Many people think that.
.
.
Meditation is about stopping thoughts or getting rid of thoughts.
But this is virtually impossible.
Let's give it a go.
For the next 30 seconds.
See if you can prevent,
Stop or get rid of any thoughts that might naturally flow through your mind.
How did you go?
I know I couldn't stop thoughts.
Thoughts about how long we had been practicing for.
Whether you would be.
Practicing along with me.
Or what kind of thoughts you might be having.
So you see the nature of our minds.
Is to think.
The purpose of meditation is not to try and stop thoughts.
Clear the mind.
But actually to become even more attuned.
More aware of when thoughts do come naturally.
And to learn to be able to let them go when thoughts naturally take our tension away from our anchor.
Calming the mind is more like a by-product of meditation than the purpose or goal of it.
What do I mean by that?
Well.
.
.
When we intentionally focus our attention on an anchor.
Be that.
A mantra.
The feeling of your breathing.
The feeling of your body.
Whatever it may be.
When we focus our mind on.
Just one thing.
And keep gently returning that focus whenever it drifts away,
Drifts into thinking,
Into mind-wandering.
Then our mind will naturally calm down.
And thinking naturally slows down.
So with our meditation practice,
Just like a bicep curl for the brain,
We practice focusing on our object,
On our anchor,
Whatever that might be.
And just noticing when our mind naturally drifts away and wanders into thinking.
And instead of trying to fight with that or feeling like we failed at our meditation.
We simply practice bringing our mind back.
Letting go of the distraction.
And gently coming back to whatever we're choosing to focus on for the duration of our practice.
