How Meditation Helps to Control the Mind

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There are many different kinds of anger and also a lot of ways of expressing it.  Everyone feels anger at some time in his life and all of us must find ways of dealing with it.  I find that there is a lot of frustration in my life. Little glitches are always happening and there is usually something going on that is annoying that is making me want to escape.

I have a certain way of doing things and my way is always the best way, right? If someone disagrees—I try to escape from the person and or the situation.  It seems like everyone has these minor frustrations going on in their lives but it is the way they’re dealt with and the importance placed on them that counts.

From what I have observed in my life, practically all the upsets are only in my mind.  We are always in anxiety over something real or imagined.  We see something and jump to a conclusion that because of this that will happen or is happening.  A lot of times our minds are wrong or steering us in the wrong direction.  And so if we listen to or even think that the mind is us, then we can make wrong assumptions or jump to wrong conclusions.

For instance, many years ago I was staying with a friend who had just purchased a used car from a private party.  It just so happened that the neighbors knew the previous owner and assumed the he was having an affair with a woman because they saw his car parked on the street all night.  This kind of thing can lead to all kinds of problems.

I have realized that it is important to be patient and not go automatically with the dictates of the mind.  I have a thought or a frustration and I weigh it out and try to understand what is really happening before reacting or jumping to a conclusion.  I am not very good at this but it is a work in progress and an honorable goal, I think.

I was raised in a religion called Christian Science which actually dealt with a form of mind control.  Their idea was that if you had only positive thoughts you could control your own life and destiny.  They had some parts of the equation right but were missing a few key points and information about God.  I think it was more progressive than most religions and its tenets helped me go further along in my quest for the truth.  As you walked into the church, there were large letters that said “Know the truth and the truth shall set you free”.

A prayer that has helped me through some stressful times is “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change: courage to change the things I can:  and wisdom to know the difference.”

This is when my practice of meditation has helped so much.  One of the basic teachings in meditation is that we must try to control our mind.   This takes a lot of effort and you will know that if you have ever tried.  In the meditation that I practice –which I learned from my teacher, Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda, 35 years ago–we rise early in the morning and try to focus our minds on the names of God.  As I practice my mind keeps going onto different thoughts and subjects like “I’m sleepy, thirsty, or any number of other things.”  And so we practice Mantra Meditation, ‘man’ meaning mind and ‘tra’ to draw away.   We are literally trying to draw the mind away from material thoughts to spiritual thoughts with a scientific method that has been practiced for millenniums.

I have found this meditation to be very helpful. I have achieved a certain amount of control over my mind and a much better perspective on life. Things don’t weigh so heavily on me and I am able to let things go much sooner than before I started my practice.

Author: Christa Moore

I am Christa Moore, an American woman who turns 71 this year (2016).  I discovered Hatha yoga in the seventies, and learned by watching Richard Hittleman on TV.  I immediately loved the way it helped me to relax.

I later became a yoga teacher.  I taught at the Spa in Honolulu and years later at Castle Hospital in Kailua, on Oahu, Hawaii.  I was fortunate to meet my spiritual teacher, Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda and learn an even more advanced form of yoga called Bhakti Yoga.  His teachings have been totally inspirational and given me a different perspective on life’s problems.  I have been his student for 35 years. I can sincerely say that by attempting to apply his teachings in my life l have found peace and satisfaction.