Anjana Sahney Thakker
Meditation is a practice that can help people calm their minds and combat negative thoughts. However, it can be challenging for beginners to stop their thoughts from wandering. Our minds are very active, with an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts per day, so deliberately deactivating our thought process is not easy. Here are some tips to prevent thoughts from intruding during meditation: start at the same time every day to establish a routine, choose a dedicated meditation zone, journal before meditating to detox repetitive thoughts, repeat a simple mantra such as peace, peace, peace, focus on your breath, or join a meditation community for support.
What You'll Learn
Focus on your breath
Focusing on your breath is a key part of meditation. While meditating, you should pay close attention to the process of inhalation and exhalation. Notice the sensations that flow through your body as you breathe and sense how your belly moves up and down.
It is important to remember that you cannot stop your mind from thinking. However, you can detach from your thoughts and observe them. When you notice your mind wandering, gently but firmly bring your attention back to your breath.
To help you focus on your breath, you can try saying "in" to yourself as you breathe in and "out" as you breathe out. You can also try counting your breaths. If you get distracted, start over again from one. This way, you can avoid feeling like you are losing progress and instead feel like you are regaining focus.
It is normal to get distracted when meditating, especially if you are a beginner. With time and practice, you will get better at focusing on your breath.
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Repeat a mantra
Using a Mantra to Stop Thoughts While Meditating
Mantra is a Sanskrit term, with "man" meaning "mind" and "tra" meaning "release". It is a word, phrase, or sound that is repeated during meditation. Mantras can be powerful tools to help release your mind, improve awareness, boost concentration, and achieve a greater sense of calm.
How to Use a Mantra to Stop Thoughts
- Choose a mantra that resonates with you and aligns with your intentions for meditation. It can be a simple word like "peace" or a phrase such as "I have compassion for myself and others."
- Find a quiet place where you can meditate without disruptions.
- Set a timer for your desired meditation duration (3 to 30 minutes) and consider using a relaxing sound for the alarm.
- Start with a few deep breaths, focusing on the sensation of the breath entering your lungs and filling your body.
- Begin chanting your mantra silently or out loud, matching the mantra to your breathing rhythm.
- If your mind wanders, gently acknowledge the thoughts, let them go, and return to your mantra.
- Close the meditation by taking a few moments to sit quietly and observe how you feel.
Benefits of Using a Mantra
Using a mantra during meditation has several benefits:
- It occupies your awareness and prevents your mind from drifting off, helping to reduce wandering thoughts.
- It improves concentration and enhances your ability to focus.
- It can lead to a deeper meditative state by harnessing the power of vibrations and harmony created by chanting certain syllables.
- It helps to calm your inner thoughts by reducing activity in the default neural network of the brain, which is responsible for self-reflection and self-control.
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Write down your thoughts beforehand
If you're struggling with intrusive thoughts during meditation, it might be helpful to write down your thoughts beforehand. This is a form of "stream of consciousness" writing, where you simply write down whatever is on your mind without censoring or editing your thoughts. By doing this, you're essentially detoxing your mind of repetitive thoughts, creating a clear mental space for meditation.
Writing down your thoughts beforehand can help prevent you from obsessing over them during your meditation session. It's important to write without analysing or judging your thoughts. The goal is to express yourself freely and release any worries or anxieties that may be weighing on your mind.
For example, if you're stressed about an upcoming presentation or test, write down your concerns and acknowledge them. By doing so, you're taking the first step towards calming your mind and letting go of anxious thoughts. This practice of writing down your thoughts is particularly beneficial if you have a lot on your mind and need a way to declutter your mental space.
Additionally, writing down your thoughts can help you identify any recurring themes or patterns that may be causing you stress or anxiety. It can be a form of self-reflection, allowing you to gain insight into your thought processes and identify areas where you may need to make changes or practice self-compassion.
Remember, meditation is not about stopping your thoughts entirely but learning to observe them without judgement and letting them come and go. By writing down your thoughts beforehand, you're creating the mental space needed to achieve this state of mindfulness during your meditation practice.
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Try active meditation
Active meditation can be a great way to prevent intrusive thoughts from disrupting your practice. It is a technique that can be particularly helpful for people with very active minds who find it difficult to sit still and calm their minds. Active meditation gives you a task to focus on, which helps to occupy your mind and prevent other thoughts from creeping in.
- Pick one word from the following that describes an emotion you would like to feel more of: Joy, Love, Happy, Peace, Calm, Hope.
- Close your eyes and visualize the word in your head.
- Choose a colour that you associate with the word and visualize the word in that colour.
- Select another colour for the background.
- With your eyes closed, visualise writing the word one letter at a time in your head.
- As you write the word, say the letters quietly to yourself.
- Repeat the word and the colours over and over in your head while saying the letters to yourself.
- Set a timer for 10 minutes and continue the exercise until the timer goes off.
If you find this challenging, don't worry! Just do your best to complete as many steps as you can, focusing on the vividness of the colours and the word in your head. You can also add extra steps to make the task more challenging and increase the demand on your attention. For example, you could try to feel the emotion of the word as you visualise it.
The beauty of active meditation is that it gives your brain a task to focus on, reducing the space for other thoughts to enter. It is a great way to train your brain to focus and can make it easier to transition to more traditional meditation practices. Remember, the most important thing is to find what works best for you. There is no wrong way to meditate!
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Accept your thoughts
It's important to remember that it's perfectly normal for your mind to wander while meditating. In fact, it's estimated that we have between 60,000 and 80,000 thoughts a day, so deliberately deactivating our thought process is not easy.
Instead of trying to push your thoughts away, try welcoming them. Pushing thoughts away or resisting them will only make you think about them more. By accepting and welcoming your thoughts, you'll feel freer. If you don't like the thoughts you're having, place them into a pleasant image in your mind. For example, imagine that your mind is the blue sky and your thoughts are clouds passing through it, or that your mind is a river and your thoughts are branches flowing in it. That way, you allow your thoughts to come and go without clinging to them. Just watch them float away.
It's also a good idea to write down your thoughts before you start meditating. That way, you won't be keeping your thoughts inside and you'll avoid obsessing over them. Write down all your thoughts without analysing or judging them – the important thing is to express yourself. Putting your thoughts on paper will help you feel more relaxed when you start meditating.
Meditation teaches us not to cling to our thoughts and not to run away with them. It's about letting thoughts come and go without getting carried away by the story or emotions they may bring up. So, when a thought arises, see the thought, touch it, and gently bring your attention back to your breath. If it's an important thought, make a mental note to come back to it later. If it's irrelevant, note that and then gently bring your attention back to your breath.
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Frequently asked questions
It is perfectly normal for your mind to wander while meditating, and it happens to both beginners and experienced practitioners. One way to stop your thoughts from wandering is to have a task to focus on, such as breathing exercises or drawing shapes in your imagination.
Active meditation or focused meditation is a type of meditation that gives you a task to do that takes up all of your attention and occupies your brain's working capacity, leaving less room for intrusive thoughts. An example of an active meditation task is to visualise a word that describes an emotion you want to feel more of, such as "joy" or "calm", and then imagine writing this word in your head.
Instead of trying to avoid your thoughts, try to become an observer of them. You can also repeat a simple mantra to yourself, such as "peace, peace, peace".
Start by meditating at the same time and in the same place every day. This will create a routine that trains your brain to get into the meditation zone automatically.
Many people feel this way, especially if they are new to the practice. It is important to remember that meditation is not about stopping your thoughts completely or achieving a blank mind. Instead, it is about learning to observe your thoughts without getting carried away by them.
