How Do We Purify the Mind?
June 20, 2026 | Updated September 13, 2026 | By Soul on a Journey | 14 Min Read
Cleansing the Mind of Mental Clutter
Meditation, Mindfulness, and Conscious Thinking
Is there a single approach to cleanse the mind? There isn’t a one-size-fits all approach to purify the mind. So how does one cleanse the mind of negative thoughts, emotional stress, and mental habits? Practices that have had a profound effect on us are meditation to focus/quiet the mind, mindfulness to increase awareness, and conscious thinking to train the mind. But, before we dive in, it’s worth noting that we resonate with the concept that our mental health directly impacts our energy systems and vice versa.
This is because we consider the mind and energy systems (energy centers, nadis, energy fields, etc.) to be part of the subtle astral body, meaning all of these subtle complexes are interconnected. Ergo, it has been helpful for us to understand how our energy systems function and their influences as we take part in ongoing mental cleansing processes. There are even methodical approaches devoted to our influences like astrology, Human Design, and fixed energy constitution codes.
How Does Energy Flow Impact the Mind?
How does our energy flow impact the mind? Consider this example. There have been days where we haven’t drank enough water. Not drinking enough water can cause tension in the sacral energy center. This center is associated with the water element and fluidity of the gross physical body. Essentially, tension in the sacral energy center can limit vyana circulation of the water element’s life force energy (prana) throughout our energy systems. We’ve experienced firsthand how blockages like this can impact the bladder and our overall systemic balance — leading to the psychological manifestation of thirst and physical symptoms like dehydration and constipation. Apologies, TMI.
So how do our minds impact our energy systems? When the mind is clear, calm, and focused it can direct the energy system so that life force energy will flow optimally through nadis and energy centers. And as our energy centers and nadis become clearer and function more optimally, our minds can become more purified. This creates an optimal energy cycle that puts us in a more conducive state for spiritual evolution.
How does mental trauma affect the mind? Mental trauma is often defined by the intense emotional and physiological energy it generates, like fear, shock, and anger. If mental trauma is not fully processed — transformed into an object of love and understanding — it can become stuck in the energy system (Law of One, 46:8-14). This can create energy blockages leading to physical symptoms like muscle tension and anxiety. Negative emotions can also act like a spiritual vacuum. They can attract self-seeking entities who could use the misaligned, lower-vibrational energy to gain influence and power.
Meditation, mindfulness, and conscious thinking can help purify the mind and optimize our energy systems.
Meditation to Quiet/Focus the Mind
What is Meditation?
What exactly is meditation? Meditation is a scientifically proven, ancient practice that helps us focus and/or quiet the mind. Or as Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Guru, Yogi & Humanitarian) explains, meditation is a journey from sound to silence, movement to stillness, and limited identity to unlimited space. Aside from purifying the mind, we’ve also practiced meditation to achieve inner peace, mental clarity, increased energy, spiritual connectedness, better sleep, and decreased anxiety. We won’t delve into the plethora of meditation techniques and types out there, but there are two types that resonate with us.
Effortless Calm
The first type of meditation that resonates with us focuses on a more natural expansion of awareness using personalized mantras or charged sounds, like transcendental meditation (TM™) or sahaj samadhi meditation. For example, we frequently use the charged sound Aum (Om) during meditations which is energizing and restorative for us. According to both Tony Nader (MD, PhD, Neuroscientist) and Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, these types of techniques can allow our active thinking minds to naturally settle down through an effortless process, rather than through focused concentration or thought control.
A recent neurophenomenology study was conducted by scientists at the University of Cambridge to see what happens in the brain when awareness remains but thoughts and other mental activity become greatly reduced. Their findings, like hundreds of other studies, seem to confirm that TM can be used to produce a wakeful state of pure awareness where the usual thoughts, perceptions, and mental activity of waking consciousness are greatly reduced, along with reduced awareness of time, space, and bodily sensations.
Focused Attention
The second type of meditation that resonates with us focuses on focusing our attention or concentration, like with shamatha (calm abiding) meditation or Qigong. This type of meditation is more inline with the Bhagavad Gita (6:10-15) which devotes an entire chapter to meditation. The gist is that we should focus the mind in meditation with single-pointed concentration on an object, like the breath — controlling all thoughts and activities. This is said to cultivate a mind that is stable, clear, and undisturbed by distractions.
