I’ve been teaching meditation for many years and I can’t even begin to tell you the amount of people who have said to me, “I just can’t meditate because I have too many thoughts. I can’t seem to switch off the voice in my head”.
The big secret: Thoughts are a natural part of meditation!
We have 60 to 80,000 thoughts every day. And it’s generally the same thoughts that are going through our mind. So, it’s only natural that we have thoughts when we meditate. When this happens, just go back to focussing on your mantra or breath.
When you first start meditating it seems that your mind actually speeds up – it tends to race. The biggest to-do list that pops up in your mind…all the emails that you have to send; call my mother; book the hairdresser appointment; organise the kids for soccer drop-off and so on.
Then you start thinking about everything else…your work, relationship or children etc. If you’ve had an argument with somebody, you will be thinking about how you could have handled it better, or what else you could have said, and why you put up with this behaviour and so on.
Sometimes when you first start meditating, it can take like 10 to 15 minutes for your mind to actually settle down. The more you meditate, the more it will settle down more easily.
The good news! All of these thoughts mean that your meditation is working – the mind is de-stressing – and when the mind settles down, so does the body. Your whole body is getting a deep level of rest.
Just simply keep going back to your mantra or breath and continue meditating.
Hug yourself and acknowledge yourself that you’re actually meditating correctly!
There’s a famous Zen story about a monk who went and meditated in a cave for 20 years. After he came out of the cave and was asked about what he learnt, he said ‘we have a lot of thoughts’.
Please continue meditating knowing that meditation has a cumulative effect and there is no right or wrong…and its working!
Happy meditating!
Kindest,
Carolyne xx
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