hi as stopping the interior talking/dialog is the key to meditation and many things outside our physical reality, i have been, for many weeks, trying to stop my interior dialogue but unsuccesfully!
if anyone has method or clues or any information on that it would be great to share them ! 
I suggest you don’t stop it. Rather than stopping it, witness it. This will loosen its grip and start to create some space between you and the chatter. It is a much different experience to be in the throws of something. Self doubt, self loathing, obessessive review of events or worry about the future, ecstatic self congratulation or lauding of others, deep focus on things you want or have all have less power when they start to take the form of "Oh look at me I’m filled with feeling and thought about x, y or z."
Here’s a good example. I have a deep fear of being up on ladders. When faced with a ladder, especially when getting down from a high place I would be filled with dread. So much so that I would feel woozy and off balance and like any step would be likely to tip the thing and send me to a bad end. Of course this is exactly what I don’t want at a time like that. Through yoga and meditation I caught onto myself. Rather than getting stuck in the fear and then letting it move out to, “what’s wrong with me…I’m such a sissy, an idiot. why am I so lame and so on…” And feeling paralyzed and more fearful, I now go, “Hey look, that old ladder fear is welling up in me. I know it is irrational and not helping me negotiate this thing I have to do. I’ll redirect my mind to the knowing of the secure and safe use of ladders and take a couple of deep breaths, feel my fear and acknowledge it and also move past it to the reality that this ladder is perfectly safe and focussing intently on the handholds and foot falls will make it a secure experience.” That first intervening thought of the observer loosens the grip of the series of thoughts that used to come in. Now I have a balance between acknowledging my fear and the reality of the situation. With continued strengthening of the observer some of the chatter will give up. It just won’t bother coming up since it knows you are not going to allow it to overtake you and direct your mind into old habitual thought patterns.
Sitting in meditation without focus and just letting the mind do its thing while you witness it will strengthen the observer and make it easier to call upon later when you need it. Little by little the chatter will quiet by itself and your ability to focus will grow.
Does any of this make sense? Let me know.
Peace,
Yogeshvara
Hello martini144
I fully agree with Yogeshwara. Please read the following page carefully and think it over:
http://www.swamij.com/inviting.htm
Om
NP
i always thought that one should concentrate on breathing and that will prevent the mind from drifting
Hi NP,
Can you check your link. It did not work for me.
Peace,
Yogeshvara
Yogeshwara: I double-checked the link and it works. Can you get to www.swamij.com? It’s a rather extensive site – wonderful. You can find the “Inviting thoughts” page by clicking on Meditation, then on “7 skills” and then find “Inviting” at the bottom of the first column in the “Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced” matrix menu, but it’s easier just to go directly to the link I provided. Did you try just clicking on it?
John: In essence you are correct. Control or quieting of the breath through awareness does pacify and calm the mind. But this quieting of the breath can be elusive. I’ve found it’s good to approach meditation from several different directions, using various techniques.
Best,
NP
the world is made by this constant chatter that says "this is like this because… " and son on. this interior dialogue is our constant reasoning.
in order to have different views and perception of the world one has to stop this dialogue, it’s the key… well that is what 's believed in south america and being southamerican i was more interested into stopping the dialogue than witnessing it…
The inner dialog is just thoughts, am I right? Thoughts cannot be stopped. However, if a particular thought is bothering you, you can replace it with its opposite. This is an ancient yoga technique described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and I assume it’s valid in South America.
Don’t underestimate witnessing, though. To gain control over your thoughts you first have to witness them on a very deep level. For example, have you witnessed the thought at the very moment it arises? Have you witnessed it in the unconscious, BEFORE it breaks through to the conscious level? That’s what the page I linked you to is about.
Perfecting the witnessing process allows you to see the thoughts for what they really are, and that paves the way to non-attachment. Once you are non-attached, the thoughts can come and go as they please, but the self rests unaffected, uninvolved. That kind of freedom, as I understand it, is one of the goals of Yoga.
Godspeed,
NP
to Np
thanks for your advices, i’ll try to witness, but if you really want to know what i was talking about, there is this short book you should read…
“a yaqui way of knowledge, the teachings of don Juan.
by Carlos castaneda”
I read that book a long time ago, so I’ve forgotten most of it. In that book, what does Don Juan recommend as the way to stop the dialogue? Also, who are the participants in this inner dialogue?
NP
Hi NP,
I was up very early and the links were not working. I guess the site was down for a bit. Sorry about the cry for help. I just visited the site and enjoyed the article. I like the idea of watching a single thought at a time and I think mantra repetition can be very valuable.
I completely agree that when it comes to meditation and all spiritual practice, finding the thing that works for you and then delving into it fairly deeply and consistently makes the most sense. I guess that is why there are so many paths and practices.
Of course there are pitfalls to these ideas that are hard to see and to avoid. One is that it is easy to skim through a lot of practices and get little out of them since not enough time is spent with each one and call this looking for the right practice. The other is to find something you like and to get stuck in it, long past the time when it is an aide to growth.
Being embodied consciousness can be really confusing.
Peace,
Yogeshvara
According to Don juan there is only one participant: me or you talking to ourselves, that is why he decides to call it the interior dialogue.
To stop this dialogue, he recomends to take a walk and look at the horizon without really focusing. you must not have anything in your hands, and you must breath as low as possible and concentrating on your breathing. the tip of your fingers must be placed against the palm of the hand…
i think this techniques works ; i’ve tried it once and did feel a little something… i think i need more practice
the point of this topic was to find out if other methods existed…
Martin
in order to have different views and perception of the world one has to stop this dialogue, it’s the key…
Well heres the thing about witnessing, it can really open the door to inquiry and inquiry will lead to new views.
