How to Practice watching Thought Flow

                                                                                                How to Practice Watching Thought Flow

1. The primary requirement for successful 'Watching Thought flow' exercise is correct body posture.
2. One has to sit straight with shoulders upright; spinal cord, back of the neck and head all in one straight line; without any backrest or handrest.  The body should be relaxed and hands placed softly in the lap.
3. For the first few minutes, one should focus one's thoughts on the body to make sure that everything is relaxed and perfectly still.
4. There should not be any movement of any part of the body apart from breathing gently through the nose.
5. Once we have made the body absolutely still and completely relaxed we can start 'Watching our Thoughts'.
6. Now, we must simply watch the thoughts as they appear in the mind – just as we watch clouds float by in the sky or waves come and go at seashore.
7. It is important that we don't react to any thought otherwise we will get lost in it and will start brooding on our thoughts, instead of watching them.
8. A simple analogy can be drawn with a watchman standing at a gate.  He sees so many people come and go without reacting or talking to them.  He is all the time perfectly calm and quiet.  But the moment he sees his wife, he starts talking to her and so is no longer calm and quiet.  The watchman's talking to his wife is like our brooding on a particular thought.  The moment we get engrossed in a particular thought, we stop watching and instead brooding starts – this has to be avoided.
9. Initially, one may find that the thoughts appearing in the mind are very foul and dirty.  But we mustn't loose heart and should go on with the practice.  It is something like what happens when we wash an inkpot.  As water is poured into it, at first it comes out very deep blue.  But as we persist in the washing process, gradually the water becomes clearer and clearer until it is absolutely pure.  Similarly, we must keep on at this process and we will find that gradually our thoughts will become purer and purer until one day we find ourselves perfectly pure.
10. As mentioned before, the essential thing is regularity and sincerity.  The practice must be done for at least 10 minutes every morning and evening.