Yoga: Transcend Thoughts

5 days ago By Yogi Anoop

Yoga: A Conversation on Transcending Thought

(A Dialogue between Yogi Anoop and His Disciple)

Disciple: Gurudev, what truly is the purpose of Pranayam in yoga? We hear so many techniques – is there a common thread behind them?

Yogi Anoop: Yes. Every technique in yogic practice, including Pranayam, ultimately points to one central aim — to go beyond thoughts.

Why? Because as long as the mind remains caught in thoughts, our brain is overstimulated. The hormones, the chemical secretions, the reactions inside our body — they rise to such levels that even our daily food and breath cannot balance or transform them into usable energy.

Disciple: So just thinking too much harms our body?

Yogi Anoop: More than we realize. Even if you’re eating healthy, breathing well, sleeping regularly — if your mind is overactive, the system burns too fast. The body tires. The brain starts operating beyond its limit. That’s why the yogic path says: take a break from thinking. Disconnect from the thought-process, even for a while. I am not suggesting stopping thoughts permanently , which is not practically possible but at least try to pause them. 

Disciple: But how do we go beyond thoughts? Can we really stop thinking?

Yogi Anoop: You don’t need to forcefully stop thoughts. Even you can never do this . You simply need to begin experiencing — truly experiencing what you are doing. Let me explain. But the basic problem is you actually try to experience by thoughts , but the truths is thoughts come after experience . If it happens then you can pause the thoughts. 

When you’re eating, just eat. Don’t talk, don’t plan, don’t analyze. Instead, feel the taste. If you fully experience taste, thoughts will vanish at that time. You can either taste or think — never both at once. That’s the secret. 

Disciple: So full experience leads to freedom from thoughts?

Yogi Anoop: Exactly. When you experience something deeply — be it taste, smell, touch — you reconnect with your own body, your own awareness. This connection is the beginning of self-healing. At that time you are free from all thoughts. 

Self-healing happens in two ways:

First, through experiencing external things — like food, fragrance, sound — all linked to the five elements.

Second, through experiencing your body directly — its muscles, its movements, without any taste or colour or form.

For example, if you’re lifting your leg or raising your arm slowly, you’re experiencing movement. There’s no taste or smell there, yet this experience calms the mind in a deeper way. This is where we go beyond the senses, and into transcendental experience.

Disciple: So transcendental meditation means going beyond even the five senses?

Yogi Anoop: Yes. That’s where deep healing begins — not just of the body or the mind, but also of the spirit. True yoga, meditation, pranayama — they don’t only treat diseases; they dissolve the very roots of imbalance — physical, emotional, even spiritual disorders.

Disciple: Spiritual disorders?

Yogi Anoop: Yes. There are many hidden mental and emotional disorders we carry. We don’t even know we’re sick. That’s why most people don’t suffer from just physical illness — they suffer from thought-illness, from unconscious mental turbulence.

Disciple: How do we protect ourselves from that?

Yogi Anoop: One path is to develop the habit of experiencing. Whether it’s during meditation, yoga, knowledge, or pranayam — give more importance to direct experience, not just discussion. Then inner growth happens naturally. Healing increases. Suffering decreases.

But one more thing — in the beginning, we need guidance. A guru is needed.

Disciple: Why? Can’t we do it ourselves?

Yogi Anoop: If we haven’t understood ourselves in so many years, what makes us think we’ll suddenly understand now? So initially, take support. Let someone help you understand yourself. After some time, once the understanding ripens, then walk alone — not in isolation, but in self-awareness.

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