Meditation has paved the way to reach high levels of spirituality and works as a doorway or insight into the mind of the spirit world. Learning to quiet your mind when meditating can be highly beneficial to your spiritual growth goals.
Silencing your mind in meditation can help you witness a more profound experience and also help you to master the technique. A still mind may aid spiritual growth in meditation and teach you more things about yourself, including mindfulness, patience, and mental wellness.
Being disciplined isn’t easy for everyone, and that’s okay. In the practice of meditation silence, we learn how to discipline our minds and separate ourselves from our surroundings while drawing focus on inner sounds like breathing.
Why is Learning How to Turn Your Mind off During Meditation Beneficial?
Besides the points already noted in this article, the silence that comes with a quiet mind also helps you to achieve the following aspects:
It opens your eyes to the spiritual side
Silent meditation opens your spiritual eyes to things the way they are, not the superficial exteriors that often dictate life on earth.
Hear the voice that speaks from within
You learn to become in tune with your inner voice. We all have an inner voice that helps us and guides us through life. It’s our connection to the Devine. We can’t always hear it clearly when the exterior noise of the world and its challenges come our way. When practicing silence in meditation, you learn to listen to that inner voice.
Acquire better ways to cope
Life can get tough, and dealing with tragic events or things that set us back from going forward can affect our lives emotionally and physically. Silence in meditation can help you manage challenging situations with grace.
Think of it as similar to becoming “water.” Like the legendary late Bruce Lee said, “…be water, my friend.” Water moves, taking on different shapes, so too will you eventually learn to manage and cope with different situations.
You will have more confidence
Meditation helps us grow and learn things about life and ourselves the more we practice it. In this zen frame of mind, you will also become more confident. Not only will you have the confidence to meditate and block out noises, but you will also develop confidence that will eminent into your daily and ordinary life.
Here are Effective Ways to Help You Turn off Your Mind During Meditation
#1 Start with breathing
Breathing is one of the most effective ways to get your mind and body ready for meditation or other spiritual practices like mantras. There are also many variations of breathing that helps people get ready.
Diaphragmatic breathing
Taking in huge breaths deeply from your stomach in and holding it momentarily before exhaling. Diaphragmatic breathing or also called deep breathing, is a fast way to get your body to relax if you’re feeling agitated, stressed and anxious.
Alternate nostril breathing
Alternate nostril breathing is also called “nadi shodhana” and it involves alternate nostril breathing while filling one lung at a time with air. It creates balance and also effectively creates calmness. Many people use alternate nostril breathing before beginning a meditation process since it helps silence the mind. It is also a good technique before you start your yoga.
#2 Comfortability is important
Perhaps even before you get to breathing, you may want to consider your comfortability. Are you feeling comfortable moving around as you go through various poses in yoga or even just to be comfortable doing small ground stretches?
Ensure that you’re wearing suitable and comfortable clothes and that you have the correct equipment to aid your process. If a stretch position feels uncomfortable, you can modify it to suit your flexibility.
#3 Listen to your breathe and form shapes with it
Focus on your breath and try imagining different shapes with your breath. For example, you breathe in the side of a rectangle and then exhale the length, inhale the other side, and exhale the rest of the shape.
Shape breathing is almost a way of distraction. Still, it aids the focus of your mind to collaborate individually with your brain.
#4 Make your thoughts a visual expression
Thoughts tend to have a mind of their own. When we try to avoid them, they keep coming. Instead of trying to rid your mind of its thoughts, rather embrace and welcome them.
Try to visualize and see your thoughts as the wind or as clouds blowing in the wind. Watch how your thoughts shift from one thing to the next without letting it take too much focus. Breathing as an anchor helps manage thoughts from persisting during your meditation time.
#5 Meditate in silence regularly
When it comes to mastering of how to turn your mind off during meditation, you can become better when you do so regularly. Set time aside in your day for meditation and practice these points mentioned.
With time, you’ll become better at it. Soon enough, there won’t be a feeling of too many thoughts invading your head during this time. You will also notice that you’ve become more composed and mindful of where you are and what you’re doing.
Conclusion for How to Turn Your Mind Off In Meditation
When it comes to growing and investing in meditation as well as spiritual growth, you cannot put a timeframe on it. Since we are all different, how quickly you learn to train your mind to be silent during meditation may not be the same as the speed of which someone else reaches this milestone.