In meditation classes, newer practitioners often ask the question, “How do I quiet my mind?” Following a practice, new students often comment, “My mind won’t stop!” Meditation is a practice of calming the body and mind using breath awareness. Meditation isn’t about stopping the mind, rather settling into the flow of what comes up.
Meditation is a practice that takes practice. Sthira Sukham Asanam, one of the first lines in the Yoga Sutras, translates from Sanskrit to, “May the posture be steady and comfortable.” Meditation is a practice to help cultivate ease in your daily life. It creates an opportunity to sit comfortably and notice the thoughts, feelings and sensations in your body and mind. Meditation is also a process that allows you to consider how you respond to stress and anxiety. As you meditate, you can to give attention to issues and concerns in your life. As you incorporate mindful breathing you may discover a softening around the rough edges in your mind often created by stress and anxiety.
A few things to consider in your meditation practice:
1. Notice What Comes Up: When you sit to meditate, you may begin to notice all the thoughts that suddenly emerge. Give attention to the quality of your thoughts. Are they intense? Are they subtle? Or somewhere in-between? How do you respond to what comes up? One option is to breathe. When you breathe, you signal your mind to relax and be more present. The result may be an increased capacity to give attention to what comes up.
2. Name What Comes Up: As you meditate, you may be surprised by the thoughts and feelings that enter your mind. If they cause distress, you can name them. For example, if you feel sadness, acknowledge the feeling and say to yourself, “sadness” and breathe. You may notice an increased ability to experience that feeling. Continue to breathe and notice where you feel it in your body. Notice any tendencies to avoid a feeling. Naming what comes up and breathing into it can remind us that we may have a greater capacity to navigate a variety of feelings than you may have previously thought. Your breath can help you through them.
3. Be With What Comes Up: In our lives we may feel too busy to be with thoughts and feelings that arise. We may push them away, ignore them or distract ourselves. Being with what comes up and breathing can give you valuable information about areas of your life that may need and deserve attention. Breathing may create space for openness and understanding of the difficult things you may be facing.
Meditation is a practice that invites you to find ease in your life by slowing down to notice, name and be with what comes up. Rather that resisting the flow of your thoughts and feelings consider using your breath to support you through them. Also note that your mind can protect us from feelings and experiences we may not yet be ready to face. Meditation can help to navigate difficult feelings and experiences. Meditation is about finding ease not forcing yourself to deal with something that you don’t feel ready to address.
Like any practice, meditation takes time to “work.” If you’ve ever tried meditation, what was your experience? How did it help you? Feel free to comment in the comments section below!
- Navigating Hesitation About Starting Therapy [Video] - August 27, 2020
- How to Adjust to the Changing Parent and Child Relationship - April 5, 2019
- Avoiding Burnout in Your Work Life - December 14, 2018
3 comments
I have a difficult time “stopping” the thoughts that come into my head when I tried meditating. I think your suggestion of naming those thoughts and actually being with them, will really help. Instead of pushing them away or avoiding these thoughts, I will try to name them, accept them, and then try to move past them. I wonder if other people agree that naming and being with our thoughts will help us get more out of meditation and create less frustration as beginners?
Ziva Meditation together with the 34th St Partnership is bringing free meditation classes to midtown. The instructors are from Ziva Meditation, which is a meditation studio that offers courses that are designed to enhance performance in both personal and professional pursuits. The class is centered on providing the basics of meditation, and using guided visualizations that compliment the Vedic tradition. There is a cap of 12 participants to ensure that the instructor can balance assistance with instruction.
The class is offered free every Thursday between 1-1:30PM at Studio 34, an indoor space at the plaza next to the 34th St. Kmart.
New to meditation and would like to receive some guidance and support.