Stop that thought

By Dr Ramesh Manocha

Ever been unable to sleep because you can’t switch off that stream of thought that seems to constantly flow through the back of your head, while you lie back in your bed, hoping that sooner or later, you’ll be able to drift off to sleep? Ever walked into a room looking for something, only to realize that you have forgotten what it was you were looking for?

Can you stop that background mental noise, that constant thinking, whenever you want to? Is it ever possible to switch off our mental activity — the background mental noise that most of us accept as a normal part of our inner environment? For most people the mind is never quiet. We have anywhere from dozens to hundreds of thoughts per minute, few of them useful, many of them unconstructive. How much of that constant stream of background mental chatter that goes through your head, day and night, is actually useful? Most? Half? A quarter? Less? Wouldn’t it be good if we could switch off this “self-talk” at will to give our minds a rest?

In the East, meditation was originally designed as an antidote to the problem of the monkey mind - the constant mental chatter that causes our attention to jump from thought to thought and object to object as we daydream, ruminate over relationships, dwell on the past and worry about the future.  When your mental noise distracts you from the task at hand, makes you forget what it was that you walked into the room for or keeps you awake at night when you really need your sleep, you should know that you are a victim of what has been called in the East “the monkey mind”. When that monkey mind is allowed to do whatever it wants, we lose touch with simple joys of life, lose our natural balance and start to get stressed.

For many people in the 21st century, fuelled by our 24/7 culture, an all-pervasive media and the relentless pursuit of consumption, the monkey has morphed into a 400kg gorilla with an attitude problem. It is this rampaging primate between our ears that is responsible for the epidemic of stress, mental dysfunction and loss of wellness that are now more prevalent than ever before. The monkey mind and the incessant stream of thoughts that it produces, distract us from the reality of the present moment, progressively convincing us that true happiness should instead be found at the end of a credit card, job promotion or Botox needle.

Contrary to popular perception, meditation is not about relaxing, nor is it about modifying, editing or slowing the thoughts; it is about stopping them altogether. It is not about mindfulness but mind-emptiness. Not quieting the mind so much as silencing it in its tracks if and whenever we want to. In true meditation, we remain alert, in full control and yet free of all thought. It is the experience of a complete inner silence that enables us to master the mind and the mental content that it creates, rather than be the mind’s servant. Our awareness, no longer cluttered by unnecessary thinking, becomes capable of experiencing ourselves and our world more richly and with more joy.

The ancient and authentic understanding of meditation is that it is not just about reducing stress but also about realizing our potential for optimal wellbeing and capacity for high-performance - something that can be attained with just 10 to 20 minutes per day of regular meditation practice.  Real meditation is aimed at jail-breaking you from the limitations of the thinking mind into the experience of “non-thought”, “thoughtless awareness” or “mental silence”, the state beyond the mind.

It is a state of optimal being, something that occurs not just when we sit in meditation but a living experience that should be carried with us throughout the day, enhancing our moment-to-moment experience of life.

For most people mental silence seems unachievable. However, the results of more than a dozen years of scientific research here in two of Australia’s leading universities tells us that this fundamental reality is not the exclusive realm of secluded monks, Zen masters or “gurus” — with a small amount of regular practice, using the Sahaja yoga meditation technique, anyone can experience it. Our studies show that with just a little practice the majority of people can do it - we have found that in their first meditation session, on average about 10 per cent will experience “complete mental silence”, and a further 20 per cent to 30 per cent experience being “mostly silent”. With further practice, progressively greater numbers of people attain the mental silence experience and are able to deepen it. 

We have seen how just 10 minutes of daily meditation can be useful in reducing mental health risk, improving social skills and enhancing general wellbeing. In the book,  Silence Your Mind, I describe the evidence and provide easy to use, evidence-based meditation strategies that have been shown to work with young people, from kindergarten to senior high school.
Meditation in the classroom

The Mental Stillness program is a simple strategy that is aimed at providing students with a secular, meditation-based skill to enhance resilience and wellbeing. The technique has undergone extensive scientific evaluation in Australia as part of the Meditation Research Programme (previously at the UNSW but now at Sydney University). We have now begun exploring formats by which this technique might be best adapted for implementation in schools as a teaching and learning initiative.

Generally, a typical "lesson" involves practical exercises aimed at focusing the attention and enhancing awareness of the present moment, allowing the participant to perceive a distinction between themselves and any negative thoughts or feelings that they may have.

Recently, we completed a quality audit of a 12 month programme conducted at a primary school in Sydney in which a full class of 3rd grade children were taught mental stillness-based skills for 10 minutes every morning for a full year. Children were assessed by the class teacher using the SDQ, a standardised and validated mental health risk scale.

Compared with the beginning of the year, children at the end of the year manifested an 80 per cent reduction in mental health risk and a 30 per cent improvement in social skills. Qualitative feedback was also very encouraging, showing that children enjoyed the sessions and wanted more.  The class teacher felt that the children were calmer and focused as a result of the exercise and was enthusiastic for the initiative to continue (see graph below).

Our aim is to further develop and evaluate this initiative with a view to making it into a non-commercial resource for schools in the public and private sector. Accordingly, we do not charge fees for this service for state schools. However, we do ask the school for its cooperation in conducting thorough quality audits to quantify the benefits and ensure responsible delivery of the service. Assessments may involve either the student and/or the teacher filling out questionnaires at relevant time points before, during and after delivery of the strategy.

Dr Ramesh Manocha MBBS BSc PhD (r.manocha@healthed.com.au) works at the Department of Psychiatry, Sydney Medical School, Sydney University. His book, Silence Your Mind, is published by Hachette Australia (www.beyondthemind.com)