My mind keeps on chattering in meditation

Hi All,

i am doing meditation in morning daily for 45 min to 1 hour. in my meditation, i am closing my eyes and just observing my natural breath. i have been meditating for nearly 3 months now. i am a family man with a wife and a daughter of 8 months.

in morning, after tea i sit for meditation.

these days during my meditation what is happening is this - through out my meditation, i think i am aware of what is coming to my mind(i am not saying these things in my mind) like i am breathing, i am just sitting in between 2 breaths, some thought comes to my mind and after few seconds i realize i have to meditate on breath and then sometimes i do cautious breathing and then start natural breathing. But the concentration seems to be completely missing till now. So what to do to increase my concentration?

Moreover, somehow i am doubting that whether i am forcefully making my mind to concentrate on my breath or i am mindfully switching to my natural breath - how to decide this thing?

Whenever i hear some noises, my mind and brain makes out what is this sound about, then i have to tell my mind to let go of it as it is in reality just a sound wave hitting my ears - But again this i am doing manually in my mind - when will my mind understand to realize this thing automatically?

Please suggest. Thanks in advance.

Just to add to above - Now a days- my observations are- i do not try to do cautious breathing, just try to wait and observe my natural breath - my natural breathing is very disruptive i have found - there is a long in breath but very short or virtually no out breath, which is again followed by long in breath- so is this breathing pattern indicating something?
Moreover, i have observed some tingling in my hands in the later part of my meditation(though it rarely happens)-since my hands are on my legs, so nothing is pressing my hands, so i think numbness is not the reason for it or is it numbness only?

Personally I think it's important just to let the natural breath be as it is, not do some kind of special breathing like in yoga. And yes, it is quite normal for the breath to change - I remember times when it would suddenly go fast, and then suddenly almost stop, then slow then fast, etc. Just let it be. Concentration needs to be attentive - as if you are watching a tennis game, perhaps - but not tense and harsh like you are trying to burn a hole in the wall with laser eyes. Persistent and watchful, but not tense.

I also would not worry about the fact that thoughts occur - this is what the mind does, it makes thoughts. The key is not to get caught up in the thoughts and start daydreaming, thinking about your grocery list or what you will do at work, etc. So one can notice "there's a thought" "there's a sound" etc but not say "oh dear I really should leave for work soon, and remember to buy milk at the store" - the latter is getting caught in the thought. Does that help?

You might be at a good point in your practice to try noting practice, which others here can describe good techniques for. I did it occasionally, using word labels to name the things that came and went, such as "thought" "sound". Again, this is in part a method to help you pay close attention to the moment without getting distracted.

Hello!

You are experiencing things we all experience when we start meditating: natural breaths are not equal all the time, the mind is extremely active and cannot be controlled. This is great news, actually, because it means you are learning and experiencing the right things. What you need ot do now is to keep meditating using your natural breath as your "anchor." When you find that your mind has wandered just come back to your meditation object (your breath) and start again. As you do this, time after time after time, your concentration will improve.

@giragirasol and @cmarti: Thanks for your replies.

Some more observations in my meditation -

As far as observing the sensation is concerned, what i noticed is - sometimes i feel itching or some numbness in my legs, then i try not to itch it or move my legs, even i say in my mind feeling pain and since no i is there, so just feeling pain and not i am feeling pain - strangely enough after few seconds, when i keep on feeling how is it going, then suddenly the sensation is gone and there is no sensation meaning it is back to normal as if nothing occurred. Moreover, i observed few days back, i was about to sneeze during my meditation - just when that feeling came in my nose, i tried to see what is it and also if i could control me not to sneeze, then after few seconds that feeling also went and i did not sneezed - may be it was the starting sensation for sneeze, so not much powerful, because of which i did not sneezed.

i am observing a bright radiance sometimes, but that can be because of external light changing and then falling on my closed eyes. since my eyes are closed in my meditation, so cannot clearly say what is actually happening there.

Moreover, sometimes i feel a very slight vibration in my face(near the area of my eyes, nose etc), when i am in the process of observing my natural breath - i think i am somewhat aware of my heartbeats in those moments.

But still the concentration is totally absent in my meditation.

Any suggestions, please.

What do you mean you don't concentrate? Are you perhaps expecting meditation should be a certain way, like a total silence with no thoughts or sensations? Because what you are noticing is exactly the kind of thing one should be noticing. All these sensations and feelings coming and going, just as you are describing them.

What are you expecting of your concentration? Sounds to me like you are noticing things, which means you are paying attention, which is exactly what you should be doing right now. If you are expecting to be able to focus on just one object for an hour then stop worrying. Very, very few people can do that and you don't need to be able to do that. If you can stay with an object for a minute then that's great, and by seeing that you have wandered away from that object and can come back to it, then do that over and over again and you ability to be with an object will slowly grow to where your concentration will be a useful tool in your meditation.

More comments?

I'm handing this topic off to giragirasol, who's got it right and can help you. Plus, we're giving you the same answers

What I mean to say is, noticing the phenomena that arise and pass away in the mind, the coming and going of sensations, thoughts, etc. - that is meditation. If you are paying close attention to all these phenomena as they come and go in each moment, then you are meditating.