How to Silence Your Mind in Meditation

"What is separating you from this moment? When you feel the wind on your face,
what is separating you from that wind?

It is your thinking.

Someone is talking to you and you can't even listen because your mind is already
interpreting, judging and replying to what they are saying.

There is so much clutter that it is in the way of this moment.

Thinking separates you from this moment. Not thinking itself but your involvement with thinking, your taking on the perception of thought.

So to silence your mind, you simply become aware of what is here
beyond thinking and by focusing on that you start to clear away the clutter,
you start to empower the silence that is beyond all of the noise.

Another way to do this is just to become aware of the thoughts. Not to analyze or define them in any way. But just be aware of them, just to see them instead of blindly identifying with them.

Because if you are fully aware of the thought arising, the importance and meaning of that thought starts to fade,the thought gets blurry and become more subtle until it simply dissolves back into awareness itself.

It dissolves back into consciousness, the silence that remains unmoved beyond the thinking.

And through this practice, you begin to rest more and more in your natural state of pure consciousness.

Then you can really listen when someone is speaking. Because they don't want your interpretation and judgments, they want you to listen. That listening is love.

Do you ever get lost in the wind? You allow yourself to feel the wind so fully that there is no separation between you, the wind and feeling. It is all one.

There is no "ooh the wind feels nice" there's no commentary, there is just silence, fathomless silence. And in that you truly experience the wind. Because the sense of a separate me has been surrendered, you fully experience the wind.

All that clutter, even spiritual clutter, spiritual beliefs, get rid of all of it.
It's just in the way of your own realization.

So to silence your mind in meditation, begin to observe the thoughts arising and watch them dissolve back into silence. That is it. Do not try and control them or get rid of them. Allow them to come and watch how they dissolve back into silence when you do not hold on to them. Then let your attention become absorbed in the silence.

Just in this practice, within days, your whole life will come right. You will no longer understand what unhappiness is.

Because you are silence itself. And silence knows no unhappiness. It knows neither happiness nor unhappiness. It simply delightfully is.

Much love,

Kip" (Questions on Meditation Below)

Questions on How to Silence Your Mind

Question:

I am really struggling with trying to silence the mind. I try to just observe the thoughts without getting "involved" in them but I am not succeeding at it. I try to relax and just listen to the music and then all sorts of thoughts arise and I just build on them, until I've realized I have "strayed" and then attempt again.

Answer from Kip:

The easiest way to silence your mind is just to feel the bliss. If you listen to the CDs and you feel blissful, then just let your attention rest in the bliss.

Try a breathing exercise before you start meditating. Breathe shallow breaths in and out of your nose into your chest as fast as you can. In and out, in and out. Start with 100 breaths. Afterwards breathe in through your nose as much air as you can get in and breathe it out without pausing. Do this about 10 times. Then sit to meditate. There will be silence immediately for a period of time. Notice this.

Pick a meditation technique, silently repeating a mantra, silently repeating the name of a guru, silently repeating "I am" and focusing on the feeling of "I am." All of these are good.

Whatever you do, don't make it a goal to silence your mind or to be a witness of your thoughts. These are just techniques, they are not in themselves meditation. We practice the techniques just so that we have created a space for meditation to happen by itself. But if you are making it a goal, you separate yourself from meditation. So most important is to relax, accept yourself as you are and then from there meditate

Question:

Seems like I've already been analyzing and defining my thoughts before I become aware. Can one be aware of thoughts before the defining starts?

Answer from Kip:

Yes, absolutely. But first you may start after the thought has been defined and then you let it go.

And as you relax into it more over time, you can be aware of the thought before it even fully is a thought, all the way down to when it is just a movement of energy. And then at some point there may be times of absolute silence where there is no movement.

But this is not a goal. Just relax and watch. As they arise, you let them come and go. And in this witnessing, something will open up.

How to Silence Your Mind in Meditation

You cannot silence your mind through force or control. Rather, you begin to let go of your involvement with thinking and become aware of the silence beneath it.

Questions on How to Silence Your Mind