5 Ways to Directly Train Your Mind, That You Can Do Anytime

I use the word directly because when people ask me for practices to try I'd say good sleep and who you surround yourself with/where you spend your time are the most important things and have an indirect and cascading impact on all areas of life.

You can exercise your body in different ways depending on what you want to get out of it. The same applies to the mind.

Below is a list of 5 direct ways to do so, the aim of them as well as an explanation in brief. This is not conclusive by any means. Finally I mention my experience of them which are conclusive because they are my own personal experiences!

1. BREATHWORK

Aim: To Shift Your State

Explanation: This is a sure fire away to keep your body in good check. You can slow your system down or speed it up based on the requirements of your body. A good level of heart coherence shows how well your feelings, thoughts and emotions are working together. This type of training combines breathwork with intentional positive thoughts and focusing on the area of the heart, which ends messages up to the brain. So when someone says 'go with your heart' it may not be as fluffy as it sounds.

My Experience: As quite a naturally heady person breathwork allows me to get into my body. Heart coherence training is something I begun, let go for a bit, but have come back to recently. I always feel better after doing it

2 SELF HYPNOSIS

Aim: Solve a particular issue

Explanation: You can override specific issues by bypassing the conscious mind and going straight to the subconscious. A good time do this is in the morning when you first wake up, or just before you go to bed as your thinking mind starts to slow down. You could repeat a message to yourself, or listen to instructions.

My experience: My thinking mind is so fast that bypassing it has often been tricky to do intentionally! I remember taking part in a conversational hypnosis lesson as part of my training and couldn't believe when a woman I worked with feel in a deep trance as I worked with her.

"You were pretending weren't you? "No I wasn't" she insisted. When she worked with me I'd pretended, as my thinking mind is a stubborn so and so!

Think how many times in a day you are in a trance. You do something then five minutes later you forgot that you did it entirely, or the details are very sketchy. Being in flow is like a trance like state where you are fully immersed in what you are doing and have no memory of some of the stuff that happened during that period. Now I have definitely been in those kind of accidental trances.

3. NON SLEEP DEEP REST

Aim: Restore Your Vigour

Explanation: This stems from a practice called Yoga Nidra sometimes called yogic sleep. You slowly scan your body and hopefully bring your brainwaves down in activity. You can drop into a blissful state as you edge to a state that is close to sleep (without going to sleep which can be problematic!). It feels like you've sunk a few espressos afterwards!

My experience: I've actually got a qualification in this but I used it to to tap deepest into my intuition as I coach rather than teach it to others. Andrew Huberman of the popular scientific Huberman Lab podcast is a big fan of the non sleep deep rest method. It can be handy to do during the day to freshen you up, just like a power nap would be. Make sure you set your alarm so you don't doze off and get into deep sleep which may leave you a bit sluggish for the rest of the day.

Hands up. I often fall asleep when I'm doing it which isn't the point but if sleep is what your body needs then listen to it!

4. MEDITATION

Aim: Enhance ability to focus

Explanation: Mindfulness is the simple art of noticing things, not trying not to think, which I think many believe and as a result say they are bad at it. You can either meditate by focusing on something specific like your breath or something inside of your body or focus on something outside of you. Then mindfulness part is noticing when your mind has drifted, which with training should make you respond more deliberately to things in life rather than just being in automatic reacting mode.

You can also just sit and do nothing and see what comes up, which is a very Zen way of doing it. This is more of an open way of meditating, like letting the mind roam free like a wild horse. More focused ways of attention is like tying the horse to the gate!

My experience: A game changer for me. I used to believe in every thought my tyrannical mind came up with. Now I don't and am able to sit back and watch the mind do it's thing. I used to envision myself sitting on side of a pond in an open cave and imagining thoughts as fish swimming by. Luckily I've never been much of a fisherman so didn't feel the need to get the rod out!

The vision I had/have is very similar to the artwork for this article which was produced by a digital visionary artist called Cameron Gray. It spooked me out the first time I laid eyes on it recently as it is the exact vision that came in my head as I meditated. Maybe I was a mystic in a past life, who knows...!

5. PRAYER

Aim: Allow something to come through you

Explanation: This is a tricky one as it often feels like you are talking to yourself. Sometimes praying is about listening deeply to yourself too not just talking out aloud, or in your head.

I guess you don't have to be religious to do it but you probably have to think there is a higher consciousness than merely your own. Interestingly world famous neurobiologist Andrew Huberman and psychiatrist and philosopher Iain McGilchrist swear by it.

My experience: This is a newer things to me and not something I stick to religiously (pardon the pun!). I did have a scratch the head moment at the end of 2024 though when I connected deeply into my heart and asked/prayed for evidence that Jesus and his accomplishments were real. I'm a fence sitter with my analytical mind. Low and behold in the pouring rain, about 5 minutes, later two young Jesus Christ missionaries turned up at the door! I kid you not. It was a real double take moment for me as I answered the door.

Which practice is best?

The one that speaks to you, and the one you will do.

If none speak to you then so be it. Not everybody does direct body exercise too.