You know what hinders meditation is when you think thoughts should not come! You try to chase a thought out with a stick and that's when thoughts come back again.  What you have to do when a bad thought comes - say ok! Come on! I am going to embrace you!

Embrace the bad thought; you will see it dissolves, it disappears. Same way, good thoughts, bad thoughts, never mind.

With 'upaya', with some skill, we have to make the mind settle down. It will happen! If it doesn't happen in the first sitting, it will happen in a couple of sittings.

So first point, remember in meditation - no effort, effortlessness! Second point is when thoughts come, don't resist them. Let them come, ok come on! That attitude you need to keep.

Transcribed from a talk Morning Yoga Part 18 Talk by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Art of Living TV