Help me shut my brain up!

Hey all,

So I've been doing a lot of yoga and meditation, but it is almost impossible to turn my brain off. The slightest distraction and I lose focus.

I can't even describe how many random thoughts jump into my head on a daily basis. Many times I have absolutely no idea where these thoughts come from, but they bombard my brain at a million miles per hour. I'm certainly not ADHD, and I can focus intensely on many things, but I can't figure out how to quiet my mind properly during meditation.

Any thoughts or links you could point me towards?

Or does anyone else have this problem? It's a little frustrating sometimes even when I'm not meditating. Sooooo many random thoughts.

 

Maharishi describes thought as an effervescent ocean. Each thought like a bubble rising in a column of water. If you do not try to contain them they simply rise to the surface and burst, dissipating once again into the ocean of undifferentiated thought. Just watch as they go by, do not try to change or rearrange them or remark to yourself about them.

 

try listning to some quiet relaxing music for a while before you start meditating, aes dana is quite good ambient music, also try giving up coffee

 

Just let it be. Really. The difficult thing about meditation is learning NOT to make an effort. Meditation is effortlessness.

 

Haha, I average a cup/month of coffee... maybe.

But thanks for the replies, I will give it a try. I find that by focusing on something else (i.e. my breathing pattern or music) helps tone down the thoughts.

 

Why do you want to tone down the thoughts? Why would you want to tone down a part of yourself? Is there something you fear about thoughts?

 

Meditation is not concentration, it's not focus. You don't have to fight with your mind.


It's watching what is inside you and outside you, allowing everything to just be. including thoughts-



Try watching your body, not your mind, try to be a watcher of yourself, wherever you go - don't worry about the mind, just watch the body, and the mind will quieten.



these quotes might help


Consciousness, Witnessing and Awareness – Osho
July 20, 2010 by premG
Question: What is the difference between awareness and witnessing?

There is much difference between awareness and witnessing. Witnessing is still an act; you are doing it, the ego is there. So the phenomenon of witnessing is divided between the subject and the object.

Witnessing is a relationship between subject and object. Awareness is absolutely devoid of any subjectivity or objectivity. There is no one who is witnessing in awareness; there is no one who is being witnessed. Awareness is a total act, integrated; the subject and the object are not related in it; they are dissolved. So awareness doesn’t mean that anyone is aware, nor does it mean that anything is being attended to.

Awareness is total – total subjectivity and total objectivity as a single phenomenon – while in witnessing a duality exists between subject and object. Awareness is non-doing; witnessing implies a doer. But through witnessing awareness is possible, because witnessing means that it is a conscious act; it is an act, but conscious. You can do something and be unconscious – our ordinary activity is unconscious activity – but if you become conscious in it, it becomes witnessing. So from ordinary unconscious activity to awareness there is a gap that can be filled by witnessing.

Witnessing is a technique, a method toward awareness. It is not awareness, but, as compared to ordinary activity, unconscious activity, it is a higher step. Something has changed: activity has become conscious; unconsciousness has been replaced by consciousness. But something more still has to be changed. That is, the activity has to be replaced by inactivity. That will be the second step.

It is difficult to jump from ordinary, unconscious action into awareness. It is possible but arduous, so a step in between is helpful. If one begins by witnessing conscious activity, then the jump becomes easier – the jump into awareness without any conscious object, without any conscious subject, without any conscious activity at all. This doesn’t mean that awareness isn’t consciousness; it is pure consciousness, but no one is conscious about it.

There is still a difference between consciousness and awareness. Consciousness is a quality of your mind, but it is not your total mind. Your mind can be both conscious and unconscious, but when you transcend your mind, there is no unconsciousness and no corresponding consciousness. There is awareness.

Awareness means that the total mind has become aware. Now the old mind is not there, but there is the quality of being conscious. Awareness has become the totality; the mind itself is now part of the awareness. We cannot say that the mind is aware; we can only meaningfully say that the mind is conscious. Awareness means transcendence of the mind, so it is not the mind that is aware. It is only through transcendence of the mind, through going beyond mind, that awareness becomes possible.

Consciousness is a quality of the mind, awareness is the transcendence; it is going beyond the mind. Mind, as such, is the medium of duality, so consciousness can never transcend duality. It is always conscious of something, and there is always someone who is conscious. So consciousness is part and parcel of the mind, and mind, as such, is the source of all duality, of all divisions, whether they are between subject and object, activity or inactivity, consciousness or unconsciousness. Every type of duality is mental. Awareness is nondual, so awareness means the state of no mind.

Then what is the relationship between consciousness and witnessing? Witnessing is a state, and consciousness is a means toward witnessing. If you begin to be conscious, you achieve witnessing. If you begin to be conscious of your acts, conscious of your day-to-day happenings, conscious of everything that surrounds you, then you begin to witness.

Witnessing comes as a consequence of consciousness. You cannot practice witnessing; you can only practice consciousness. Witnessing comes as a consequence, as a shadow, as a result, as a by-product. The more you become conscious, the more you go into witnessing, the more you come to be a witness. So consciousness is a method to achieve witnessing. And the second step is that witnessing will become a method to achieve awareness.

So these are the three steps: consciousness, witnessing, awareness. But where we exist is the lowest rank: that is, in unconscious activity. Unconscious activity is the state of our minds.

Through consciousness you can achieve witnessing, and through witnessing you can achieve awareness, and through awareness you can achieve “no achievement.” Through awareness you can achieve all that is already achieved. After awareness there is nothing; awareness is the end.

Awareness is the end of spiritual progress; unawareness is the beginning. Unawareness means a state of material existence. So unawareness and unconsciousness are not both the same.

Unawareness means matter. Matter is not unconscious; it is unaware.

