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Stilling Your Mind:
Not Necessarily the Aim of Meditation
Copyright
© 2007 Jim Malloy
Other
Lectures in the Series
What in the World is Going On?! How the Planetary Consciousness Shift May Be Affecting You
Will & Grace
Having a Hard Time Meditating Daily? Listen to Your Evolutionary Angel
Higher Guidance - It's Closer Than You May Think
How Deep is Your Self Love?
Meditation & Calming Emotional Storms
A Daily Dip in the Light
Staying Connected
It is the nature of your mind to think. Therefore, attempting through sheer effort to make your mind stop doing what it was designed to do - produce thoughts - is essentially like trying to stop a river from flowing.
There seems to be a universal misconception that stilling the mind and eliminating thoughts in order to experience inner silence is the primary aim of meditation. There are, in fact, many possible meditation experiences and inner silence is only one of them. Virtually all the different states of awareness you may experience in meditation are ok and beneficial... integral parts of the larger process of growth, healing and transformation which meditation catalyzes.
With that said, however, the serenity of inner silence is indeed a very enjoyable experience and a welcome respite from a noisy world. So if you are seeking to experience a bit of silence in your meditation, what can you do?
Trust the Method
The first thing you can do, is to learn to trust the method you are using, and allow it to do the work. Most meditation techniques - especially those in which you direct your attention to one primary object of focus, such as breath, mantra, etc. - are reasonably effective at calming the mind.
Many beginning meditators think that they have to make themselves relax and become quiet. So if no dramatic shift occurs within the first few minutes, rather than giving the method time to work, they tend to step in and try to control the process - attempting to relax themselves and/or trying to push the thoughts out. This is partly an extension of how we are conditioned to be in control of everything in our daily lives, and partly due to the erroneous notion that meditation is all about controlling the mind.
With continued meditation, you do get better at focussing your attention. And yes, "mastering the mind" is a part of the spiritual awakening process. But this should not be the concern of beginning meditators. For most beginners, trying to master their mind is comparable to a 10 year old trying to ride in the Kentucky Derby.
So if you are basically a beginner at meditation, I suggest you refrain from futile attempts at controlling your mind and subduing your thoughts. It will only frustrate you. Instead, at the beginning of each meditation, I suggest you make a commitment to trust the method... following the basic steps with relaxed effort, and completely accepting whatever occurs during your session.
 You may be saying, "But what if my mind is all over the place? There are so many thoughts, and they are continually pulling me off my object of focus. Sometimes this goes on for the whole meditation!" You are certainly not alone in this experience. This is what many - if not most - beginning meditators experience. However, you may also notice that some days there are more thoughts and your attention will wonder more, whereas other days there are less thoughts, and it is easier to focus. On these days, the relaxation and inner peace may occur with little or no effort. This is due to many factors, most of which are totally beyond your control.
So on those days when there seems to be nothing but thoughts, what do you do? First, here are a few suggestions for what not to do: * Do not berate yourself for being unable to stay focussed. * Do not allow yourself to get frustrated, thinking, "I'll never be able to do this!" * And do not try to force your mind to shut up.
Simply bring your attention back to your object of focus as often as you remember, and as many time as you need to.
Although you may think you are gaining no benefit whatsoever from a meditation consisting of nothing but thoughts and a wandering mind, that is far from true. Every time you sit down, close your eyes, and begin the meditation process, something valuable is happening... often on a deeper level than you are aware of.
Thoughts as Toxic Run-off
Among the valuable things occurring, is that many of those thoughts which you think should not be there are actually the residue of accumulated physical-emotional toxins being released... cleansed from your system. That's right. When you are releasing these toxins in meditation - which is an exceptionally beneficial thing - the negative energy being released tends to take the form of thoughts. So in most cases, the more toxins that are being released, the more thoughts you will have. Therefore, if those thoughts you are struggling against in your meditation are simply toxic "run-off", it is actually to your advantage to give them room to run.
