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Archive for June, 2009

How often have you felt forgetful or seem to have lost your short-term memory? You know the feeling I’m talking about. You start losing your attention, feel spacey, and there’s a problem with focusing on the tasks at hand.

Did you know that meditation can help you cut down on “brain fog” like this? If you learn how to meditate, over time, it helps you to clear your mind and cut down on states of mental stupor. Because meditation involves learning to let go of the thoughts that run around in your head, with practice you can learn to let go of the state of unclarity that arises in your mind that meditators call dullness, brain fog or stupor. Naturally it takes some practice order to achieve this ability with proficiency. Nevertheless, it’s well worth the effort because that’s the purpose of meditation in the first place.

The cardinal rule of meditation is to let go of your thoughts, but to maintain awareness of everything that goes on in your mind while letting your mind give rise to thoughts freely. When people start to watch their mind this way, at first the mind starts to get clearer and they reach a realm of mental clarity. But after this initial spurt of progress, it actually seems like their mind is becoming busier than ever before and more confused than they’ve ever known it to be. This is not actually a step backwards but a step forwards, and people who think they are retrogressing when this happens are actually misinterpreting their stage of achievement.

What is actually happening at this point in time is that the mind is becoming clearer and you are just beginning to see its inner workings for the very first time, but you mistake that clarity for extra busyness. For instance, meditation teachers often compare our wandering “monkey mind” with a glass of muddy water. As the thoughts in the mind begin to dissipate and clarity arises, that’s the same thing as the particles of dust in the muddy water beginning to settle. Only when the dust particles begin to settle can an individual see the separate particles clearly.

That’s what’s happening when you first begin to notice all the wandering thoughts in your head. If you keep meditating with practice and determination, soon these wandering thoughts will settle and your mind will reach a state of clarity that it has never before experienced.

So how can this help you with brain fog?

Sometimes nutritional deficiencies cause brain fog such as low levels of vitamin B12, magnesium or amino acids. If you drink too many artificial sweeteners this can also cause brain fog too. If there is an overgrowth of Candida in the gut, this is also often a major culprit responsible for brain fog. In fact, that is probably the number one cause of mental fogginess other than eating foods to which you are allergic. Caprylic acid, candisol, oregacillin and other supplements can help get rid of the Candida problem for good.

Let’s put these causes aside, though of course you must investigate them and others. If we rule out these various causes and attack the problem from the basis of mind, to combat mental unclarity you need to let go of your thoughts while watching your mind and in time it will become clearer with practice. This is called vipassana in some meditation schools, or “cessation and watching.” You simply observe your mind, and in time its busy nature ceases, and “brain fog” along with it. You just detach from it when it arises, and maintain clarity until it passes.

Many of us experience a meditative state without realizing it. For example, times when we are sitting outdoors, perhaps beside a stream or in a peaceful backyard, when everything seems to drop away, including all our thoughts or concerns, and we enter into a deeply peaceful stillness… an inner quite. In this quite, we feel as if we have dissolved and are no longer something separate or individual, but have merged with everything around us. We become the trees, the birds, and the water – there is no separation, no difference between us.

This state is very joyful; however, it does not necessarily last! Our minds and senses are so powerful that we being distract by every-day concerns, pulled into our worries or personal dramas, our habits or confusion, until this feeling of inner quite seems very far away. However, the more we practice meditation, for example, specific techniques to bring purposefully the mind into a focused and still place, the more we experience an inner quite.

The practice of meditation, which may include contemplation and prayer, is an aspect of systems. If we are too externalized and busy with thoughts, we are unable to perceive the beauty around us or to receive divine inspiration. But meditation is not limited to religious practice; it also has far-reaching implications in our fast – moving and highly demanding world for bringing balance and harmony to our lives.

When they first begin meditating, many people describe feeling as if they have “come home.” In entering this quite ‘inner space,’ you connect with yourself in a more genuine way. It feels familiar, like a place you have been away from for some time. You realize how most of your time is spent distracted, and how little you really know yourself inside.

Meditation is not a goal in itself. It is not something you try to achieve. Rather, it is an awakened way of being. The meditative mind is one that is balanced, clear, and at ease, focused entirely on what is happening in this moment.

The purpose of practicing meditation is to bring about the transformation of our perception of ourselves and our world – from that of skepticism and doubt to acceptance and kindness – so we become more awake. This happens as stress, confusion, and mental chatter lessen, understanding deepens, and compassion and inner peacefulness emerge. However, this is not something to read about – it is in the experience of meditation that you will find these words begin to make sense and bear fruit.