don't people typically say to let thoughts pass by when you're doing meditation? seems like bitter medicine to disallow yourself any fleeting thought

the way you are actually supposed to meditate is to keep your mind completely clear. I have been testing this for almost a year now and even I cannot manage more than 5 mins of it but the idea is that as soon as you get a thought inside your head, open your eyes and stop the timer. It doesnt matter if it was 5 seconds or 2 mins but slowly and steadily your times will increase and so will your focus

i would chant "Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" while meditating because that is one way to force your mind to keep it from having thoughts but then maybe it is just me