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Any opinions on thought stopping as a meditation technique?
Thought stopping: watching every thought that arises and squashing it the moment you notice it. Like a cat watching a mouse hole.
I think it should be taken as a last resort. Check out
MN 20. It lays out a set of steps to follow (very basic summary, read the sutta for the full descriptions):
1. First, try to think skillful thoughts instead of unskillful ones.
2. If the unskillful ones persist, then try finding drawbacks of the unskillful ones.
3. If that doesn't work, try to pay no mind to them.
4. If that doesn't work, try relaxing the thoughts.
5. If that doesn't work, then crush the thoughts (like you mentioned here).
So if thoughts persist & annoy, try the other methods, but if nothing works, then try to crush it. It generally seems like a very heavy-handed and stressful technique, so if it can be done more easily it should be.