Thoughts in Meditation

By on February 24, 2009 in Meditation

Question:

 I’m new to meditation and have trouble getting into the gap between my thoughts. It seems that every time I try to meditate, thoughts keep running through my head.  I can’t make them stop!  What can I do to still my mind so that I can enter the gap between my thoughts and begin experiencing the benefits of meditation?
 
Answer:
 
Thoughts are a natural byproduct of the meditation process. You shouldn’t try to push thoughts away or resent them. They signal that a subcycle of your meditation period of settling down has completed. The mind has released some bit of old conditioning and has returned to the conscious level and is now ready to begin the cycle again.
 
And between the point where you were thinking the mantra and then found yourself thinking other thoughts, there was a brief discontinuity where the mind briefly experiences the gap. In the beginning, it is so fleeting that there is often no cognizance of it afterward. Over time however, that experience of the gap will become more familiar and open up and extend for longer periods of time. You may notice, for instance , after some thoughts pop up in your mind in meditation that just before then there was a space where you weren’t thinking the mantra, and you weren’t thinking any other thoughts either. You were just there awake, without thoughts. That is the gap, that is your Self.
 
That  experience will naturally develop as you continue meditation, but it has to be allowed to happen, you can’t make it happen by trying to clear your mind of thoughts, because that is just mental effort, or more thoughts.
 
Love,
Deepak
 

About Deepak Chopra

Time Magazine heralded Deepak Chopra as one of the 100 heroes and icons of the century, and credited him as "the poet-prophet of alternative medicine." Entertainment Weekly described Deepak Chopra as "Hollywood's man of the moment, one of publishing's best-selling and most prolific self-help authors." He is the author of more than 50 books and more than 100 audio, video and CD-Rom titles. He has been published on every continent and in dozens of languages. Fifteen of his books have landed on the New York Times Best-seller list. Toastmaster International recognized him as one of the top five outstanding speakers in the world. Through his over two decades of work since leaving his medical practice, Deepak continues to revolutionize common wisdom about the crucial connection between body, mind, spirit, and healing. His mission of "bridging the technological miracles of the west with the wisdom of the east" remains his thrust and provides the basis for his recognition as one of India's historically greatest ambassadors to the west. Chopra has been a keynote speaker at several academic institutions including Harvard Medical School, Harvard Business School, Harvard Divinity School, Kellogg School of Management, Stanford Business School and Wharton.His latest book is "Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul."
View all posts by Deepak Chopra →

36 Responses to Thoughts in Meditation

  1. dymty February 23, 2009 at 8:25 pm #

    I've been meditating (TM) since 1994 and I still have a head full of noise every single time: Music, thoughts, errata, etc. The only time I think I've come close to 'the gap' is when I am on the verge of nodding off but don't. I even took a course of Deepak's "Primordial Sound" meditation to no avail. Same incessant chatter. So I just sit there, saying my mantra, watching my breathing. It might be working though, but I have no idea. Half would say my life is okay, half would ask what the hell have I been doing for the last 15 years? (but I could say that about the last 25 years. yuk yuk)

  2. kathi.casey February 23, 2009 at 8:45 pm #

    Thank You Deepak for those encouraging words. I have been meditating for several years and some days I can find the gap, other times vriti creeps in, but I allways stay and wait for the noise to leave again. Just today, I was asked this same question about making one's thoughts stop by a very dear friend and was not sure how to answer in a way that would be easily understood, yet would leave him with the desire to continue trying. Thank you for your words of wisdom.

    Best of Health,

    Kathi

  3. shweta February 23, 2009 at 8:58 pm #

    Philips, your description of mind and meditation in post above was very cute and amusing. Your nodding off and coming close to gap brought smile right away.

  4. ardverk February 24, 2009 at 1:14 am #

    Have I the right to meditate when vast swathes of my fellow humans cry out for a willing ear?

  5. ardverk February 24, 2009 at 1:24 am #

    With a collective unconscious, perhaps it doesn't matter. The effect is just the same, inner or outer, whatever turns you on!

  6. Hello February 24, 2009 at 3:02 am #

    Of course you do, Ed :)

    The gap is very, very elusive to me too. The important thing is to continue sitting there the time you have promised yourself (not that I always do), be patient and to let the thoughts be. Often I going for a long walk before meditation helps me. It clears the mind and disperses some of the restlessness before meditation. I imagine any form exercise works but personally I favour walking. I have not tried this fully but I think it helps to really love your thoughts. When something appears you could try to send love to that thought and it will rest and no longer beg for your attention.

    Best of luck to us!

    Sara

  7. Hello February 24, 2009 at 3:03 am #

    ps: love and acceptance, maybe: ds

  8. runestone0 February 24, 2009 at 3:19 am #

    I found that in the Taoist mediation I do that the "gap" or as the Chinese would say "thought of no thoughts" comes during longer periods of meditation, somewhere between the half-hour and hour mark. I find it more difficult to achieve in say, 20 minutes–I have to go longer.

    I don't know if these periods are anything profound: i.e. realizing my true self. Or are they just tricks of the mind?

