6 ways to calm an overactive mind (using ancient yoga techniques)

​We all have a tendancy to overthink, but ocassionaly it can feel completely overwhelming.
Nagging, pervasive thoughts, especially during stressful times, tend to rob us of our peace of mind, leaving us feeling drained and desperatley looking for the off switch. 

Oftentimes we will seek out less than ideal strategies to deal with our overactive minds. Alcohol and drugs can offer us a temporary escape, or we can distract ourselves for a while with things like television or social media. Its understandable why we resort to these methods, they provide us with some kind of temporary releif, they’re easy to access and its how our culture has shown us how to deal with the mind.

The problem with the above methods is that they dont deal with the root cause. They sedate or distract the mind, but often only add fuel to the fire, further agitating our restless thoughts in the long run.

Luckily for us though, the great Yogis of old just so happened to have dedicated their lives to finding a solution to this universally human problem, and they came up with some fairly handy techniques. In fact, yoga is sometimes even defined as the "controlling of the fluctuations of the mind"

But before getting in to the yogic techniques, a little bit of common sense must be considered...

If you find that you are unable to stop thinking about something (maybe the deadline you have due in on Friday or the argument you had with your best friend), there may be good reason that you are unable to shake those thoughts from your mind. Sometimes it might just be your conscience speaking up, reminding you to get your act together.

So when you do find that your mind just won't let up, consider asking yourself this...

"Is there something that I can do  right now that can resolve this mental agitation?"
If there is, you mind want to consider taking action to resolve the situation first, rather than trying to suppress your conscience with yoga techniques. After all, yoga is about getting real, not escaping reality.

Perhaps instead of lying on the couch fretting about that looming deadline, you could get up and do just a bit of work towards completing it. Instead of avoiding dealing with your friend,  just call them up and sort it out.

The key point here is that if there is something you can do to take action and put your mind at ease, then just do it! You might find that as soon as you deal with those responsibilities or confrontations you had been avoiding, peace of mind becomes your natural state once more.

But if there is truly nothing more you can do in the moment to resolve whatever might be your dilemma,  and your mind is still overthinking the hell out of everything, then we can try some yoga techniques and attempt to bring back the peace.

These techniques are thousands of years old, but are still as effective and relevant now as they were way back then.

1. Practice Yoga Asana
Sometimes when things get too mental, and thoughts are flying around like a storm in your head, the solution is very simple, just get more physical. A physical yoga session can be ideal because it can be as gentle or as strong as you want it to be. Going to a yoga class, or even just practicing a few poses at home can be all it takes to help settle down an agitated mind.

A good yoga asana class will help you to relax your muscles (and subsequently your mind), to breath better (which naturally stills the mind too), and bring you out of your head and into your body. All of these benefits can help to calm your overactive mind.

2. Breath Awareness
This technique couldn't be simpler. Find yourself a comfortable place to sit or lie down. Close your eyes and begin to tune in to your breath. Become aware of the in-breath flowing in through the nostrils, and the out-breath flowing out of the nostrils. Feel the sensations of the breath as it comes and goes. There is no need to try to control the breath in any way for this practice, just allow it to come and go in its own natural rhythm.

This is primarily an exercise of awareness and feeling, it causes the thinking process to naturally subside, little by little. Its not by any means an easy practice though. Things might be a little difficult if your thoughts have a lot of momentum. Each time you are swept away by the thinking process, eventually you will notice you have left the practice, and then you simply return once again to awareness of the breath. The idea here is not to suppress the bubbling up of thoughts, but rather to notice them as they arise, but continue on with the observation of the breath.

3. Become aware of the inner body
This technique can be done anywhere, anytime, but it is most effective if you sit or lie down in a quiet place, where you can fully immerse yourself in the practice.

Close your eyes  and bring your awareness to your feet, see if you can feel any sensations within the feet, and notice how much awareness you have in this part of the body. You can spend as much or as little time as you like here just noticing and feeling the sensations. You can then move on to the legs, then the torso, then the arms etc, until you have scanned through the whole body.

This practice reconnects you to your own being. Body, mind and spirit become unified.  The longer you practice this technique, the more you connect with the inner body, the stronger the sensations become, and your thoughts tend to slow down and fade away. It is very effective in helping you to dissociate from the incessant thinking process and establish yourself in a more pure state of being. 

4. Create a Sattvic Environment
Sometimes our mental state can just be a mere reflection of our outer environment. If there is inner turmoil in our mind, and outer chaos in our house, bedroom, office etc, then beginning by restoring order to your outer world can really work wonders.

Sattva is a concept in yogic thought that means purity, cleanliness, order, balance, and goodness.  If we can restore this mode of goodness to our external environment, then naturally this will be reflected in our inner world, in our thoughts and feelings. Begin by cleaning, tidying, organising and purifying your room, office, kitchen or car and you will be well on the way  to restoring a predominance of sattva that will have a beneficial effect on influencing and calming the mind.

5. Immerse Yourself in Nature
This is really just an extension of the last tip. The outdoors are predominated by sattva! The yogis have understood for thousands of years that mother nature has an energy field that calms us and connects us to a greater reality.  Whether its lying outside under the stars at night, swimming in the ocean on a hot summers day, tramping through a forest on a misty morning, or hiking up a mountain  on a blustery afternoon, the effect is essentially the same.

Being out in the elements puts our problems in perspective. We breath fresh air, move our bodies, feel the elements on our skin and we take in the visual  beauty of this great mystery called life. When we are out in nature our minds naturally quieten down, our mood lifts, and we recharge our batteries fully, so that we can head back in to our hectic daily lives, refreshed and renewed.

6. Write it all down (then burn it)
If your'e still struggling with an overactive mind, you might want to try the following technique that was taught to me by an ayurvedic doctor...

Take a blank A4 piece of paper, or any blank piece of paper for that matter. Now just start writing the contents of your mind down on the paper. Everything that comes to mind. Everything that has been plaguing you. You can write about your worries, phobias, insecurities, likes and dislikes, goals and ambitions. Anything you can think of, both positive and negative. Let it all out on to that poor piece of paper. Keep going until there is no room left on the paper (maybe even both sides) or there is nothing left in your mind to purge.

Now go outside with an empty metal bin, and set fire to this piece of paper. If you have an open fire place going, you might like to throw it in there. Do this burning with the intention and understanding that you are symbolically cleansing and freeing your mind from all of these worries, hang ups, and thoughts.

You may want to do this exercise every night for a week, or a month. Or perhaps its only something you do from time to time when you are feeling particularly overwhelmed by your mind. It feels incredibly liberating and it really helps to calm your mind too.

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I hope that at least some of these  techniques are useful to you, and they truly help you to calm your overactive mind. 
Let me know in the comments about your experiences, and feel free to give me ideas about my next blog post too.
Until next time...

Namaste,

​Rishi