Mindfulness Practice- Three Antidotes To Excessive Thinking

This guided practice is to help you let go of excessive thinking revolving around me and mine, the constant self preoccupation that sometimes can arise as a distraction during mindfulness practice. It will also help you develop your mindfulness by focusing on the breath in the body. You might feel encouraged to question your life and to open up to new possibilities of change and fulfillment, helping you build a picture of what your potential might be and how you can develop it.

Transcript

Basic Awareness Practice.

Three techniques for decoupling from rumination.

Start by taking a moment to settle and relax before you begin.

Find a comfortable sitting position and listen to what the body needs.

Shifting position to be comfortable and balanced if necessary.

So begin by bringing attention to the body in relation to the space it's in,

Sensing the room and any objects around.

And now shift the attention to the entire body as it sits here.

And move the attention to the breathing process in the whole body.

Breathing naturally,

Leaving the breath to find its own rhythm.

And now come back to the sensation of the entire body.

And bring to mind your reasons for doing this basic awareness practice on the three techniques for decoupling from rumination.

What is motivating and inspiring you to engage with this process of inner development?

And finally wish yourself success in this process.

This practice is to help you let go of rumination or obsessive thoughts revolving around I,

Me and mine during your basic awareness practice.

And focus on building basic awareness by practicing awareness of the breath in the body.

It will also encourage you to question your life and open up to possibilities of change and fulfilment,

Helping you build a picture of what your potential might be,

What may be helping you develop your potential and what may be limiting you at the moment.

Distractions and ruminations are both detrimental to developing sustained attention.

Distractions occur when focus is lost and the mind is distracted by objects such as a noise or an itch.

Ruminations are a form of distracted mind that are about self preoccupation,

Obsessive thoughts around I,

Me or mine.

Learning to let go of rumination is more difficult than letting go of distracting sensations and mind wandering as ruminations are stickier because of this stronger self identification with the contents of awareness.

Dealing with ruminations in the context of developing sustained and enhanced attention requires you to become aware of the stickiness of this I,

The self preoccupied state of mind.

The more intense and obsessive the self identification with your experiences,

The more you will be driven by the strong emotions.

If your attention is focused obsessively on worries and distress over difficult situations,

This will feed a self perpetuating cycle of disturbing thoughts and emotions such as hopelessness,

Self criticism and powerlessness.

The strategy for dealing with ruminations involves decoupling or self distancing from your experiences.

Decoupling or self distancing can be thought of as creating a space between the contents of awareness and your responses.

This space interrupts your habitual automatic reactions and gives you some freedom to respond skillfully.

With time and practice,

It becomes possible to notice the process of self identification in operation.

Through decoupling,

It becomes possible to observe the thoughts,

Emotions or physical sensations with awareness of the ego loop which seems to pull all experiences into its orbit.

The aim is not to get out of yourself.

The focus is not on distracting yourself from self preoccupation but rather to become aware of and observe this process with some psychological distance.

In other words,

The motivation is not to forcefully get rid of ruminations by fighting them.

The benefits of learning the skill of decoupling goes beyond the practice of sustained attention.

You will also become more aware of how you identify with your experiences,

In particular negative ones,

And perpetuate and use them to construct a rigid sense of self which is closed to positive development and relationships.

The following practice gives you an opportunity to practice the three techniques of decoupling,

In other words,

Putting a distance between yourself and a rumination.

The three techniques are noticing,

Naming and labeling.

The first technique,

Noticing,

Is simply to be mindful of when you experience thoughts,

Emotions or physical sensations as I,

Me or mine and then bring your attention back to your chosen object of attention.

The second technique,

Naming,

Is to replace I with your name.

For example,

I am uncomfortable becomes Nat is uncomfortable.

The third technique,

Labeling,

Is to label what is arising as separate from you.

For example,

I am irritated becomes there is irritation.

The following practice will give you some prompts to use these three techniques but feel free to use any of them at any time you feel the stickiness of the I,

Me or mine of ruminations during the practice.

So taking some time to find a comfortable sitting position with the back straight and not too tense.

