The topic of thinking during meditation is something I cover quite a bit, but only because it’s a common question I hear from my students. People sit down to meditate, experience an active mind, and wonder if they are meditating correctly. We might even think of the cliche (and harmful, in my opinion) meditation instruction to “clear the mind.”

It’s a common myth that we even need to clear the mind in order to meditate. In some practices, like concentration meditation, we do focus our attention something like the breath. But even so, there’s no need to stop thinking. Trying to do so actually often causes more harm than good in our practice.