Meditation Practice to Focus Attention
Below are steps for a general meditation practice to focus attention and anchor the mind. See if it resonates! For more guided meditations, check out our Zen Den.
- Choose a single object of focus – This could include the breath, mantras, visualized images, or even Source.
- Sit in a seated position – This could include the easy yoga pose (sukhasana), lotus yoga pose (padmasana), or simply sitting upright holding the body, neck, and head firmly in a straight line.
- Focus attention on the object – If the object is breath, one could note inhalation (in) and exhalation (out).
- Sustain and return – When the mind wanders, return attention to the object without judgement. This repetition strengthens concentration.
Meditation helps us focus and/or quiet the mind. It is a journey from sound to silence and limited identity to unlimited space.
Mindfulness to Increase Awareness
What is Mindfulness?
What is mindfulness, also referred to as open monitoring? We hear this word a lot. The most basic definition of mindfulness is being fully present in the moment. It’s also been described as paying attention to the things we experience, leaving the past in the past, and choosing peacefulness in every action, thought, feeling, and response. Baba Ram Dass (Guru, Yogi, Psychologist, 1931- 2019) explained that mindfulness is one of the practices for slowing down our lives. It helps us find a way inside and concentrate on awareness. Easier said than done, right?
Buddhist teachings explain that mindfulness is being aware of what’s present. Like feeling the sensations of our feet touching the ground while walking. It explains that with mindfulness, we can create space between a stimulus and our response. And in that space, we have the freedom to choose a wiser, more compassionate response rather than a response driven by old habits and auto-pilot reactions. Mindfulness is consistent with certain meditation practices where one observes sensations and mental phenomena without judgment (detached awareness), like vipassana meditation (insight meditation) explained in Buddhist teachings.
Vipassana is translated as clear seeing and it means to see things as they really are. We think of it as seeing through illusion experientially, not intellectually. It’s the practice of investigating the true, temporary nature of material experience, specifically the three marks of existence: impermanence, suffering, and non-self. Essentially, one would establish mindfulness, observe the three marks of existence, and cultivate equanimity in every experience.
What Are the Four Foundations of Mindfulness?
There are four foundations of mindfulness according to Buddhist teachings:
- Mindfulness of the Body – grounding our attention in the direct, physical experience of the body so that the body acts as a stable anchor to the present moment
- Mindfulness of Feelings – recognizing and observing the pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral feeling of every moment of experience before the mind or intellect categories it to trigger our behavior
- Mindfulness of the Mind – observing the temporary state or quality of our awareness without becoming or being defined by it, such as saying there is confusion or the mind is confused rather than I am confused
- Mindfulness of Mental Objects – using the five hindrances, five aggregates, six sense spheres, seven factors of awakening, and four noble truths as frameworks to examine our present moments — moving mindfulness from simple awareness to insight
Mindfulness Practices to See Clearly
How do we put mindfulness into practice based on Buddhist practices? Let’s say we’re working in our home office and our cat knocks a picture off the dresser nearby. Our immediate response is we’re startled. Then, we begin to feel the familiar heat of irritation rising. How could we practice mindfulness? First, we could bring attention to what’s happening to our body — tightness of the jaw and rapid heartbeat. Then, we could categorize our immediate response as a pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral feeling. Doing this would create space. This space would allow us to respond later with clarity rather than react with anger when we clean up the mess.
What if we wanted to take mindfulness a step further? We could also investigate why the situation caused us to become irritated in the first place using hindrances, awakening factors, and the four foundations of mindfulness. First, we would identify our specific hinderance toward the situation. A hindrance is a mental state that gets in the way of our ability to see clearly. There are five of them according to Buddhist teachings: sensory desire, ill-will, sloth, restlessness, and skeptical doubt. In this case the hindrance could be ill-will — our mind’s aversion towards unpleasant experiences. Ill -will creates a sense of separation, like wanting something to be different.
Once we identify the hinderance, we would recognize an awakening factor that’s absent. Awakening factors are interrelated mental qualities and antidotes we cultivate to help us counter hindrances. At this point, we’ve already used three of them — mindfulness, concentration, and investigation. The others are energy, joy, tranquility, and equanimity. In this case, the antidote to our irritation could be tranquility.
Next, we would apply the antidote. We could take a deep breath to ground the body and cultivate mindfulness of the body. Then we could attribute the irritation to the mind (not the self or “I”) and accept it as temporary and fading. For example, we could acknowledge, “There is irritation here but it too shall pass”. This would cultivate mindfulness of feelings. Afterwards, we would release the irritated state of mind. This would cultivate mindfulness of the mind. Finally, we would relax to cultivate tranquility and mindfulness of mental objects. Now we’re ready to clean up the mess!
