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Besides how long and what’s the ideal time to meditate, another question that often arises in the mind of someone new to meditation is what to think about during meditation. Regarding this question, several experts have shared their opinions.Think About Nothing While Maintaining Consciousness
Several experts, including Naiwen Hu and Gwo-Bin Wu, recommended thinking about nothing during meditation. However, while your mind is empty, you should still keep your consciousness and self-awareness in the process, and very importantly, avoid falling asleep.Hu, an internationally renowned traditional Chinese medicine doctor, has studied several different practices involving meditation in the past. “All the practices that I have studied require you to not think about anything during meditation,” he said.
Wu is the director of Xinhetang Chinese Medicine Clinic in Taiwan. According to him, “your mind must be calm and empty” to achieve the most effective state of meditation.
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“Don’t look, don’t listen, and keep your mind calm. Then your entire body will become stable and relaxed, and then it will automatically start its adjustments and tonification in this state of stillness.
“Just let go of all your daily worries, and relax,” he said. “If you experience distracting thoughts, you should learn to distinguish them from yourself, your own mind.”
If you fill your mind with distracting thoughts, then sitting there for 10 hours will still not be effective. Once your mind is still, you will be able to feel the energy running through your body, said Wu.
Focus on Your Feelings
For certain meditation types, such as mindfulness meditation, which is currently quite popular in the West, you are supposed to focus on your feelings and senses experienced during the meditative process.When doing mindfulness meditation, you should be “very focused on the present moment, both your internal processes, as well as external processes. You notice the temperature in the room, you notice your breathing, and you notice your thoughts. Your brain is very active,” said Dr. Jessica Russo, a clinical psychologist based in Philadelphia.
“There’s something about being relaxed, but alert, which is very healing for the brain and the body,” she said.
Listen to Music
Listening to music can help your mind become calm, relaxed, and ready to act, but not active or sleepy, which is being in the “alpha state,” as per Ellen Wang, certified functional nutritional counselor and neuro therapist. This state is achieved when your brain emits alpha brain waves. “The alpha waves are prominent when you are in a calm state,” said Wang.Story continues below advertisement
In her opinion, different music frequencies can “encourage the increase of different brain waves to help your brain get into a specific state. For example, if you want to meditate, the music can assist you to get into a meditative state, or relaxation state.”
Count Breaths and Imagine Colors
Meg Frodel is a holistic health counselor, licensed acupuncturist, and certified yoga instructor. She recommends counting breaths and imagining colors.Frodel explained, “It’s helpful to imagine colors, because when you do, you start to use the right side of your brain, which is more relaxed and creative than your left brain.” As the right brain is not the linear side, using it automatically switches you out of the “fight or flight” state, which helps your body relax and adjust itself.
Focus on Breathing
Another way to occupy your mind during meditation is to focus on your breathing.This method is recommended by Dr. Sony Sherpa, who is a holistic physician. She said, “Through the focused breathing of meditation, you can learn to center your attention on controlling your thoughts and relaxing tense muscles.”
“And if somebody has a busy brain, it can be very helpful for them to count their breaths,” said Frodel.
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