    Regards,

    Bob

  9. ardverk February 24, 2009 at 3:27 am #

    Walking; what an excellent suggestion, Sara.

    One can bump into all sorts of ear-bashing on the way and then go home to set the record straight in quiet oblivion. Farmers are not keen on a wild man frightening their sheep or telling them that God owns the land long before they.

    Ah, but I've cracked it. I meditate first and go into my walk like a ghost. It's amazing. I walk right by the farmers and they never see me, but the sheep always give me a nod and a wink.

  10. Hello February 24, 2009 at 3:43 am #

    Bob, the very question wether something is tricks of the mind or not is silly :) . EVERYTHING is consciousness. Also even if what you are experiencing for some reason isnt The Gap it is certainly close and if you just keep at it it will get stronger. There is nothing to be afraid of.

    Thank you for your support, Ed. Exactly. When you walk you let your thoughts wander as they like so when you come home you feel a bit more ready. Cleansed, if you like.

    I will have to think a bit more about the sheep and the farmers.

    Best Wishes

    Sara

  11. ardverk February 24, 2009 at 4:00 am #

    The mind is a very tricky place, Bob.

  12. runestone0 February 24, 2009 at 4:42 am #

    Sara,

    Regarding the thought of no thoughts, or the gap: If it could be talked about, everybody would've told his brother.

    As far as my being afraid of something, meditation or mind tricks don't qualify. The only things that make me afraid is something happening to my sons–or a third bone marrow transplant. And they can't give me one of those–my heart will explode.

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  14. mydomainpvt February 24, 2009 at 10:15 am #

    beautiful and helping post. thanks a lot deepak.

    god bless u.

    sharmishtha

  15. dymty February 25, 2009 at 8:14 am #

    Hi Shweta,

    HA! Maybe you have also (almost) fallen asleep during meditation? ;-)

  16. Ruch February 25, 2009 at 8:23 am #

    This 'GAP' is one of the very first things I heard of chopra's explanations and ways of meditating – But I never got around to figuring out that one. but then again I never was into meditation much.

  17. Adriana February 25, 2009 at 8:49 am #

    What I can share is my own experience…

    I have been practicing The Primordial Sound Meditations for 6 years and it is wonderful to tab in your true being if only for fraction of time, which is timeless. At first it was quite an experience, overcoming the fear of letting yourself go, in deep silence where a black velvet wraps you in its immensity. Rushira: The "gap" is the space between the thoughts, or the silence between the notes. After a while you start to open drawers you left closed time ago and also understand the timeless of "I am". From my experience it has been one of the ways to silence all the noise and recognize little by little that we are pure being.

    Although I do my primordial sound meditation daily, there are 3 types of experiences.

    My mind plays and leaps from thought to thought, even though, I try to push in the mantra.

    I get in the gap, now more often and it is not all the time.

    I fall asleep and it is ok, because as I wake up…the feeling is that something was washed out and cleansed.

    Adriana

  18. muqtada123 April 8, 2010 at 4:32 pm #

    If it is too hard to experience the real taste of meditation then you all are giving tension to your minds, keep them cool and you will think all the time positive and better for you at last. Craft Fairs

  19. rishi April 8, 2010 at 7:31 pm #

    If you been practicing for 15 years, no way that you could miss gap. Its just like the difference between deep sleep and OK sleep. With Deep sleep you just don't know but you feel more refreshed. So is a deep meditation. If you fall asleep then there was a transition state(gap) which you just don't know. The only way you could know is how centered/relaxed/calm/contented after you meditate. However that being said, sometime we just know it. So if you really like to deepen your practice, try attending seduction of spirit at chopra center. That being said, thoughts are part of my meditations and they really don't bother me much.

  20. Joshnod April 16, 2010 at 9:47 am #

    I always have a hard time getting started to meditate. What do you recommend to help calm your mind and get the thoughts out of head before starting meditation. International Health Insurance

  21. Marianna May 3, 2010 at 6:40 am #

    Positive thinking and a good and balanced positive attitude works for meditation and can get you started easier.

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    Your sharing is good for me. I am also face these type of situations last year. Then my one friend which is work in medical supply center. Told me about this meditation method. And its working well.

  24. suchi787 May 14, 2010 at 10:56 am #

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    CHnging the environment you are in while meditating could help. Background music or osunds…etc.

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  31. BV August 11, 2010 at 12:45 am #

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  35. tomsabb November 26, 2010 at 6:42 am #

    everything is ok with your meditation except that you may be feeling a bit guilty about the progress.. don't try to measure and count gaps. just be in a silent space and when you come out of your meditation, if you are calm and composed you have already progressed.. just persevere and keep finding your rhythm without any qualms.

  36. katrina March 14, 2011 at 8:23 am #

    You know you've made it when you are part of an episode of "Bull$#!T". I'm sure Deepak isn't part of a pyramid scheme, but I digress. Meditation is a state of mind. I've seen a lot of comments that this or that hasn't worked. Did you open up and let it try? It's like a diet. Only works if you want it to. -Texas