Animal existence is an unconscious existence; human existence is a mind phenomenon – ninety-nine percent unconscious and one percent conscious. This one percent consciousness means you are one percent conscious of your ninety-nine percent unconsciousness. But if you become conscious of your own consciousness, then the one percent will go on increasing, and the ninety-nine percent unconsciousness will go on decreasing.

If you become one hundred percent conscious, you become a witness, a sakshi. If you become a sakshi, you have come to the jumping point from where the jump into awareness becomes possible.

In awareness you lose the witness and only witnessing remains: you lose the doer, you lose the subjectivity, you lose the egocentric consciousness. Then consciousness remains, without the ego. The circumference remains without the center.

This circumference without the center is awareness. Consciousness without any center, without any source, without any motivation, without any source from which it comes – a “no source” consciousness – is awareness.

So you move from the unaware existence that is matter, prakriti, towards awareness. You may call it the divine, the godly, or whatever you choose to call it. Between matter and the divine, the difference is always of consciousness.

-Osho

 

This link could help

http://www.messagefrommasters.com/Meditation/Meditation.htm

 

What if your mind doesn't quieten? Will you use repressive means to shut it up, or just accept it as it is?

I agree with some of what you said, but why quiet the mind? Should not healthy human beings be aware of their mind, emotions just as much as their body?

If you have problems quieting the mind, ask yourself : What do I perceive as being a problem? It is something that you fail. If you fail something, it means that there was a preconceived goal. The secret to meditation is that the less preconceived goal, the better. The more spontaneous the experience, the better.

In fact, I believe that a noisy mind is not a problem in itself. Any action that you take against it will be a problem. In meditation, allowing your mind to be busy will help it heal.

 

... and learn, too. Here's an interesting scientific article on mental noise.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/noisy-brain-0604.html

 

Part of the process of mental purification is to relax or quiet the mind. The mind works much faster than the body. And not everybody knows how to rest the mind. So, for many, the mind never rests. This will cause problems after a while. Doubt and fear can grow in a mind that knows no rest. For those who know how to quiet the mind there is the experience of peace and one's spirit is renewed.

To first quiet the body it is necessary to sit in an upright position with hands upon the lap. The spine should be straight and the chest open. This allows energy to flow into the heart area and also helps with maintaining alertness during meditation and the breathing practices.

Close the eyes next and then connect with you normal, everyday breath. Just follow the inhales and exhales. Your breath will become deeper, slower, quieter and more rhythmic. Your body will become relaxed and your heart rate will become slower and more regular as well. Notice any thoughts that float by and just let them float by like leaves on a river.

In practicing meditation, the heart has a greater role than the head.. People want to learn meditation to quiet the mind, but what quiets the mind is an awakened heart.

Now bring your awareness to your heart area. Hold your breath after a few full inhales. Listen and feel inside yourself for the sensation of the physical heartbeat. Contact a pulse point if you want too like on the wrist or neck area. Find your pulse and now use that beat to make your inhales and exhales about 6-8 beats inhale and exhale. This gives you a balanced breath.

The focus on heartbeat is part of the practice of a Heart Meditation practice called Heart Rhythm Meditation.

Our minds work at a rhythm that is much faster than our heartbeat or pulse. Placing our attention on the heartbeat has the effect of slowing our minds and tuning us to our own inner clock. As you breathe in rhythm to your heartbeat you will find you mind quiet down pretty quickly.

Many people are not familiar with this ancient Sufi technique, which also has roots as The Prayer of the Heart in Christian tradition.

Try to do this for 5 or 10 minutes at first and then work up to 20 minutes per day.

 

Hmmm, a lot of interesting responses. I suppose it's good to just let the thoughts be. I'm surprised sometimes at their incredible randomness. It used to be really bad when I was younger. I wouldn't even be able to sleep for 2 hours after laying down because my mind would go a million miles an hour.

It's crazy the type of thoughts that jump through my mind on a daily basis. I've started keeping a thought pad in my pocket, and I write down the good ones when they come, but I can't remember the last time my mind has just been relaxing.

Maybe that's why I've found weed so enjoyable. It tones things down and I can just focus on one thing at a time better when I'm high.

 

Well, thoughts cause me pain. I aspire to a certain thoughtlessness. But that thoughtlessness coexists with thought.

 

just so you know, there's little point in doing meditation if you aren't doing it right.
no intoxicants, ciggs, weed, coffee, alcohol, etc., sexual thoughts must be abolished, gradually observe chastity, kindness must be observed,
its no joke.

 

This is a nice thread, thanks for the help all.

 

Sorry, but this is a quite dangerous advice to give to someone. If you personnaly want to be chaste, be chaste. But this has NOTHING to do with meditation. On the contrary, meditation is an acceptation of what you are, and for about 95% people, sex IS important.

Sex can be an almost divine meditative experience, and meditation can be a great foreplay. Meditation is sensual.

 

Meditation is a natural healing process. It is normal and natural to feel pain when physical and psychological wounds are being healed, because you are deeply aware of them. However it is essential to gradually accept all moments in the healing process, even the painful ones.

 

What you are practicing is basic meditation it is to relize that you are not your thoughts. You are doing well at it.You are.

"There are some daoist hermits ALL they ever do; for 12 solid hours, all they do is sit there and breathe, attempting to quiet their minds, with varying success. It is important that you observe the breath, and that you engage in an exercise called "counting breath." Why is it important? If the mind does not focus on something first, even something as mundane as counting breaths, and you attempt to quiet the mind without first focusing on something, you will go insane."-Wan Qi Kim



To empty the mind you must fill it. This is the yin yang. Just guide your mind in the direction you want it to go, if not it will just go anyway...with you

-- Eric Sasuke,
Meditation Teacher

 

try smoking a J before you do it usually helps me when i meditate

 

How can you quieten the mind without first going insane?