Mindfulness

Do Not Chase Your Thoughts Meditation

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Whether you have been practicing for a long time or are just starting out an exercise we call the ‘do not chase your thoughts meditation’ will be useful for you. Just find a place where you can lay down on your back for about five minutes, put on some relaxing music, and while focusing on your breathing don’t try to suppress any thoughts that bubble up to the surface but don’t chase them either. Let them drift on past you, refocusing on being thoughtless.

The best analogy I can think of for this meditation is a surfer deciding which wave to ride when a set comes in. He knows he needs to be discerning. Even though he feels the movement of the waves under him he doesn’t paddle along to catch them, instead letting them move on without him as he waits for his ideal wave. Obviously in this analogy all the waves in the set are the various thoughts that bubble up to the surface and the spaces in between these waves are thoughtlessness.

You can let a thought drift by you without latching onto it, not trying to suppress it but also not letting it carry you away. This meditation will help you in the rest of your life because you’ll feel more equipped to center yourself in those stressful times where you feel like you can’t get out of your own head, where you can’t stop ruminating over something. You’ll be able to find some relief from those intense thoughts by remembering that you are the one who chooses whether or not to ride them.