Hi.
My name's Jessica Graham,
And I'm going to take you through a guided meditation to help overcome craving.
Begin by finding a comfortable posture and closing your eyes.
Take a moment to just release any tension that might be stored in your body from your day,
Relaxing the eyes,
The jaw,
The shoulders,
The stomach,
And anywhere else that you might have tension.
Relax and let go.
As you continue to relax your body,
I'm going to share a little bit with you about how this meditation works.
So,
Craving isn't necessarily a bad thing.
We all experience craving.
When we're hungry,
We crave food.
When we're thirsty,
We crave water.
Where craving gets us in trouble is with destructive behaviors or in the context of addiction.
This meditation will help you to deconstruct the experience of craving so that it doesn't overtake you and send you into a tailspin of destructive behavior or back to an addiction that you're trying to recover from.
The three pieces we're going to deconstruct craving into are mental talk,
Mental image,
And emotional sensation.
It's kind of hard to believe,
But that's all that craving is made of,
Thoughts and sensations.
It's just that when we're attached to those thoughts and emotional sensations,
We feel like we have to do what they say.
For example,
If you're trying to quit smoking and the mind starts saying,
Oh,
I just really need a cigarette.
I really need a cigarette.
And you start seeing images of yourself smoking,
And then you start to feel that contraction in your body,
That feeling of needing the cigarette.
Well,
If you haven't learned to deconstruct this experience,
You'll likely go out and smoke the cigarette.
But there is another way,
And that's what we're going to practice today.
So start by bringing your attention to the area where mental talk arises for you.
For most people,
This is towards the back of the head,
But it could be somewhere else for you.
I want you to notice the activity of the mental talk.
Notice how it comes and goes.
It doesn't matter what the talk is saying,
If it seems really important or totally mundane.
In this context,
It's all just mental talk.
So simply observe the activity of mental talk.
If there is no mental talk,
Then just hang out with a quiet mind until some arises.
If you find you're getting pulled into the content of the thoughts,
Pop back out to a larger perspective and witness the thinking,
Almost as if it's someone else talking.
Now you may have noticed while you've been focusing on mental talk that there are also mental images.
For most people,
This happens around the area of the eyes,
But it could be somewhere else for you.
Let's now shift our attention to mental image.
Again,
We're observing the activity of the mental image,
The arising and the passing.
We're not so interested in the content.
So even if you start seeing something really cool,
Try your best to observe and witness in a neutral way.
Noticing the images come,
Morph into other images,
And maybe pass away.
If there are no images,
Just hang out with that blank space in the mind until some images arise.
Good.
Now bring your attention to your body.
Take a moment to scan through your body and notice if there's any sensation in the body that seems to have an emotional flavor to it.
People most often report emotional sensations in the face,
The throat,
The chest,
And the stomach,
But they could be somewhere else for you as well.
Explore the body,
And if you find a sensation that seems emotional,
Place your attention on it and simply feel it.
Notice how big the sensation is.
Notice how the sensation is moving or changing.
Really feel the sensation.
Let go of thoughts about the sensation,
And instead,
Use your physical awareness to feel the sensation.
If there doesn't seem to be any emotion present in the body,
Then just feel other sensations in the body.
Notice your breath.
Notice your butt on the seat.
Notice any sensations of discomfort or pleasure.
But if you become aware of a sensation that seems to be emotional,
Place your attention there.
Feeling your body instead of thinking about your body.
It's fine if thoughts arise.
They probably will.
But just do your best to keep bringing your attention back to your body.
Okay,
Good.
Now,
If you like,
You can freely move your attention between the three strands of your experience.
Mental talk,
Mental image,
And emotional sensation.
You can choose to work with just one or two,
Or move freely between all three.
Notice how thoughts can create emotions,
And how emotions can create more thoughts.
This is the same way a craving works.
And as you can see,
When you deconstruct the experience,
It feels less solid,
Less powerful.
So start to consider how you might use this technique when you're having a craving.
For example,
If the desire and craving for a cigarette arises,
Can you take a moment to observe the experience that you're having?
Notice the thoughts,
Both visual and auditory.
And notice the sensations in your body.
Recognize that these are three separate strands of experience.
And they don't have to run the show.
In fact,
If you stay with a craving long enough,
You will experience it expanding,
Getting bigger,
Getting stronger,
Feeling like it is about to explode,
And then it will start to shrink back down.
It'll expand again,
And contract again.
If you stay with it,
Rather than acting on the craving,
You'll see that craving is utterly impermanent.
Great work.
I hope you can bring this meditation into action the next time you experience an unhealthy craving.
Thanks for joining me.
