A regular meditation practice has been proven to help reduce stress, anxiety and worry and to help people feel calmer, happier and more productive. But a lot of people try meditation just once or twice and give up because they find it difficult or fail to experience any benefits straight away. And most novices are under the mistaken impression that they must be able to stop their thoughts if they are to meditate "properly" only to discover that trying to stop thoughts is both frustrating and impossible!
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.
First, we focus on an object of concentration such as our breath or body sensations for example. Usually, quite quickly, the mind will get distracted by thoughts. All we have to do once we notice we are distracted, is calmly bring the mind back to the meditation object. We do this over and over again - that is why it is called meditation practice.
Eventually, rather than stopping your thoughts, you get better and better at not getting LOST in your thoughts, and you are able to tap into another aspect of your consciousness beyond your thinking mind: the 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.
By cultivating the aware mind, it is possible to experience surrender and peace in the moment because it is not preoccupied with the past or the future, it simply experiences the here and now. It is naturally calm and free from drama, negativity, mental stories. Because it seeks nothing, it is satisfied and accepting. With practice, the ability to tap into the aware mind becomes stronger and it gradually starts to change your experience of life for the better.
With a regular daily practice of even just 10 or 20 minutes you will see many benefits. It will be easier to make healthier choices for yourself because of your increased self-awareness. Dealing with stress, worry, anxiety and depression will become much easier. Relationships can improve as you become kinder - to yourself and others. Sharper concentration and focus will improve your work-life. But best of all, you will be able to enjoy the precious moments of your life instead of wondering where they disappeared to while you were preoccupied with other things.
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.
First, we focus on an object of concentration such as our breath or body sensations for example. Usually, quite quickly, the mind will get distracted by thoughts. All we have to do once we notice we are distracted, is calmly bring the mind back to the meditation object. We do this over and over again - that is why it is called meditation practice.
Eventually, rather than stopping your thoughts, you get better and better at not getting LOST in your thoughts, and you are able to tap into another aspect of your consciousness beyond your thinking mind: the 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.
By cultivating the aware mind, it is possible to experience surrender and peace in the moment because it is not preoccupied with the past or the future, it simply experiences the here and now. It is naturally calm and free from drama, negativity, mental stories. Because it seeks nothing, it is satisfied and accepting. With practice, the ability to tap into the aware mind becomes stronger and it gradually starts to change your experience of life for the better.
With a regular daily practice of even just 10 or 20 minutes you will see many benefits. It will be easier to make healthier choices for yourself because of your increased self-awareness. Dealing with stress, worry, anxiety and depression will become much easier. Relationships can improve as you become kinder - to yourself and others. Sharper concentration and focus will improve your work-life. But best of all, you will be able to enjoy the precious moments of your life instead of wondering where they disappeared to while you were preoccupied with other things.
About the Author:
Sharee James is a yoga and meditation teacher, a naturopath and founder of Ashima Living. To learn more about how to calm your mind, watch her quick video How To Meditate or grab her free e-guide "Stress-Less" here .
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