Mindfulness is being fully present in the moment, paying attention to the things we experience, and seeing things as they truly are.
Meditation + Mindfulness
Buddhist teachings suggest that a mind that’s calm but not insightful is like trying to perform delicate surgery with a steady hand but dull instrument. Whereas a mind that’s insightful but not calm is like trying to perform delicate surgery with a shaky hand but sharp instrument. Neither one of those options would be ideal, right?
Could the key lie in an integrated approach to purifying the mind? Perhaps we first calm or stabilize the mind through meditative practices like shamatha. Then we will be in a more conducive state to become aware of the impermanent nature of our sensations, feelings, and thoughts through mindfulness practices like vipassana. This integrated approach is said to ultimately lead to our liberation from the limitations of our ego consciousness. Afterall, a scattered mind can’t see things clearly and a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Yes, I had to say it!
Regardless of which approach one takes, one thing all of these practices seem to have in common is that the more we perform them, the more our gaze will become faultless, as explained in Autobiography of a Yogi (36:297). Check out our Zen Den for a few of our favorite meditations and techniques.
Conscious Thinking to Train the Mind
How Do We Deal With Negativity?
How does one deal with negative thoughts and emotions? One way that resonates with us is to consistently have positive thoughts. BK Shivani (Spiritual Teacher) is one of our go-to resources for practical advice on conscious thinking.
Essentially, BK Shivani suggests that we train the mind to respond with positivity rather than react with negativity. This is substantiated in the Bhagavad Gita (17:16) which encourages us to cultivate the mind with rich and noble thoughts, while weeding out the negative and debilitating thoughts. Weeding out negative thoughts also serves another purpose. It helps to ensure that those with not so great intentions do not gain power from the negative energy generated by our distress.
The Law of One (5:1-2) also offers practical advice for dealing with negative emotions and destructive thoughts, like anger. Like BK Shivani, the Law of One stresses the importance of responding with love and understanding versus fear and anger. The Law of One also suggests that we should perceive, understand, and accept negative thoughts instead of controlling or repressing them — except when they could result in actions inconsistent with the Law of One (52:7).
Buddhist teachings suggest that when we experience one of the five hinderances — sensual desire (craving), ill-will (aversion), sloth (dullness), restlessness (agitation), or doubt (indecision) — we should apply this formula: recognize the hinderance, pause, and apply an antidote. An antidote could be as simple as reflecting on the temporary nature of things or cultivating contentment when experiencing cravings. Other antidotes could include cultivating compassion when experiencing ill-will and changing our physical state or environment when experiencing sloth.
How Can We Transmute Negative Energy?
What if accepting negativity means transmuting (transforming) it into positivity — or as Buddhist traditions explain, reframing the negative as positive? Whereas, controlling negativity means leveraging it as a means to manipulate others. How would one go about transmuting negative energy?
The Kybalion (C15:215) explains that we can transmute undesirable energy by concentrating on the opposite polarity — like transforming fear into courage, cultivating doubt into confidence, and countering restlessness with calm. Transforming negatives into positives has worked wonders for us. The second we have a negative thought — doubts, fears, anger, jealousy — we immediately acknowledge it and transform it into a positive thought. Having done this practice for several years now, it has become almost automatic and instantaneous for us.
Christina Lopes (DPT, MPH, Heart Alchemist) also offers great advice on processing, circulating, and transmuting energy. This is essential for lightworkers and energy alchemists. Christina Lopes stresses the importance of ensuring energy doesn’t become stagnant — helping others understand how trauma is stored in our nervous systems. Not wasting energy or allowing it to become stagnant is consistent with Buddhist teachings which stress that we should develop the discernment and mindfulness to know when to allow energy to pass through us rather than block, return, or retain it — always making a distinction between carrying what’s ours versus someone else’s.
How Can We Avoid Wasting Energy?
Christina Lopes also suggests transforming undesirable, lower-vibrational energy into positive, higher-vibrational energy — as opposed to simply eliminating, reflecting, or blocking the negative energy. This ensures we’re never wasting energy. Transforming also ensures that we’re not bypassing any trauma.