 This is just one of the beneficial things occurring when it "seems" like nothing is happening in your meditation but lots of thoughts. Another, is that whenever you sit to meditate, you are attracting powerful positive energies, which work at a deep level of your being... refining the energy of your body-mind, expanding your awareness, awakening your untapped potentials, and more. (For more information on these energies see Will & Grace)
As you learn to trust the method and allow it to do the work, you will begin to experience spontaneous moments of quietness more frequently in your meditation. This is part of the paradox of the meditation process... generally the less you try to make yourself become quiet, the more quietness you get.
Aside from letting the method do the work, what else can you do to experience some inner quietness when you meditate?
Going Places Beyond Your Mind
 It is mainly because we are so identified with our mind and thoughts, that most schools of meditation teach that stilling the mind is the way to experience inner peace in meditation. But your mind is not "the only show in town". It may seem like it is, because it is so adept at keeping you enthralled with its ongoing theatrical production. But your mind is only part of your inner terrain. Your inner terrain also consists of your emotional self, your vital energy system, and your etheric body... and beyond these is your pure inner awareness. Because this awareness is centered in your heart chakra, we will call it your heart-awareness. Your heart-awareness is the part of you that is conscious of all that is going on - internally and externally - but does not become involved in it... does not become enmeshed in the drama. It is your silent inner observer... always calm and at peace. Your heart-awareness is one and the same as your innermost essence or spirit.
Although your heart awareness is non-physical, it somehow has a spacial reality, which is centered in your heart, extending outward to about the size of your upper body, although it can expand and become larger at times.
Experiencing silence in meditation can occur when your attention becomes absorbed in your quiet inner awareness. It is not necessarily dependent on the state of your mind, which may or may not become still at the time. In other words, you can be enjoying a wonderful state of inner peace, and your thoughts may still be coming and going, but it is as though they are off in the distance and not intruding on your quiet inner space.
 As an analogy... imagine you are at a party and the main room is filled with people, all talking at once, creating a constant, high level of noise in the room. At some point you think, "I need a break from all this noise". So you leave the room to explore the rest of the house in hopes of finding a bit of peace and quiet. While wandering through the house, you discover a back door which leads outside onto a large wooden deck. As you step out the door onto the deck, you find yourself under the stars on a clear, tranquil night. In the distance you can still hear the noise of the party, but it is only a faint drone from where you are, and it is so peaceful here on the deck that the distant voices can't intrude and detract from the tranquility. You are completely at peace here, regardless of what is going elsewhere.
Similarly, in meditation your attention can shift away from your mind to your quiet heart-awareness. How? Sometimes the method you are using will cause this to occur spontaneously, without any specific effort on your part. You just suddenly find yourself absorbed in a deeply peaceful state. The deepest experiences of this quiet inner awareness are generally spontaneous... effortless.
However, once you have become familiar with your quiet heart-awareness, and have discovered the difference between that and your mind, you can learn to intentionally shift your attention to this quiet space.
Heart-awareness Meditation
Here is a simple meditation for experiencing your quiet heart-awareness. I suggest that you put aside any expectations of becoming deeply absorbed in this peaceful awareness, although if the conditions are right, this may happen. It would be best if you approach this exercise with the aim of simply discovering your heart-awareness and getting a taste of this quiet space.
1. Sit comfortably with your spine reasonably straight.
2. Bring your attention to the area where your heart is.
3. Centered in your heart, and extending outward to about the size of your upper body, is a calm, quiet space. Take a few moments just to get a sense of that space.
4. This quiet space is your pure inner awareness... your heart-awareness. It is not something separate from you - it is the part of you that is aware of everything else.
5. Take some time to discover the feeling of being centered in your heart-awareness. Just breathe and be in your quiet heart-awareness.
6. Notice that your heart-awareness is located away from your mind. Allow your mind to continue thinking, while you remain centered in your quiet heart-awareness.
7. When you notice that you have become involved with the thoughts in your mind, gently shift your attention back to your heart-awareness.
Once you've learned how to find this space, whenever the party in your mind becomes too noisy, you can just step out onto the tranquil deck of your quiet heart-awareness.
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