Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Spring Forest Qigong Difficulty visualizing and emptying mind of random thoughts

I am new to SFQ, started about 2 weeks ago. I have studied the manual, listened to the CDs, and viewed the practice video. My problem is that I cannot get my mind to stop. Stop thinking about work, projects, and problems. Is there a trick to get your mind emptied so as to focus on the visualization and the emptiness?

Jurgen

Aloha Jurgen and welcome,

Thats very common. Chuyni has said to thank them for showing up and let them leave. It's an ability you develop as you do the work over time.

You can search this Forum for "quiet" or "chatter" or "mind," as there are a lot of helpful pieces submitted over the years.

Much Love, Shawn

Thanks Shawn,

I will check out the other posts and keep on trying.

Jurgen

Dear Jurgen:

Dr. Deepak Chopra stated that our minds create 69,000 thoughts in a day, and that 90% of these mental constructs are the same as our thoughts yesterday, which are the same as the day before, and the day before, and the day before,….

Dr. Chopra points out that the purpose of any meditation is to quiet the mind to a single thought – be it a mantra, monitoring the breath, envisioning the image of a flame, or any number of focal points that help to focus the mind from its usual mental chatter to a single moment and thought.

The mind was created for thinking – albeit, at times, a bit helter-skelter. Initially, during meditation, a mind races – frequently dwelling on the past and fearful of the future. Meditation creates a focal point upon which the mind, through intention, can be returned. Naturally, thoughts will arise, and, as has been mentioned in previous discussions, they may be acknowledged; at which time, conscious thought may be gently redirected to the focal point. The mind will naturally float off in another direction of activity and chatter, at which time the practitioner may redirect conscious thought back to the focal point.

With practice, one will find greater ease in attaining a unified focus. Please, have patience, as your MindBody brings itself into greater ease, and your nervous system develops greater pathways of entrainment, you will notice lessened chatter and more relaxed meditation. For now, the active mind is normal and appropriate and should be acknowledged for all that it has had to purge and hold on to.

Is there a 'trick' to empty the mind? No, practice will naturally create the emptiness for you. Focus on your Qigong breathing and focus on your body sensations. If your mind wanders, gently return it within.

Love and Peace,
Joe

Dear Jurgen,

I had the very same problem when I began regular daily meditation after attending the level 1/2 seminar in early December. My monkey mind was all over the place.

I've been amazed at the progress on that end, so for now give yourself a break and know that quietness will come with time.

The way I handle the stray thoughts, pretty much in keeping with Master Lin's tips in his Born a Healer book, is to do this:

When it's a thought I need but not during the meditation (ie "what shall I make for dinner tonight?"), I say in my mind, "Thank you for coming. Please return when I need you."

When it's a thought I really would prefer never to have again because it's repetitive and counter-productive in my life (ie "oh why can't I lose weight," "the apartment is never clean enough," "oh poor me, when will my headache ever end?"), I say, "Thank you for coming. You have served in my life and now it's time for you to leave me and return to the universe."

I find it remarkable how effective this is. Some I can zap immediately, some take a few more nudges (especially the ingrained ones), but overall I watch the thoughts float away, where I envision them returning to the universe and transforming into something the universe needs, like rain for the tree outside my window.

Hope this helps! Good luck,
Carebear
(fellow newbie student)

HI.

I am also a newbie and I have struggled with my mind thinking and thinking when I am trying to meditate. I have found that when I sit to meditate I make a time committment. Then, now matter how much my mind wanders or races or how fidgety I get I tell myself I am sitting for as long as I committed to sitting. I heard someone say one time that you have to teach your body to keep the committments you make to it then it will follow. So, I commit to a time and no matter what my mind is doing I stay sitting. I have found that over time my mind responds to my committment and it settles down and quiets down.

Each person is different and has to find their own way.....I certainly believe you will find yours if you keep seeking.

Good luck
Blessings
Nickie

Jurgen, I hope what I am writing will be helpful in some way. Many years ago I read about TM (Transcendental Meditation), liked what the benefits were reported to be, so signed up for a class. The teacher was wonderful, other people in the class were great, but, towards the end of classes, I was really irritated-I thought this is a rip off-NO ONE can just "not think"-that is an impossibility unless your are unconcscious or brain dead. I decided to stay to the end of the course because I had paid my money. And then, one day, it happened-much to my surprise. I continued and was very pleased with the results. I was amazed at how powerful everydday thoughts became-for example, if I would think of someone, they would call on the phone or I could talk to certain people when they were not in my presence by simply "thinking" my thoughts. I do think there were "many" benefits.

Then my son was killed in a car accident and my world shattered. I was in such deep grief that if I sat and closed my eyes I could only feel the pain.

During the last few months, I have been making a huge effort to meditate again. I did the Spring Forest Qigong course a few years ago. I did those meditations for a while but not as consistently as I should have. Finally, I am meditating again, but I think this time was actually more difficult than the first time. Initially I could not turn off my thoughts. In the last few years whenever I would hear something relaxing I would fall asleep & if not asleep, my thoughts would really be talking. But with practice I have made it again. One technique that someone told me that has recently helped me not think during meditation is: to concentrate on your hand touching part of your body (chakra point or whatever) and then, if listening to someone doing the meditation, switch between the two-for example notice the touch then listen to the sound, then back to the touch and so on. I am not an expert, so hope I am not giving you bad information. I would like to say this about Learning Strategies (Paul Scheele) and Chunyi Lin. I have great respect for Paul Scheele's work-I have been very pleased with the Learning Strategy courses that I have completed and the paraliminals that I have listened to. (Even my critical thinking 102 year old father enjoyed listening to the paraliminals-he actually looked forward to listening to them. He would smile when listening to one, and if I put the headphones on him accidentally reversed, he would let me know and he would change them.)

I have my 2nd degree in Reiki-and during the time I was attending Reiki meetings, I received the information about Spring Forest Qigong from Learning Strategies. I had my doubts that it would work, but really wanted to give it a try. One of my "brilliant-no-nonsense-honest friends and I did the course together. Our agreement was, if it did not work, we would say the course did not work for us, and if it did work, we would be delighted but really did not think it would. It worked! When giving reiki treatments and using our hands on a person, we could really tell the difference -not a little difference or a slight difference, but a HUGE difference. No matter what meditation I do now, I go into the stillness that Chunyi Lin showed in the video. I still do the meditation visualizations that he taught. And I see his face and am reminded of joy, gentleness, peace, kindness, and of the huge importance of love. I would love to attend one of his training sessions and just be in his presence but guess I had better start the abundance course that is setting on my shelf first or listen to the prosperity cd. I have just started the Genius Code course & am sharing it with some of my friends. We are having a great time doing it. I hope you the best in your meditations and studies. Sincerely, Khalah

Aloha Jurgen,

You have the breathing and movements to focus the physical body on, the music or sounds to focus your audiotory sensations on, and the visualizations to direct the visual centers.

Like Chuyni says, show Love, kindness, and forgiveness to youself and "feel it" as you do the exercises.

Much Love, Shawn