She explains that spiritual bypassing is dissociation dressed up as enlightenment. It’s when we use our spirituality to escape what’s actually happening to us. Bypassing teaches us to float above or ignore the parts of our humanity that’s too difficult for us to hold. But essentially, all trauma must be acknowledged, integrated, and healed if we want to awaken our divinity.
So while positive thinking is a part of the transformation and healing process, it appears it’s not the only step.
Conscious thinking means developing the discernment and mindfulness to know when to allow energy to pass through us rather than block, return, retain, or transform it.
Holistic Approaches to Purify the Mind
Ayurveda & Holism to Cleanse the Mind
We resonate with the concept that our energy systems and gross physical bodies can impact the mind. So by this logic, maintaining an optimal energy system and gross physical body can also help to purify the mind. This is why holistic approaches like Ayurveda resonate with us.
Ayurveda is considered one of the world’s oldest holistic healing systems and is said to be at least 5,000 years old. It focuses on treating the root causes of imbalances that lead to mental and physical diseases. This is consistent with Edgar Cayce’s (Clairvoyant & Healer, 1877-1945) holism approach. Edgar saw total health as the coordination between the physical, mental, and spiritual components of life.
In terms of holistic practices, Ayurveda and Edgar Cayce both suggest focusing on proper diet, exercise, and rest. The Bhagavad Gita (18:51-53) offers similar suggestions, including relishing solitude, controlling our bodies, minds, and speech, engaging in daily sadhana (meditation, prayer, or yoga), practicing dispassion, and living a balanced life. We have experienced firsthand how sticking to our diets, getting regular exercise, meditating, and getting proper rest makes us more energized and focused.
Specifically, we’ve transformed our diets by understanding our dosha type. According to Ayurveda, each person has a unique dosha constitution (prakriti) influenced by vata (movement, air + ether), pitta (transformation, fire + water), and kapha (structure, earth + water). These energies govern how our body and mind function. For example, knowing which combinations of foods are best to ignite or calm our digestive fire (agni) has been life-changing for us. This means we’re no longer reaching for the Pepto-Bismol if we’re experiencing gas or bloating. We take a page from Ayurveda to use natural remedies, including lemon juice and ginger. Who knew!
Holistic Programs & Courses to Cleanse the Mind
In terms of holistic approaches, there are also specific programs and courses we can enroll in. Some programs consist of breathwork (pranayama), body discipline, and mental control through meditation. For example, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Guru, Yogi & Humanitarian) offers the Art of Living Part Course, which includes Sudarshan Kriya™. Through 100+ independent studies, this course has been shown to lower stress levels, improve mental clarity, and provide a greater sense of inner peace.
Another breathwork-based method is kriya yoga. According to Autobiography of a Yogi (26:207-210), kriya yoga can help us control life force energy as well as neutralize decay and mutations in the body. Ergo, it can be used as a shortcut for quickening spiritual evolution. Consider this fellow souls. One-half minute of kriya yoga is said to equal one year of natural spiritual progression. Wow, right?
Sadhguru (Guru, Yogi & Mystic) also offers Inner Engineering. Inner Engineering is described as a powerful possibility to cultivate clarity within oneself so that life isn’t filtered through preference or prejudice, but experienced with greater awareness and stability. Inner Engineering provides an assortment of meditation, chanting, and yoga tools that has helped us experience greater emotional balance, stability, and improved health.
The Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) offered the eightfold path (middle way) which focuses on purifying the mind of the ten fetters (unhealthy mental habits) and looking within to stop suffering (Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, SN 56:11). The eightfold path has been divided into three groups of practice:
- Morality or Ethical Conduct (shila) – right speech, right action, and right livelihood
- Meditation or Mental Discipline (samadhi) – right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration
- Wisdom or Insight (prajna) – right view and right intention
Other Approaches to Cleanse the Mind
Other holistic practices that resonate with us include:
- Experiencing kirtans, devotional chanting, singing, and inspirational music for a greater sense of connection
- Being in nature for grounding, spiritual retreats, and exercise, including hiking and biking
- Smudging with sage, burning incense and oil lamps, and lighting essential oil-based candles to cleanse energy
- Visualizing, affirming, and manifesting our thoughts into reality
- Using crystals (Law of One, 2:3) and Solfeggio frequencies for self-healing
- Participating in sound baths to relieve tension and anxiety
- Expressing gratitude to the universe for the good, bad, and in-between
- Sending out positive, high-vibrational energy and blessings to other fellow souls
See what resonates fellow souls!
