Are you supposed to think while meditating?

It isn't necessarily a bad thing

Mindful attention to thoughts has a calming effect. Image: Pexels

It's a common misconception that you should be able to completely clear your mind while you're meditating. We asked two experts to answer one of meditation’s most commonly asked questions. 

Listening to a guided meditation on the 10 Percent Happier App some years ago, I’ll never forget Canadian teacher, Jeff Warren saying, “The mind secretes thoughts the way the stomach secretes digestive enzymes.”

The fact that we cannot control our thoughts was a revelation. And it made complete sense why, at the most inappropriate times, advertising jingles from the 80s would start to dance around my lips.

So, if it is literally impossible to turn off the tap of incessant mind-chatter, what are we actually trying to achieve by sitting eyes cast down in the lotus position?

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What a meditation teacher says

“The purpose of mindfulness meditation is not to empty the mind, but to be aware of all of our experience, including thoughts,” says Suzie Brown, an Australian insight meditation and mindfulness teacher.

“You can’t stop the mind from naturally doing its job and if you try, you create a battle which tends to make the thinking increase,” she says.

You might have experienced that proliferation of ideas, where one thought leads to another. Suddenly, your mind is transported to somewhere seemingly unrelated, and you can’t figure out how you got there.

The instruction isn’t to suppress or ignore thoughts and it’s definitely not about getting all Judge Judy on them. The fundamental skill of mindfulness meditation is to observe the mind with kind attention without getting lost in a particular story.

Mindful awareness can help us become more aware of our habitual thoughts. Image: Pexels

“I encourage people to allow thoughts to arise and pass on by without getting involved in the content,” says Suzie.

“What that means, is you then have awareness of the movement of thoughts. With mindfulness and awareness can you observe thoughts without getting caught up in the content of them,” she says.

Softly noting each thought is one technique that is helpful to remain consciously aware of thinking.

“Labelling is a moment of mindfulness,” says Suzie. “You can use labels like, ‘memories’, ‘judging', ‘worrying’ or ‘planning’. By labelling the type of thought, you can see it in the bigger picture rather than being caught up in the content of it.”

Once you start noting thoughts as objects and not getting swept up in their stories, you soon realise that just because you thought it, doesn’t make it true. Teachers of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy use this expression, “Thoughts are not facts - even the ones that tell you they are.”

“Being able to be more present and focused reduces stress and overstimulation,” says Suzie.

What a scientist says

Cognitive Neuroscientist, Dr David Vago, has been conducting research on the relevance of mindful and meditative practices at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and is a founding leader of the International Society for Contemplative Research.

David says, what is known as the brain’s default mode network is responsible for self-reflection including our memories, judgements and evaluations.

It’s this part of the mind that is the most active when our mind is walkabout and can stimulate negative emotions.

The purpose of mindfulness meditation is not to empty the mind. Image: Getty

“A study conducted by Harvard psychologists Matt Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert found mind-wandering happened 47 per cent of the time – no matter what people were doing and this mind-wandering was causally linked to unhappiness,” says David.

What David has found in his studies of the brain is that mindful attention to thoughts has a calming effect.

“Neuroimaging research on mindfulness practice has often found decreases in default mode network activity during the moments of meditation in which attention and concentration are successfully targeting an object like the breath,” he says.

Interestingly, you don’t have to be in a meditative state to get the benefits.

“Decreased activity in the default mode network is observed with any cognitive process that requires attentional effort,” says Dr Vago.

“Mindfully paying attention to our thoughts is similar to mind-wandering, but critically involves the process of meta-awareness – a higher-order cognitive process of monitoring thoughts, sensations and feelings without focusing on any one thought, sensation or feeling,” he says.

Meta-awareness is being conscious of your direct experience, unlike James Joyce’s Mr Duffy who, “...lived a short distance from his body.”

Start noting thoughts as objects instead of getting swept up in their stories. Image: Getty

For example, it’s the end of a busy day and a difficult conversation you had hours earlier is on a loop playing out a raft of scenarios if only you’d said.

Perhaps you become aware of tightness in your hands and notice they’re balled into fists, half-moons imprinted into your palms from your fingernails. That moment of realisation snaps you into the present allowing the opportunity to relax your hands and appreciate your dramatic screenplay could be worthy of a Logie Award.

“Mindful awareness can help us become more aware of our habitual thoughts and feelings, improving our ability to reduce thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that are not serving us well,” says David.

So next time you give meditation a crack, remember these two words; Mind. Full. You could even try playing a game of counting how many thoughts you have, discerning which ones are helpful and which ones are not.

If your mind is so busy it needs a virtual assistant, take heart. Jack Kornfield, a clinical psychologist credited as being one of the key teachers to introduce mindfulness to the West says, “It’s called a meditation practice, not a perfect.”

Originally published as Are you supposed to think while meditating?