Mind Tools & Inspirations: Brain pulse
In this 3-minute practice you check in with what your mind is up to. Taking your “brain pulse” by counting your thoughts is a way observe your thoughts without getting lost in them.
TRY THIS…
If you have time, let me guide you so you can focus on your experience.
HERE IS THE PRACTICE
Close your eyes and sit comfortably.
In this practice I will invite you to bring your attention to your thoughts and then count each thought that arises, using your fingers to help with the counting.
When you start counting your thoughts they might get quiet.
Just wait and watch for a thought to arise.
OK, let’s start:
Count your thoughts for 60 seconds.
Counting with your fingers to help keep track.
I will let you know when to stop.
Now stop counting and bring your awareness back.
What did you notice when you counted your thoughts?
Do this one more time.
Count your thoughts for the next 60 seconds, using your fingers to help keep count.
Now stop counting and bring your awareness back.
What did you notice this time when you counted your thoughts?
WHY DO THIS?
Counting is one way to observe your thoughts.
Counting your thoughts can help you notice what your mind is up to, how it is doing.
By counting with your fingers, your body gets involved. You move your fingers and feel them touching. Connecting with your body in this way helps you remember to observe your mind.
You can use this brain pulse practice to get to know more about the ways your mind works—such as on different days, at different times, in different moods, in different situations.
Mind Tools & Inspirations are experiences for busy, smart, curious people to help you operate your human system.
To access the full set of Mind Tools visit https://substack.com/@yogamindtools
I add a new experience every week.
Kindly,
Carrie
Carrie Heeter, PhD
Yoga Mind Tools
This was an interesting one! For the first 30ish seconds of the first counting of thoughts I felt like I was jumping around between a bunch of random things and then all of a sudden the pedantic part of my brain wondered, “what differentiates a thought from another thought?” So I got hung up on that for the rest of the first counting and figured that was all one continuous thought. Funnily enough when the second counting session started I was still consumed with my own definition of what would constitute a singular thought versus a continuation of a previous thought. After several seconds of that I decided it didn’t matter and my mind sort went blank until the end. The whole process was interesting to me because I’m usually a person who just goes with the vibes of the current meditation/situation but this time I really wanted to dot the i’s and cross the t’s - fully characterize the specifics. Wonder why… 🤷