Name it to Tame It

Quieting the mind is probably the most difficult part of a meditation practice. If ever you’ve tried to sit in prayer or silence, you’ve probably experienced a lot of mental chatter inside your head. Lately, SMOW students have been focusing on a couple of techniques to help us find a bit more stillness.

We begin invoking the image of a front door right at the forehead and a back door at the back of the head. We visualize opening both doors as wide as possible, inviting any visitors to enter the hallway of our mind. While we are hospitable and accepting of visiting thoughts and feelings, we don’t invite them to sit down for a cup of tea. In one door, and out the other. No tea.

Another technique we practice is called “Name it to Tame It.” As thoughts or feelings pop into your consciousness, it helps to name them. For example, if you start thinking about what you have to do later that day, you name it: “oh, that’s planning.” Or you think about a conversation from last week: “oh, that’s remembering.” Or, you start beating yourself up because you can’t sit quietly: “oh, that’s judging.” Once we name what our mind is actually doing, we become aware of our distraction and return to begin again. Each time we realize we are distracted by a thought or feeling, we awaken to the nature of mind. 

The mind is like the sky. Even though clouds, sunshine, thunder or rainbows appear, the sky remains the sky. Weather patterns move through the sky without changing it. So too do emotions that move through our mind. We are not our feelings, but rather our feelings are moving through our field of consciousness. 

Cosmic Kids has a fantastic video called “Be the Pond” that explains this concept beautifully to kids and adults alike. While there are many different fish swimming through the pond, the pond remains the pond. The video encourages kids to “Be the Pond” and not become one of the many fish (or feelings) that swim through it. Google “Be the Pond” by Cosmic Kids for a lovely guided meditation that introduces this nourishing practice.