The goal of this class is not to silence your mind or stop your thoughts, an impossible task that only creates more frustration.

The goal is to fundamentally change your relationship with your thoughts. You will learn how to observe your mind's activity from a place of calm, grounded awareness, without getting swept away by the current.

We begin with a ten-minute practice using the breath as an anchor to stabilise your attention and ground you in the present. After a brief look at the science of the "wandering mind," you will be guided through the main twenty-minute Mindfulness of Thoughts meditation.

In this core practice, you will learn to notice thoughts as they arise, acknowledge them without judgment, and gently let them go. Each time you do this, you weaken the grip of habitual thought patterns and strengthen your ability to choose where you place your focus.

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The feeling of a mind that "won't switch off" is directly linked to a specific network in the brain. Scientists call it the Default Mode Network (DMN), and it becomes active when we are not focused on a specific task. when our minds wander to the past, the future, or thoughts about ourselves.

While this is a normal brain function, an overactive DMN is strongly associated with rumination, anxiety, and unhappiness.

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The good news is that meditation provides a direct way to regulate this network. Mindfulness practice is a powerful form of resilience training that strengthens your capacity for attentional control.

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Neuroscientific studies, including a key 2011 study from Yale University, used fMRI scans to show that experienced meditators have significantly reduced activity in the Default Mode Network.

This demonstrates that with practice, we can train our brains to be less caught up in the cycle of distracting and often stressful self-referential thought, leading to a more present and calm state of mind.