Meditation Myth: You Need to Get Rid of Your Thoughts

In today's episode of the podcast, I'm discussing the most common meditation myth: the idea that you need to get rid of your thoughts. You'll hear about Mindfulness of Thinking, how thoughts fit in to meditation practice, what we can learn by observing those thoughts, and some techniques to try.

I’m hoping that if you’ve heard this meditation myth, you’ve also had someone tell you it’s false! But here’s the thing - just having the myth busted probably isn’t enough. You can know that you don’t have to get rid of your thoughts to meditate…but what next? 

You also need to know what to do with all those thoughts, and how to go about your practice. Fortunately, there are ways to work with the mind – it’s not like you just have to sit there and suffer through all your thoughts and hope for the best.

We’ll cover:

-    how paying attention to the mind is an essential part of Mindfulness Meditation
-    how to “step back” from the waterfall of thoughts and observe what’s going on
-    how your nervous system may be driving the busy-ness in your mind
-    several mindful inquiries you can use to explore the thinking process, without getting lost in it.

I also talk about one of my first meditation retreats, where something triggering came up and I got really stuck on some thoughts. It was during this experience that I learned one of my favorite meditation techniques (foreground/background) from one of the teachers on the retreat, Larry Yang.

If you’ve said, “I can’t meditate because my mind is too busy” or “I tried meditation, but I couldn’t stop thinking,” then please listen to this episode! I hope it will give you another way of looking at meditation, as well as some useful tools for working with your mind.
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For more links and resources mentioned in this episode, find the show notes at movedtomeditate.yoga/podcast.

And, you can sign up for your "Library Card" to access this month's FREE practices in the Moved To Meditate Class Library!

Feel free to reach out through my website with your thoughts on this episode. You can also connect with me on Instagram at @addie_movedtomeditate (for mindfulness, movement, yoga, and pictures of PNW nature and my adorable kitty, Mustache).