I Can't Clear My Mind! A Beginner's Guide to Actually Meditating

"I tried meditating, but I can't stop thinking." This is the single most common roadblock for beginners, and it's based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what meditation is.

Meditation is not about stopping your thoughts or clearing your mind. That's impossible. Your brain's job is to think, just as your heart's job is to beat. The goal of mindfulness meditation is not to stop the thoughts, but to change your relationship with them. It's about learning to observe your thoughts without getting carried away by them.

Think of your mind as a busy highway. Thoughts are the cars. Before meditation, you're standing in the middle of the highway, getting hit by every car, chasing after others, and causing traffic jams. Meditation is the practice of moving to the side of the road. You still see all the cars (thoughts) passing by, but you are no longer in the middle of them. You can observe them come and go without being run over.

A Simple 3-Minute Practice You Can Do Right Now

1. Find a comfortable seat. You don't need to sit like a pretzel. Sit on a chair with your feet on the floor and your back straight but not stiff.
2. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath in through your nose, and a long, slow breath out through your mouth.
3. Find your anchor. Bring your attention to the physical sensation of your breath. Feel the coolness of the air as it enters your nostrils, the rise and fall of your chest or belly. This is your "anchor" to the present moment.
4. The inevitable happens: your mind wanders. You'll start thinking about your to-do list, something someone said, or what's for dinner. This is not a failure! This is the moment you get to practice meditation.
5. Gently and kindly, notice. The moment you realize your mind has wandered, you are, for that instant, mindful. The instruction is simple: gently and without judgment, guide your attention back to your anchor—the feeling of your breath.
6. Repeat. Your mind will wander again. And again. And again. The practice is simply this gentle cycle of wandering, noticing, and returning. Every time you return your focus to your breath, you are doing a bicep curl for your brain's attention muscle.

That's it. That's the core of mindfulness meditation.

How Stillpoint Can Help

This process can be difficult to navigate on your own at first. That's where guided meditation comes in. A guide provides a voice to help you through the process, reminding you to return to your breath when your mind wanders.

We have several sessions in the Meditations library perfect for beginners:

• Meditation for Beginners (10 min): A perfect introduction that walks you through these core concepts.
• Basic Breath Awareness (5 min): A shorter session to get you started.
• 5-Minute Mindful Breathing: An even quicker reset for when you're short on time.

Start with one of these. Don't worry about "doing it right." Just show up, press play, and practice the simple, profound art of returning.