How to deal with intense mind racing?

[jrl]

When the mind starts to ruminate, the best thing for me is to acknowledge it but don't feed it. The problem is that you can't out think your own mind, the same door that leads in, also leads out. The mind is tricky in the sense that if you keep the thoughts moving it only gets stronger. I try to break the cycle by deep belly breathing which calms the nervous system. More thinking only makes it worse for me

[samseva]

i have a delusional thought stuck in my head that a friend of mine is creating thousands of clones of his sister, I have the urge to meditate, I have anxiety about something unclear, and more.
- no good, my mind keeps somehow viewing the breath in the context of the sister-clones instead of in terms of the 4 noble truths

This is a thread from 2014, so the circumstances could be different. However, if the above is still the case, I would be cautious. Maybe it was due to waking up from sleeping. If these are common occurrences, you should be careful with meditation; which in such circumstances would probably make things worse, such as proliferating the unwanted thought.

[Zom]

I'm aware that meditation should not feel like intensive effort but when my mind is racing like this, it really seems to require a lot of energy to calm it down. Maybe I am looking at this all the wrong way.

Wrong way, indeed. Because there is zero energy required to calm down the mind - you just calm it down, and that's it. If you make efforts to do it, if you keep pressing on it - you will never reach calmness -) Actually, the mechanism for calming the mind is similar to one calming the body. Do you know how to calm the body? How to totally relax physically? Well, apply same method to your mind and it will deconstruct its bustle by itself.

Give it a try

[SarathW]

In which Jhana, mind racing stops?
I think it is fourth Jhana.

[samseva]

In which Jhana, mind racing stops?
I think it is fourth Jhana.

'Mind racing' would be considered restlessness (uddhacca) and therefore is one of the hindrances (nīvaraṇa). All hindrances disappear after having reached neighbourhood or access-concentration (upacāra-samādhi).

32. Now, concentration is of two kinds, that is to say, access concentration and absorption concentration: the mind becomes concentrated in two ways, that is, on the plane of access and on the plane of obtainment. Herein, the mind becomes concentrated on the plane of access by the abandonment of the hindrances, and on the plane of obtainment by the manifestation of the jhāna factors.

[Pondera]

Hello,

Does anybody else experience a phenonenon just after waking or just before falling asleep, where all mindfulness and equanimity and positive factors just seem to disappear? The age old "waking up in the middle of the night tossing and turning, can't fall back asleep" problem.

Upon waking, I usually find that my mind is racing uncontrollably and nothing seems to work to help calm it down. I usually find myself overwhelmed with sensual desire, muddled by illogical, dreamlike thought processes, and just uncontrollable whatever of my mental tools I try to use. It seems to just fade with time but "wait it out" is not an acceptable solution to me.

Here's an example of my own experience:

-attempted to meditate, was hampered by ankle pain
-fell asleep for the night
-slept, for about 2 hours
-suddenly woke up
-simultaneously a song is playing in my head, I feel the urge to masturbate, i have a delusional thought stuck in my head that a friend of mine is creating thousands of clones of his sister, I have the urge to meditate, I have anxiety about something unclear, and more. Typical post- sleep groggy state for me.
-attempt to meditate to clear up these issues
- no good, my mind keeps somehow viewing the breath in the context of the sister-clones instead of in terms of the 4 noble truths
-this goes on... More mental unrest, more attempts to calm the mind, no success
-at the end of it all I've lost sleep unneccesarily

I guess the point of this post is, how can a meditator deal with very intense mental unrest? What tools are there for a mind that moves too quickly to observe and control?

I'm aware that meditation should not feel like intensive effort but when my mind is racing like this, it really seems to require a lot of energy to calm it down. Maybe I am looking at this all the wrong way.

Any advice would be appreciated,

Thank you so much.

I think your urge to masturbate is tied in with your delusion that your friend is making thousands of clones of his sister. You have a huge crush on your friends sister.

Ahem. Regarding the topic. Racing mind? Try to keep up with it. Inwardly verbalize your thoughts. That seems to help for me.