Beautiful Breathing

When I teach meditation, I’m often discussing with my class how to stop the brain chatter, the thoughts that seem to pop up. 

Not being able to concentrate or to clear the mind, is often the reason most people feel they can’t meditate.

But letting thoughts in and observing them, is meditation. If you try to push them away, then that takes effort and meditation is about seeing what flows. 

Sitting or lying down with your eyes closed, just breathe deeply and slowly. Then if thoughts come into your head, like.....”did I feed the cat?” or “I should really call that client?”. Just look at those thoughts, as if you were just watching them from a slight distance. So there’s you, observing the thought about cat food, how curious? 
I then suggest imagining wrapping up the thought in some brown paper, and placing it on a cloud, then as you exhale your next breath, blow the cloud away.

If the thoughts come back in, that’s ok. Just go through that process again. That is mindfulness and that is meditation. 
Eventually, you will find this practice becomes easier and easier, until your mind will feel much clearer and calmer. This helps with sleeping, anxiety and depression amongst many other issues.