When you think about meditation, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? You probably imagine a person sitting in perfect lotus position, with eyes closed and hands resting on the laps contemplating on his navel.
But, meditation is much more than what you see from the outside. Although two persons may be sitting with the same posture, they could be doing something completely different on the inside. One person may be following her breath, while another can be silently repeating a mantra.
There are many forms of meditation and which form you pick up depends largely on your personal inclination as well as the reason why you meditate. There is bound to be one form of meditation that suits you.
But regardless of which method you choose to adopt, I believe all of them lead to the same results and that is, meditation will eventually help to raise your consciousness and lead you to a better understanding of your true nature.
Awakening the Unconscious Mind
In this article, we will explore one form of meditation called mindfulness meditation which trains us to become more aware of our thoughts and emotions. It simply requires us to leave our thoughts and feelings as they are and observe them without attempting to analyze, interpret, mull over, or dwell in them. In another word, you do absolutely nothing to your thoughts and any accompanying sensations, except by being mindful of their presence.
Simple as it may sound, it is actually not so easy to just leave our thoughts alone. Because we are so used to interacting with our own melodramas that we are usually unaware of meddling with them. For instance, when a pleasant thought arises, we often find ourselves absorbed and lost in it. On the other hand, when it’s a not-so-happy thought, such as a recollection of a painful experience, we will invariably try to push it away.
Unconsciously, we feel emotionally for and even respond physically to the scenes playing in our head. It’s no surprise that we end up perpetually stressed and exhausted as our energies are expended on mindless thoughts and recollections.
What is Mindfulness Meditation?
But how can mindfulness meditation help to curb incessant thoughts? The answer is no, mindfulness meditation won’t close the floodgates of thoughts in your mind. There is no way you can stop the mind from churning out thoughts. But by changing the way you relate to them, by acknowledging and yet not engaging in them, you can learn to live in harmony with your thoughts. You will no longer be tormented or held to ransom by your thoughts. You will treat your old recurring thoughts which used to enslave you as an old friend. “Ah, there you are again, my old friend.” You no longer take every thought that crosses your mind seriously. Rather, you gain a new found freedom to choose and pick which thought to act on and which to ignore. By practicing mindfulness meditation, you begin to understand the nature of thoughts (e.g. they come and go as they like) and the fact that who you really are isn’t defined by your thoughts (you are more than that).
You can also look at it the other way: You can try to banish your thoughts, suppress them or even pretending they are not there. But, as you might have guessed, it is a zero-sum game. The moment you thought you have succeeded in overcoming one, another one takes its place. Since you can’t stop thinking, then you might as well save your efforts and let them be. Just as they come, so must they go. Your thoughts and emotions will come and go by themselves even without you lifting a finger. On the contrary, the more you try to control them, the more persistent they may become. Because the very act of control keeps them alive.
So are you ready? Let us begin our mindfulness practice:
How To Do Mindfulness Meditation
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Scrap the agenda. First of all, leave what you know about meditation at the door before you meditate. Every meditation session is as unique as the thoughts that you will come to face each time. Approach meditation like a beginner each time.
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Find a quiet spot. It is useful to find a quiet place to sit, especially if you are new to meditation. This will reduce the amount of distraction and will help you to focus your attention inward.
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Relax and sit comfortably. Take a few slow and deep breaths to relax yourself. If you feel very tense, I suggest you do a relaxation exercise first. It will help you to concentrate better.
Like most sitting meditations described on this site, there is no special pose you must adopt. But it’s important to sit with your spine in a neutral position (that is, keep your spine straight) so that you don’t hurt your back or strain your neck. You can adopt one of the classic meditation positions with your legs crossed in full lotus or half-lotus. They are after all tried and tested postures for meditation. But you can also sit on a chair with your feet planted on the ground if you wish to. Once you are seated comfortably, close your eyes softly, or keep them half-closed with your gaze directed downwards.
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Stay aware of your thoughts. Now, open yourself to the thoughts in your mind. What do you see or hear or smell or taste or feel? You will find some thoughts dash in and out in a flash like a swallow flying across the sky. Sometimes, especially for beginners, you find your mind momentarily empty initially. It’s like shining a torch in a dark corner. The creatures that used to live there instantly scurried away. But, not for long, of course.
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Don’t meddle. As you observe any thought that arises, don’t mess with it. Don’t attempt to suppress, run away, comment, judge, evaluate or hold on to them. It’s tempting to get involved in the scenes that played out in our mind, especially those that get us emotionally charged because we believe we’ve a stake in them. But don’t. Instead, acknowledge each one of them and maintain a non-judgmental view. Say, a thought about the presentation which you need to give tomorrow comes up. Recognize its nature and say quietly to yourself, “Oh, I’m worrying about tomorrow’s meeting”, then let it go. Go back to observing your mind. Refrain from going along with the thought and get yourself carried away.
As you meditate, some insights, ideas or reminders may pop up out of nowhere. You’ll be tempted to break your meditation and attend to them. Unless it’s a really important matter, like an unattended stove, train yourself to remain steadfast in your meditation. You will have plenty of time to deal with any worthwhile thoughts after your meditation. For now, your time and attention should be reserved for developing your mindfulness. If you’re afraid that you might forget them later, my experience is they’ll usually come back after meditation with deliberate remembering, or as you get on with other tasks.
You may also experience emotions that are associated with some thoughts during meditation. If you feel an emotion arising, don’t be afraid to experience it fully but don’t fuel it further. Let the emotion dissipates on its own. Soon, the feeling will pass. It’s a delicate balance to strike — feeling an emotion and yet not be drawn by it — but it’s definitely possible.
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Lost and found, again. During this meditation, you will invariably find yourself getting lost in your thoughts or feelings time and again. It doesn’t matter. It’s bound to happen, even for those who have been meditating for a long time. So don’t lose heart. The crux is to realize that you’re entangled in your own drama, to recognize that you’ve been ‘sleeping’, and bring yourself back to the present moment each time. The very act of bringing yourself back and again to the now trains you to become more mindful and goes a long way towards elevating your consciousnesses.
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Extend your consciousness beyond meditation. After about 15 to 20 minutes (or longer), open your eyes and bring your heightened awareness to your daily life. That means, stay open and be mindful of what you’re doing and what’s going on in your mind. Even if you are daydreaming, be aware of what you are daydreaming about. Being mindful shouldn’t be reserved for the short time that you spend sitting in meditation. It should and can be extended to your everyday life.
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This is a really interesting subject, where can I get more information from?
Hi, what sort of information do you like to find out more? If you like to learn more about meditation, there are a number of books and websites, including the one you’re reading now
, to help you. If there’s a specific question you like to ask, feel free to post them. Thanks.
it is possible to control the thoughts for the moment but to control them through out the day when they chase you every moment how it can be dealth with.?
Hi Naila, The point is not so much to control our thoughts, but to live in peace with them. We’ll always have thoughts, both good as well as bad. As what you’ve realized, trying to control them is futile. In one moment, it may appear that you’ve successfully manipulated them to go in the direction that you want, but at the next instant, you found that you’ve total lost control of them.
That’s when meditation comes in handy. Meditation helps us to be aware of the thoughts in our mind and trains us not to go along with them. In other words, we know of the thoughts in our mind, but we are not influenced or become less influenced by them. We’ll selectively engage with thoughts which we find worthy and discard those that are meaningless, frivolous or even harmful to us. As you continue to meditate more, you’ll find that this awareness isn’t just confined only within your meditation sessions, but it’s also present when you are eating, walking or going about your daily routines. Hope this helps.