60,000 Thoughts a Day? From Restless to Relaxed.
Practical Ways to Still a Racing Mind.
I know you’ve experienced this before. I sure have. You wake up at 3 am, and even before you can roll over in bed, your mind starts racing. All you want is a few more hours of sleep. You are still tired, but your mind will not slow down. It jumps from one thought to another, anticipating, worrying, and stirring up things you haven't thought of in years. As the clock ticks, inching you closer to morning, panic sets in because you have a full day ahead. You need to be sharp and well-rested. You desperately wish for a volume switch to quiet your brain.
This one might sound familiar too. You get to work with a deadline to meet, but your focus is everywhere except where you need it to be. Why is your mind so all over the place right now? You just can’t grasp the few hours of concentration you need to put the pressing task behind you.
According to yoga philosophy, the Buddhi, the higher mind, functions to discern and classify all incoming impressions. When the mind chatter is especially strong, we may end up anxious, restless, scattered, and distracted- a rajasic (activated) state known as kshipta. We take on the elemental qualities of air and ether becoming mentally mobile and uncontained. Fred Luskin, a researcher at Stanford University says we average 60,000 thoughts a day, 90% of them repetitive. While expansive thinking is essential at times for problem-solving and bursts of creativity, the incessant stream of thoughts steals our concentration and dilutes our mental power.
At the heart of Patanjali’s yoga sutra is the sloka,
योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोध yogas-chitta-vritti-nirodha. Yoga is the freedom from fluctuations of the mind.
This phrase is one of the most definitive teachings of yoga. The realization that true liberation comes from our power over the mind. There are countless techniques to tame the thoughts through mindfulness, meditation, and concentration. But let’s look at some more practical ways to bring these skills to life in your day to day:
Drop into your body
It is easy to get so caught up in your head that you forget you are living in a body. Begin to draw your awareness to the feeling sensations of the body. Scan throughout the body. What do you notice? Take a mental inventory of what your body is telling you instead of your mind. Is there some sort of signal or message to be felt not thought. What could you do to support your body toward more comfort and ease? Move, stretch, rest?
Connect to your senses- 5-4-3-2-1:
This is an oldie, but a goodie. Ground yourself in the present moment by engaging your senses. Sensory awareness is a great way to reconnect to the present moment and draw out of your thoughts.
Focus on the breath. Take a deep belly breath to start.
LOOK: Look around you for 5 things that you can see. Look at the details and let your eyes rest slowly to linger on each object.
FEEL: Focus on your body and choose 4 things that you can feel and say them out loud.
LISTEN: Listen for 3 sounds. Say the three sounds out loud.
SMELL: Name two things you can smell. Say the smells out loud.
TASTE: Say one thing you can taste. Say this out loud.
Take another deep belly breath to end.
Mantra, Affirmation, or Song:
To break mind chatter, give the mind something to say or repeat. You can try repeating a simple mantra like Om. Or maybe there is an affirmative phrase that dispels worry or builds confidence to repeat slowly with the breath. Also, never underestimate the power of a song. Put on some music you like to sing along to and belt it out. The vibration of your vocal chords will ground and calm you. And while the mind may be able to go from thought to thought, chances are it can’t focus on lyrics AND something else.
Download:
Grab a journal and go. Write it all down. Get all those spinning thoughts out on paper. The mind sometimes circles things through to try and remember and analyze. Once you get your thoughts on paper, the mind can relax a little. It knows you have the details recorded so it can let go of them. Journaling before bedtime can be a great way to release the mind from its work.
Create a container:
Get inquisitive for a moment. Why are your thoughts racing? Are you excited about something? Nervous? Is this a creative burst of ideas? Be curious about why you are thinking that one thought in particular. Is it random? Is it a memory or an anticipation? Rather than letting the mind run wild - name, label and contain what is running through your head. Instead of spinning more stories or judgements, see it for what it is. A thought.
Ground:
Feel your feet on the earth. Stand. Walk. Feel the cool earth beneath you. Gently bend your knees and then straighten the legs as if you were pushing the earth away. Imagine roots growing down from your feet deep into the earth. Breathe ~ inhale to 6 ~ exhale to 6.
Think of it like driving a little too fast. When you see a speed limit sign, you look at your speedometer to check your speed. Then you tap the breaks - once, maybe twice - just to feel like you are back in control. Our minds need the same evaluation and adjustment.
Yoga teaches that the mind is a tool to use, not a master to serve. We give so much importance to our thoughts. Yet, they are after all only thoughts. And while there might be value in the ideas you have, they are not who you are. To become overly-identified with them limits potential.
Know that you are not your thoughts. You are that entity behind the thoughts. Beyond all thought. A creative being with an inherent purpose.
Our greatest power is the realization that we are so much more than our mind stuff. We are body, heart, will, wisdom, choice, peace, chaos, human, animal, divine, earth, water, fire, air, ether, and existence. You are the truth of the “I am".
