LOL... I have to laugh. It is not about emptying the mind... it’s about turning it inside out! Even Jesus said, “You must go within to find My Father.
And... Allow me to say that you only empty the mind as it is full of self. Only then do you have room For God! then it is filled beyond belief. That is how I am aware of the thoughts of those around me. This is what “”Dying Daily is all about and the parable of new wine in an old skin.
Living your life looking outward in the senses is like spending your life looking into a bag. It is only when you look within that you take the bag off your head and see/experience God.
I don't know about yoga doing that since I only used it to condition and restore my body physically. I could see describing my Buddhist meditation as "turning my mind inside out" as it certainly overturned many preconceived ideas I had. That made the greatest contrast in the beginning when even my most basic views of things began to crumble and seem silly.
And... Allow me to say that you only empty the mind as it is full of self.
I am familiar with self losing its power to make itself appear as if it is mind but there is no conscious effort to empty the mind in meditation practice. That would be something that is specifically said to be avoided. Another tool for the ego to use to assert itself.
Only then do you have room For God!
With no God or gods to contemplate that wouldn't be a consideration in Buddhism.
That is how I am aware of the thoughts of those around me.
My teacher developed that same ability, quite accidentally, when he first began his practice. At first it scared him until a psychic taught him how to control it. (Due to unusual circumstances he could not speak to his Buddhist teacher about it at that time and didn't know any others.) He also found it very uncomfortable as it frightened and confused some people around him.
The last straw was inadvertantly 'seeing' the life of a co-worker (whom he didn't really know she just walked by one evening) that was so gray and horrible that it just filled him with her depression and hopelessness. He chose to never allow himself to 'see' people's lives again.
Living your life looking outward in the senses is like spending your life looking into a bag.
I would certainly agree with that. Ultimately even mind is viewed as just phenomena no different than outward appearances. The absolute, known as Dharmakaya in Tibetan Buddhism, has no describable attributes at all.