Be super productive. Silence the mind just like in deep sleep. Easily.

Mind fatigue

The mind gets between 60,000 to 100,000 thoughts a day. Thoughts manifest as words or images in the mind. This keeps the mind busy through the day, and at night when you dream.

The generation of thoughts itself is complex as it comes from memory, identity, blueprint, inputs of senses, reasoning... And many more factors. But one thing is clear, they are all related to roles we have in life. No roles, no seed for thought. It's that simple.

It is usually necessary to understand the problem to solve it. Not in this case. As a noisy mind can not solve problems of the mind!

Waking dreaming and deep sleep

Let's see the three fundamental states we all experience every day and night

When awake, both mind and senses are active. In dream state, mind is active, senses are not and...

In the deep sleep state, there are no dreams. The mind is silent. Both the senses and mind are in active.

One Consciousness many roles

In this context, for people who ask, what is the proof that consciousness exists, the simple question is. Who is awake, even in deep sleep, when the mind is also silent? The answer then presents itself. The consciousness is always awake. It is this consciousness that takes you back from deep sleep state to dream state to wake up state. That's all.

You don't have to run anywhere to experience it. Its is always within you. You only have to get it. You instantly get it that the true self is Consciousness and all the others are roles like mother, father etc. In life.

This is the key realisation to eliminate the seed of the thought, desire, which originates from the role.

A silent mind

When the mind is silent, it is the state of ultimate rest, a form of "samadhi", a goal all spiritual paths aim for. In this state, the connection to the inner self is established. With a clear distinction of roles being different from the true self, the seed of desire, the seed of thought itself is silenced.

In a silent mind, there are no thoughts, no words or images, no chanting, no diety, no god, nothing. Absolutely nothing. There is no focus on any chakra. There is simply awareness of the self. And nothing else.

It is this deep sleep that gives complete rest to the mind. Adi shakaracharya says in shiv manas Puja..."nidra samadhi sthiti" here nidra means deep sleep.

With one to two hours of total deep sleep (which also happens in spurts) every night, the mind is fresh for next 22 hours. When we say, we had a good night's sleep, we usually mean that we had deep sleep. We are not conscious about it, but that is what it is.

Ten minutes of silence every two hours

So considering that the ratio of deep sleep to active mind is around 1:10. A deep sleep (mind silencing) of 10 minutes should keep you active for 120 minutes. That is around two hours.

How about silencing the mind quickly during the day say for ten minutes, to be more refreshed for next two hours?

This can be the ultimate productivity idea, as the mind is now alert, intuitive etc.

Let's explore a simple method to get into this state.

Steps

• Set an alarm for every two hours.

• Start a stop watch on your mobile. When the alarm rings.

• Sit at a quiet place. This is good for beginners as in Initial stages. If you can't, use ear plugs.

• Do the steps given in the eternal aum technique. To get to hear the aum sound.

• Immerse yourself in the aum sound.

• You can also touch the tip of the tongue to the top of palate (roof of the mouth) to stop the train of thoughts. This is one of the easiest methods.

• Now Go beyond the sound. Increase the frequency of the sound within. Then Become a witness to the sound. Not even a word or image comes to the mind. This is the real test. You are no nothing, hear nothing, sense nothing, taste nothing, feel nothing.

• The only thing you may be aware of is the breath, the heartbeat or the internal aum sound itself.

• Being aware of the breath is easiest. especially keep your attention on the moment when between the inhale and exhale, there is no breath at all. It's a tiny moment. Or be aware of the turn of breaths. Just observe. No control. It's not easy as you think, as the moment you become aware of the breath, you will start influencing it, which it not the intention.

• Being aware of the heartbeat is the aligning to the natural rhythm. The frequency of sound of heartbeat is faster than breath. Being aware of the internal aum sound, the frequency is even higher than the heartbeat. You can be aware of one or more of the three or all of the three or none of the three.

• Being aware of the internal aum sound is the easiest as it is created without any internal movement.

• In this state, there is a possibility of going in to the next stage, where the awareness of the self also disappears. This is the nirvikalpa stage.

• There is awareness in the state of silence. Mind is silent. Breathing slows down. The only difference in deep sleep and this state is that in this state, awareness is complete, where was in deep sleep, awareness was missing.

• If the mind starts getting thoughts, note the time in the stop watch and try again for some time.

• If you are getting too many thoughts, maybe they are not written down, sorted, and put aside. Worries, random memories will all come up this time.

• Methods of paranayama like bhramari, anulom vilom etc are ideal to prepare your mind for this state.

• After some time, as it automatically starts getting thoughts, slowly bring the awareness back and look at stop watch. The time of being in silence will slowly increase, as you get into this state more and more often.

Benefits

You will see remarkable improvement in alertness, sharpness, creativity, energy levels, happier state of the mind. The sleep time will be lesser and lesser naturally, as the mind is regularly rested during the day.

Repeat

Repeat this technique many times a day. Don't do this when you are involved with any activity like driving, operating Machines etc. Do this when you are relaxed, eyes shut. This can be done sitting in an office chair. No need to get into any asana etc.

See the difference in yourself, as you do the technique.

Blessing

Wishing you superb productive day ahead. With a silent mind, full of awareness, to bring the abundance in your life, while accepting the results.