Clear Your Mind for Meditation

In this article, we will show you how to learn how to clear your mind.

Meditation is known to have many benefits not only for your mental health but your physical health as well. However, many struggle to master meditation. There are a lot of people who think meditation “isn’t for them” or it’s “too hard.” Anyone can practice meditation, and even young children can learn to meditate.

The first skill to master for meditation is clearing your mind. This can be one of the hardest things for a beginner to learn, but it is one of the most important. With a little practice, you can clear your mind for meditation.

In this article, we will show you how to learn how to clear your mind. Once you have this one crucial skill down, you will find meditating much easier and more enjoyable.

How a Clear Mind Can Help You Outside of Meditation

Finding the right way to clear your mind can benefit you in so many ways. You can manage your entire life more effectively when you have better control over your thoughts.

You’ll find that you have more creativity. We can be bogged down with too many thoughts and worries to get into a creative flow. You can better harness your creative energy and put it to use by clearing your mind.

A clear mind will also give you more energy overall. The constant bombardment of unnecessary thoughts is enough to drain you. Having control over your mind allows you to use your energy on what you want.

Clearing your mind also allows you to have more mindfulness and presence. It’s important to enjoy your life and be in the moment instead of worrying about the future and the past.

You will also find it easier to deal with negative emotions and situations. This is a natural result of having control over your mind and thoughts. You will find yourself overreacting to things much less.

Meditation and the ability to clear the mind of thoughts you don’t need also offer the great benefit of better mental function. You will learn new things much more accessible, and your memory will significantly improve.

Why Is It So Hard To Clear The Mind?

Almost anyone who has tried to meditate has had issues clearing their minds. In theory, it seems like it should be a simple task. Why do so many struggles with this?

The mind has a limited amount of attention available to it, and people usually have many different things to focus on in their lives. You could be concerned about work, your family, what to have for dinner, the bills, your house, your community, or your car. There are so many things that people are worrying and thinking about throughout the day, and as mentioned before, the mind only has limited space to focus on a few of these at one time. Due to this, the mind is constantly filling space with what you feel you need to focus on.

So what happens when you try to clear your mind? The mind automatically tries to fill the empty space with things you feel you should be thinking about. Any time you clear out your mind, the first response is to fill it with new worries.

One great thing about meditation is it allows you to manage these thoughts and worries more successfully over time as you meditate frequently. The very problem that frustrates many into giving up on meditation is solved through meditation. Once you master changing your thought patterns through meditation, it becomes much easier to control them in your regular life.

How to Clear Your Mind Through Breathing

One of the most important techniques to learn for meditation is breathing. Breathing exercises and focusing on the breath are the best way to learn to clear your mind.

This is the process of breath focus through meditation:

The first and one of the most important steps is to find a comfortable position. One of the most distracting things you will run into during meditation is your body. If you are slightly uncomfortable, you’ll notice more and more as you try to meditate. Try to pick a spot where your body is entirely comfortable and you aren’t too hot or cold. Some people will even lay down to meditate, and this can be a good option.
Eliminate distracting noises. Some can find it hard to locate a place with absolutely no noise. The best thing you can do is just eliminate noises that will distract you. A good suggestion is to use headphones and turn on music or noise without words. Music without any lyrics can be a great sound to meditate to due to its consistent patterns.
Close your eyes. It’s best to keep visual distractions at bay, especially when you’re first starting out.
At this point, you need to direct your attention to your breathing. You can’t simply clear your mind to the point of emptiness. You need a point of focus to fill your mind with. Pay attention to your breath as it goes in and out of your body and where your breath is at all times.
Take deep breaths in through your nose. You should breathe in for about two seconds, and you should count these in your mind.
Next, breathe out through pursed lips. Breathe out completely and count to four as you do.
Make sure you are breathing using your diaphragm. This is when your stomach moves out when you breathe in and moves in when you exhale.

Throughout this process, keep your attention entirely focused on your breath. Your mind may wander, but simply redirect your mind back to your breath when you notice other thoughts intruding. You may do this many times, but it will happen less and less with practice.

Active Meditation

Many people find success with active meditation. There are two primary forms which include movement meditation and focused thought meditation.

Movement

Movement meditation is simply moving while you meditate. You can choose to take a slow, relaxed walk or even tread water in a pool. In this meditation, you still take deep breaths and focus on using the entire capacity of your lungs through your diaphragm. In this meditation, you are able to direct your focus to your movement as well, your legs moving, your arms swinging. Movement meditation focuses on your body, filling your mind, and keeping unwanted thoughts out.

Focused Thought

Focused thought meditation can be combined with movement or choosing a comfortable place. With this mediation, you focus on specific words or feelings instead of just your breath. You should always choose something that has a positive meaning to you. You can imagine this word written in your mind as a specific color and use your mind to write this word over and over in your mind. Focus on the creation of the letters, each one at a time.

Final Thoughts

Meditation can be a beneficial practice but, clearing your mind can seem like a challenge. Clearing your mind requires you to fill it with different things. Meditation is the act of choosing what you fill your mind with instead of simply emptying it. With the practice of the techniques discussed, you can achieve a clear mind a reap the rewards of meditation yourself.