Letting the head tilt slightly forward and resting it comfortably at the top of the spine.

Keeping the eyes either open or closed and changing this during the practice depending on what feels right.

And if you have your eyes open resting the gaze in front without focusing on anything in particular.

Relaxing the muscles around the eyes and the jaw and tucking the chin in slightly.

And adjusting to what the body needs during the practice.

Shifting that position to be comfortable.

And now take some time to take three deep breaths.

And now ask yourself why you're doing this practice.

The benefits of doing it and the disadvantages of not doing it.

And consider who might benefit from you doing this practice.

And keep in mind this practice is to help you decouple from getting caught up in the sticky nature of I,

Me or mine of ruminations.

As you try to stay with the breath in the body as your chosen object throughout the practice.

So now bring the attention to the natural breath in the body.

And taking a moment to realize that before you started this exercise the body was breathing automatically without you being aware of that.

And now focus your attention on this natural breathing of the body as it breathes automatically without changing it in any way.

And be aware that the breath is noticeable at the navel area through the movement of the diaphragm.

Holding your attention on the body as it breathes.

And noticing the quality of the breath.

Whether it's fast or slow,

Shallow or deep,

Whatever it might be.

And become aware of the length of the breath as it enters and leaves the body.

Not trying to change the length of the breath but just being aware of how short or long the breath is.

Simply observing the breath in the body and the sensations of the breath as it goes in and out of the body.

And while you are trying to develop your awareness you might start to think about yourself which can lead you to ruminate.

If this is happening be mindful of when you experience thoughts,

Emotions or physical sensations as I,

Me or mine.

And simply bring your attention back to the breath in the body.

Now keeping this gentle and calm.

Now keeping this gentle breathing of the body in the background.

Bring your attention to the sensations of the air at the nostrils or the upper lip.

Keeping the sensations of the air at the nostrils or the upper lip in the foreground of your attention.

Making this your main focus of attention.

But still holding the body breathing in and out in the background.

Noticing how the sensation of the air at the nostrils or the upper lip feels on the in and out breath.

Not trying to change the body breathing or the sensations.

Just focusing on the specific sensations at the nostrils or the upper lip and having an awareness of the body breathing in the background in and out.

And again if you notice that you're ruminating you can try putting some distance between yourself and the rumination by replacing the I with your name.

.

And now broaden your attention to encompass the natural breathing of the whole body again as it breathes automatically in and out.

.

And if you find your attention is very self preoccupied and you are experiencing the stickiness of the I,

Me or mine try labeling what is arising.

For example there is a pain in the leg or there is irritation.

.

And finally releasing your attention from the breath and bringing your attention back to the room.

So how was the practice for you?

What did you notice?

Did you find yourself ruminating?

Were you aware of the stickiness of the I,

Me or mine of any rumination?

Were you able to use one of the decoupling techniques?

Noticing,

Naming or labeling?

How easy or difficult was that for you?

Was one more effective than another for you?

And do you think this might be helpful in daily life?

And remember we're using the image of the spiral to show how certain personal qualities build on and reinforce each other in an upward spiral towards positive potential.

A positive reinforcement spiral.

Likewise certain personal qualities also build on and reinforce each other in a downward spiral.

A negative reinforcement spiral.

So using your learning from the previous practice on the three techniques for decoupling from rumination,

Simply note whether this may be helping you develop towards the top of the spiral or if it may be limiting you towards the bottom.

And finally taking a moment to reconnect with your posture.

Rebalancing,

Relaxing and gently releasing any tension if necessary.

And becoming aware of the body breathing.

Taking a moment to recall your motivation for doing this practice.

And now bring to mind what you have experienced and learnt in this practice.

Have you discovered anything about yourself?

Have you begun to cultivate any helpful qualities or overcome or let go of any unhelpful qualities?

And how might this process be beneficial and meaningful and contribute to the welfare and wellbeing of yourself and others?

Your family,

Friends and those close to you.

Those who inspire and nurture your positive development.

And all living beings and the environment they rely on.

And as this practice ends,

Try to carry this with you wherever you go by recollecting it occasionally.

Reviews

So very clear and helpful.