RE: Instagram Meditation: A Guide
A few days ago I went to a talk about "Learning through your dreams". The lecturer talked a little about several topics, the subconscious mind, energetic bodies, senses beyong the official five, etc, but specially about the importance of remembering your dreams, where meditation before and after sleeping can be a useful tool. I asked him about meditation, if it's possible to reach that state of "being in blank", which I've never attained. "Where do you get that from?", he said, and I replied, well, many sources I have consulted, many meditations workshops I have assisted, at some point they tell you "clear any thought". Well, many other say "observe your thoughts, let them pass, release them, don't focus on them, focus on your breathing", as you say. But the lecturer just responded: "If I ask you not to think of a green bear, what happens next?", of course that's the first thing you do. You can command your mind like that, it doesn't work that way. "The mind is the lunatic of the house", he said. Yes, you can reach that state of not thinking in anything specific, but by focusing in something, a mantra, a point in space with your eyes open, your breath, etc.
On that topic, in a session of Yoga Nidra (which I described in this post, I think it needs some pictures, but in the future I will add them), our yoga teacher told us: "The mind is like a child: curious and fearful. The child mind doesn't want to be ignored by us, but we have to treat it in a loving way, not judge it or scold it. The more you forbid things from a child, the more he or she wants to do them."
That's a really great answer. I should have been a bit more careful in my comment, what I meant to say was that the idea that you can clear your mind seems daunting to many novice meditators, and might even put them off of it.
By stating it like you did, at least it's clear they should not worry and focus on their anchor, and the clear mind will follow. That even gives them an incentive to continue even if it's "not working" at first.
I believe that any endeavor should be tackled from process-orientation rather than outcome-orientation. While the goal is to achieve those moments of stillness, to achieve that outcome you can't focus on the outcome. Rather you need to focus on the process itself: breathing at a steady pace, being aware of any tension in body and feeling the sensation of being at ease in your body. When you're so focused on these things, the thoughts become softer and softer to the point of silence because you're so preoccupied with being present. Kind of like when you're in a heated discussion with a friend and you can't pay attention to anything else.