Meditation : letting go vs. pushing away ?

[Pauline Bureau]

I have been told several times that while meditating or even during the day, when thoughts come in, one should not push them away, but just watch them and let them pass. Yet, I find it sometimes hard to FEEL the difference. I think I am letting them go but at the same time I try to focus on something else than the thought itself, like a body sensation or a sensory perception, as to urge and help the passing of the thought and not let it "stick" onto me. But isn'it a kind of manipulation ?

 

Meanwhile, I also find that naming the thought like "oh, this is jealousy", or "oh, this is this boy again" etc helps to distance myself from it and therefore to let it pass, but maybe that using words during the meditation (even though I only pronounce them in my mind) might prevent me from reaching a meditative state of consciousness when the rational mind shut down ? 

 

Thanks in advance for your accounts and advice and time ! 

[Howard]

Mentally labeling an experience isn't too much of an issue unless you over do it for every little thing.

 

You could just mentally note/tap it once like "jealousy" and then move on.

 

Remember you aren't noting it to make it go away. You are noting it just to note it.

Edited August 1, 2019 by Howard

[OctagonOctopus]

Jealousy is an emotional tension in ones body that is coming up with a associated thought. Notice how there is always a thought tied together with an emotion, and tension in the body. Emotions are like the colour of the thought, and the thought is the shape. So jealousy is a feeling, a thought is images/ symbols, they are tied together but the thought is really neutral. Just label all thoughts as ‘thought’ nothing more. Then observe it and wait until something new comes into awareness, and observe that, and so on. 

[Commodent]

As long as you're aware of what's going on, you're meditating. In general, I think one should aim towards less and less technique.

[Gadasaa]

@Pauline Bureau According to Eckart Tolle, we shouldn't even label our thoughts and feelings. Just notice them. Why? If we start to label, we're using the mind to stop the mind itself which will never work. It's like trying to stop running by running. You see. 

[Forestluv]

@Pauline Bureau I think there is a tendency for meditators to consider thoughts as bad that they want to get rid of during meditation. Thoughts are appearing Now, just like all other appearances. Yet when my mind is a chatterbox, the thoughts seem front-and-center, loud and intrusive and I can get so immersed in them, I don’t notice much else in the environment. It’s not like I even meditated, more like I sat down for a while thinking. So if my mind is busy, I do put some effort into slowing the thinking mind. The classic grounding techniques are being mindful of the breath and chanting. There are also various other techniques in kriya yoga that settles the mind. Another one I designed myself is to place a candle at a certain distance away such that the candle flame is still, yet moves with my exhales. For some reason, my mind gets centered staring at the candle and observing the interplay between breath and candle movement. I begin to lose sense of Inner me and outer me. When awareness can’t be located and seems sorta outside of my head, it’s a meditative state with good resonance. Here, thoughts feel far away -  as if they are a small voice in another room - or a faint bird chirp from outside. They are not intrusive or bothersome and don’t have any power. 

[Truth Addict]

@Pauline Bureau

It seems to me like you have some things in life that you're afraid of, and therefore thoughts about them that you're afraid to face.

If that is the case, then whenever you encounter a thought that you resist, simply stay with it and keep questioning it to death. You will find freedom at the end of every line.