Here’s me without my witness. My girl is breaking up with me and I’m angry, and sad and feel worthless and I yell and cry and feel triumphant (when venting my anger) and then depressed (when I start feeling isolated) and I wonder why me and so on…
Here’s me with my witness. My girl is breaking up with me, since she is deeply disatisfied with our relationship and I’m angry and sad and feel worthless AND I notice these feelings and two things happen, I recognize that they are all feelings I have had before and I get them as coming from inside me, shaped by my make up and experience, maybe I realize when they started and don’t blame my girlfriend for them and two I ask are these feelings helping me to get what I really want, which is a loving supportive relationship. Next thing you know instead of yelling and crying I’m supporting my girl in the process of breaking us up, since I realize the things I want I won’t find with her and breaking up is a really good idea and the next morning I feel pretty good, since I’ve identified what I really want and I am taking a step toward it. This is new thinking.
My mind never really went blank, I just skipped my patterned behvior by looking at my situation from afar. A lot of people are deeply affected by looking at the earth from space, since from a distance it is so clear that we are all in this thing together, but when we get caught in our little struggles we often forget the big picture. The witness can love and understand all this and give us a chance to have some fresh thinking…drop our fear and come into love, which for many of us is a new place to look from.
Peace,
Yogeshvara
Thanks, Martin and Yogeshwar for your replies. This is wonderful - satsang on the Net!
So as I understand it, Martin, this dialogue is between one’s self and one’s preconceived notions about what the world is, who I am, what is good, what is bad, etc.
In Raja Yoga (Patanjali Yoga), the emphasis is on persistent practice (Abhyasa) and non-attachment (Vairagya). Persistent practice develops discrimination (Viveka) – this is another way of saying “witnessing” – and from witnessing or seeing one’s preconceived notions for what they are comes non-attachment.
This is the technique in a nutshell. Yogeshwara’s example of breaking up with one’s girlfriend is a great case study for how it can work in practice. But you don’t have to wait for a crisis to appear to start practicing it. You can watch your thoughts arising even when you are involved in your everyday mundane activities, as well as when doing your regular practices, like the technique described by Don Juan. Practice makes perfect, as the saying goes.
There are many other meditation techniques. Buddhists have Vipassana, for example. Yogis have Raja Yoga (the path of meditation), which is based on ethical living, compassion, contentment, devotion, a firm sitting posture for meditation, control of the breath, repetition of a mantra such as OM, contemplating its meaning, etc. There are many, many traditions, many techniques. Sri Yogeshwara is right that one should find a compromise between superficially skipping around from one technique to another and holding on to one technique for too long. My teacher recommends 12 years as a good period for practicing and mastering a single technique.
May your spiritual practices be fruitful!
NP
Being completeley absorbed by the now. The walking meditation of a Yacqui Way of Knowledge sounds great. If I remember correctly there was a lot of peyote in that book too and for better or worse chemicals do help to bring on such states, but of course they can make the chatter worse too and that can be a big bummer.
Karma yoga is the effort to find such a state while being completely absorbed in your work. Not worrying about the fruits of your actions helps to bring this on. Doing things because they need to be done, like Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita. A book I like that explains a range of exercises to come into the now is Concentration by Ernest Wood, another is Journey of Awakening by Ram Dass.
This topic is vast and I wish you luck on the journey.
Peace,
Yogeshvara
great
another thing to keep in mind is that thoughts are just subsonic speaking, ie the laranyx moving just as it would when you speak to another person, but just too quiet for anyone else to hear.
or at least that was explained to me by something…now that i think about it cant remember where i pulled that info from…thinking about thoughts in this less magical way has helped me though (mayeb its nonsense im not sure)
you now, thinking of thoughts as just another physical action, like bending your arms and legs…its not something out of your control, its just another muscle movement.
when you think of it as this magical thing seperating us from the animals, and also something that cant be controlled without eyars of mantras and berathing tehcniques i think you program your self to lose control of it.
i dunno…i really dont
I can tell from my experience that one doesn’t have to do anything special about the inner dialog. As my gurudev sayy: If the thoughts come, let them come. If the thoughts go, let them go. So, this is basically the attitude of obserever, which was already discussed here. Concentration on the breath can also be good, but sometimes thoughts are so overwhelming that it requires a great effort to be focused on breath, which again creates strain. So this is what I do - i just close my eyes while sitting in upright position, relax my body and repeat my mantra. After cca. 45 minutes or 1 hour all the thoughts dissapear anyway, and real joy begins. This is it.
i just read in Steal my art by TT Liang 2 interesting tings on the topic of inner diologue.
It takes 15 minutes of meditation at least before any real effects of meditation can be gained.
He recomends saying over and over agaiin you rmind endlessly “What did i look like before i was born?” (which is a question without an answer…is the theory behind it)
so maybe give that little mantra a go for about 20 minutes and see how you feel about that (if you have the time reply back and tell me what you think)
what is the difference between this, and just letting yourself think a train of thoughts, without being attached?
like for instance, you are just counting your breathing, and while you are counting you are thinking, not intentionaly, but you know you are thinking and you just think and think and think, while you count the breath… and then the thoughts change and stuff, and sometimes you notice and sometimes you don’t, but you are just trying to work on counting the breath.
thoughts are very strange, existant yet not.