Calming The Monkey Mind

A practice of noting your thoughts in meditation. A technique to train the mind and release the monkey mind of attention to likes, dislikes and reacting. To be with your breath and an understanding of how silence can heal how we relate to the world.

Transcript

I see my thoughts moving,

Pushing,

Chasing me and I can run to keep up to them or I can just see them go by.

Take this five minutes to look and understand the monkey mind to note your thoughts.

This is a practice of focusing on the breath,

The attention of your breath.

Notice the sensations of each inhale and exhale.

You may notice thoughts in your mind and instead of being caught in them we are going to label them.

Whenever this thought arises gently label it thinking,

Doing,

Should,

Thought about work,

Worry,

Anger,

Frustration.

Maintain non-judgment awareness.

Remind yourself to have that attitude towards your thoughts,

Positive or negative,

Pleasant or unpleasant.

Simply observe them with curiosity and acceptance.

Feel the breath in the body.

As you notice thoughts let them go by.

Cultivate patience and gentleness towards all thoughts and then bring your attention back to the breath again and again.

This noting of thoughts is helpful for us to understand the monkey mind.

You may hear sounds around you.

Note them too.

You may feel something in your body.

Note that as well.

Stay with it.

Try to stay still in a comfortable position.

Continue to feel the breath.

Maybe thoughts about the future arise.

What am I going to do after this meditation?

Gently acknowledge the activity of the monkey mind but come back to the focus of the breath.

Your to-do list.

Label it thinking,

To-do.

Releasing it with each exhale.

This practice is very useful.

You notice your thinking.

You notice that you are labeling likes and dislikes.

You're constantly evaluating your life,

Your environment,

Your experience.

Take time to feel the breath.

Take time to label the thoughts because as you do they will dissipate much,

Much quicker.

Thank you for your practice with me today.

Reviews

Perfect.

Very helpful

Thank you

Lovely. Thank you 🙏