time, this awareness starts to spill over into your everyday life and then everything starts to change from the inside out.
If you can commit to meditating every day, even just for 10 or 20 minutes you will see profound benefits. Your self-awareness will improve, helping you make better choices for yourself. You will be better able to cope with stress, anxiety, worry or depression. You will become kinder - to yourself and others. Your work or personal projects will benefit from your improved concentration and focus. Perhaps best of all, you will be able to enjoy the precious moments of your life, after all, it was John Lennon who said "Life is what happens to us while we are busy making other plans".
Trying to stop your thoughts is a recipe for failure. Meditation is actually quite easy. Though there are countless meditation techniques out there (for example breath awareness, mantra repetition, noticing the sensations in your body, or gazing at a candle or a mandala), none of them require you to try to stop your thoughts. Basically there are just 2 steps to most types of meditation practices.
To begin with, ones attention is brought to focus on an object of concentration, (such as the breath, mantra etc) and then, when the mind inevitably wanders OVER and OVER again, all that has to be done is to notice the mind has wandered and then patiently bring it back to the object of concentration. We do this each time we become aware that the mind has wandered.
Over time, rather than stopping your thoughts, you start to develop the ability not to get LOST in your thoughts, not to be dragged away by the stream of your mind and you start to tap in to this whole other aspect of your consciousness: your AWARE MIND.
Most of us spend the majority of our daily lives caught up in our THINKING MIND rather than our aware mind, and our thinking mind is where we experience our stress, frustration and worry. The nature of the thinking mind is to chew on problems, create a lot of internal noise and fixate on the future or the past. Unfortunately, the present moment is never enough for the thinking mind, it is always searching for something better or different, which of course, is a recipe for unhappiness.
The aware mind, on the other hand, is where you can experience surrender and acceptance of the moment because it is not bound to the past or the future, but the experience of here and now. It is spacious, calm and free from drama, negativity and mental stories. It is also satisfied because it seeks nothing, it simply experiences the moment as it is. Regular meditation starts to train your mind to slip into this state of awareness more easily, and then with time, this awareness starts to spill over into your everyday life and then everything starts to change from the inside out.
If you can commit to meditating every day, even just for 10 or 20 minutes you will see profound benefits. Your self-awareness will improve, helping you make better choices for yourself. You will be better able to cope with stress, anxiety, worry or depression. You will become kinder - to yourself and others. Your work or personal projects will benefit from your improved concentration and focus. Perhaps best of all, you will be able to enjoy the precious moments of your life, after all, it was John Lennon who said "Life is what happens to us while we are busy making other plans".
About the Author:
Sharee James is a yoga and meditation teacher, a naturopath and founder of Ashima Living. To learn more about reduce stress, anxiety and worry, watch her short video meditation for beginners or download her free e-guide "Stress-Less" here .
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