A practice to go beneath thought

Thoughts often get in the way of your meditation practice, but trying to force them away won’t work.  Your brain is a busy place, flooded with thoughts, sensations, memories, and worries about the future.  It takes time to train the brain to allow all of this activity to fall away without getting caught up in the sensations and stories your brain likes to engage with.  

It may take time, but you can train your brain to watch your thoughts, your stories, and even your emotions from the place of the observer. 

The observer is a neutral spectator.  The observer is not emotionally attached to these thoughts, emotions, or stories.  To the observer watching these mental phenomena is no different than watching the waves roll onto a beach, and then roll back to sea.

You too can become the observer.  In this guided audio meditation I offer you the visualization of diving into the water, going deep beneath the mental activity that stays at the surface of the water.

Imagine diving beneath the waves at the surface of the water.  It may be choppy, or even stormy at the surface, but once you are beneath the waves, it is calm.  It is peaceful.  You can observe the movement of the water at the surface from beneath, in your quiet space.

The Practice

The goal of this practice is to use the breath to focus your thoughts, allowing you to slip into the quiet space beneath thought.  In this space, you are the observer of your thoughts.  

Start by sitting comfortably or lying on your back.  Take a moment to settle in and notice all the places your body meets the chair or floor.  

Bring your attention to your breath.  Choose one place to notice, where ever it feels most comfortable to notice. It may be on your mouth or nostrils noticing the gentle feeling of air moving in or out. Maybe you feel the breath in your chest, feeling the rise and fall of your chest as your breath.  Or maybe you notice your breath in your belly, noticing your belly rising and falling. Keep your attention on the breath, notice the sensation of each inhale and each exhale.  Let your awareness ride on the wave of breath.

Now, imagine you are looking at a lake or ocean.  You see ripples across the surface; these ripples may be tiny or big waves.  Imagine just watching each wave as it moves across the surface of the water.  Any thoughts that come up see if you can imagine them becoming waves.  As you watch the water, the wave appears, it moves across the water, eventually hits the shore, or is overtaken by another wave.  Let your thoughts be waves, they will still be there, but you can watch them from a distance, just as if you are watching the water from the shore.

You may choose to stay on the shore and watch the waves, or you may choose to dive into the water and go below the surface.

Imagine your mind is like the ocean, where it’s calm and clear beneath the surface.

From this deep place in the ocean, you can look up toward the surface, and no matter what the conditions are, whether it’s calm, choppy, or even stormy. Deep in the ocean, it’s calm and clear.  Imagine your thoughts, sensations, and perceptions, all on the surface of the water.  You watch from beneath the waves.

You are not the actions of your mind, you are the observer.

Anytime you notice you are no longer focused on your breath, gently turn your attention back to your breath.  The inhale flows in, the exhale flows out.  You ride the waves.

Take a few more breaths, inhale, exhale, and let yourself go deeper into this peaceful space.

Anytime you wish to return to this place, drop your gaze or close your eyes, turn your attention to your breath, and you will be back in this place of calm, beneath the actions of your mind.  

Take an inhale in, and then let it go with the exhale.  When you are ready, let your eyes open.

Ocean Mind Guided Audio

I have recorded a guided audio for you to practice the ocean mind meditation. The audio is about 9 minutes.

Ocean Mind Practice tips

For the best audio, and to increase the chances of not being disturbed, wear headphones if possible.

You may choose to create movement at any time in the practice.  If you become physically uncomfortable, switch positions, or create movements like rolling your shoulders, or letting your head or spine move.  Remember, there are no shoulds in this practice.  If you feel like you need to get up and walk away, you can do that.

Don’t force the breath.  Let the breath flow naturally, just observe your breath.  If you are not comfortable with the visualization of diving under the water, stay on the shore.  Imagine your thoughts are the waves that lap onto the shore and then flow back to sea.  You can sit safely back away from the water, watching.

If you notice you have lost yourself in thoughts, don’t worry.  We all have minds that think, a lot.  Gently guide your awareness back toward the sensations or sound of your breath.  Imagine the breath becoming a tide, the inhale gently moving inward, the exhale, the outgoing tide, gently rolling back to the water. 

Enjoy!