I've found most western books written on the topic unsatisfying and barely hitting the basics of what's in eastern books. Have found it more effective to improvise one's own techniques using analogies and would recommend this to others. I think this is 'scientific' because no two minds are quite alike - so do the experiment and see what works for you.
The mind is much closer to computer science (with multiple processes) than biology and physics as currently understood. Think of how a computer shuts down cleanly (vs after corruption or out of memory) and then bootstraps clean (clarity). Or a tall office building that is lit all the way up, that is gradually shutting out its lights level by level. A physical analogy that is useful is of a train that is slowly coming to a halt. One cannot stop it suddenly as it has a lot of momentum, but one can reduce momentum gradually and let it coast to a halt. The mind is similar to the train - it does not really want to stop when awake - that's why it takes practice. Sometimes one of these images work, sometimes none do. I'm curious about other's experience as well.
The mind is much closer to computer science (with multiple processes) than biology and physics as currently understood. Think of how a computer shuts down cleanly (vs after corruption or out of memory) and then bootstraps clean (clarity). Or a tall office building that is lit all the way up, that is gradually shutting out its lights level by level. A physical analogy that is useful is of a train that is slowly coming to a halt. One cannot stop it suddenly as it has a lot of momentum, but one can reduce momentum gradually and let it coast to a halt. The mind is similar to the train - it does not really want to stop when awake - that's why it takes practice. Sometimes one of these images work, sometimes none do. I'm curious about other's experience as well.