Breaking Out Of Autopilot Thinking With "See, Hear, Feel"

This meditation helps cultivate the skills needed to enjoy happiness beyond changing circumstances. It's an introduction to a very rich practice usually taught in Unified Mindfulness, which is a method founded by Shinzen Young. He teaches insight meditation but was trained in Zen and Native American traditions as well so his teaching have a unique style. This technique is called "See Hear Feel," and it's a foundational technique that paves the road for other insights. I hope you enjoy this mindful awareness practice that can be used anytime in formal (sitting) or informal practice (anytime).

Transcript

Hi, This is Madeline. This is an introduction to a very rich practice usually taught in Unified Mindfulness, Which is a method founded by Shinzen Young. It's a technique called see, Hear, Feel. This is a foundational technique that paves the road for other insights. It's a mindful awareness practice and it can be used any time in formal, Which is a sitting meditation, Or informal practice, Which is any time in your daily life. And why do we want to learn this see, Hear, Feel technique? Shinzen Young explains that this technique helps us to be, Quote, As happy as possible given conditions that cannot be feasibly changed, End quote. And the breakthrough insight here is that a person's happiness is not necessarily dependent on conditions, Or as I like to remember, Happiness beyond changing circumstances. Happiness beyond changing circumstances. So when we are awake, Most of the things that we experience come in through our seeing, Hearing, And feeling. And each of these sense gates can be thought of as an in and out version. So for example, We see out in the world, Which is what you see with your eyes when you look around. But we also see in with our mind, With visual thinking, When we conjure up images and we see things in our own mind. We also hear things out in the world. We experience as sounds. And we experience hearing inward, Which is auditory thinking, Or self-talk, Or hearing someone else's voice in our own mind. As well as with feeling, We can feel sensations in our body, Physical discomfort or physical pleasure. And there's also a deeper experience of sensations that are caused by emotions. Emotions that show up in our body as a sensation. So if you're feeling anxious or scared, You might feel a tightness in your chest or in your throat. And you might feel a sensation of happiness or warmth when you're experiencing something sweet or happy, Like a puppy licking your face or a hug from someone you love. And as we train more in this type of mindfulness, We become better at noticing how we feel and where emotions show up in our body. This attunes our skills to be more aware or mindful of what we see, Hear and feel. Joseph Goldstein often says that mindfulness is simple, But sometimes it's not easy. We're looking to see and know that we're seeing. Hear and know that we're hearing. And the big one is feel and know that we're feeling. So when we're aware of these sensory experiences, We are being mindful. We are experiencing mindful awareness. So I'm going to lead us on a short experience of what this is like in a formal meditation practice. We're looking to have a relaxed but alert posture. If you need to lie down, That's okay, But ideally you might be sitting up because it helps with sleepiness. Pick an object in front of you, Something simple. It can be an ink pen or something in your field of vision. And take a deeper look at this object. See and know you're seeing. This is seeing outward, Seeing what's in our experience. And now I invite you to close your eyes and try seeing in, Seeing in your mind's eye. For example, Imagine an apple. Do you notice the color? Is it red or green or yellow or mixed? Is it a realistic picture of an apple or a cartoon or a painted version? And after you've noticed the image of the apple, Just offer a gentle label, Seeing, Seeing in. This is being aware of our visual thinking. And now let that go and let's do hearing. We're gonna hear sounds in our current experience, Any sound, Pleasant or unpleasant. And as you hear sounds in your outward experience, Just offer a soft mental note, Hear or hearing. And now you can let that go and notice that you also have hearing in, In our mind. So for example, You might say your own cell phone number to yourself in your mind. Say your cell phone number to yourself again. So what you're hearing is auditory thinking or hearing in. This can also be experienced as our self-talk, Which is internal hearing. So at this time, Focus on all the sound that you're hearing, External and internal, And try not to get caught up in the story of what the sound is. Just offer a gentle label, Hearing. Same with the outside sounds, Hearing. And now we're going to let go of hearing. We're going to drop into the experience of physical body sensations, Almost like a gentle body scan, Just noticing what's present. Maybe cool air on your skin, Or if you feel warm, Noticing your feet on the ground, Noticing your back touching the chair or the back of your legs in the chair. You might feel your clothes on your body, Waistband, Or just your clothes resting on your shoulders. What physical sensation do you notice in association with your body? And as you notice these physical sensations, Just offer a gentle label, Feel. Feel the feet on the ground, Your back touching the chair, Any aches or pains in the body, The feeling of your clothes on your body. And now we're going to notice any feeling that might be a sensation that's a result of an emotion. So the way we get a smile on our face when we encounter a happy animal with a tail wagging or a cat purring, And you get that warm sensation that kind of lights up a positive feeling in your body. If you don't have that right now, You can still imagine what that would be like. And similarly, When you're startled or scared, How you get that rush of adrenaline in your body. Or if you're anxious or sad, You might get a pain in your chest or your stomach or your throat. These are physical sensations or feelings that are actually created by an emotion we are experiencing. And this is really the big one. Noticing these sensations in our body, Especially the ones that are caused by emotions. So now allow your attention to move freely and notice where it lands. You can just pause and gently label it for yourself. Each time you're noticing, Seeing, Hearing, Or feeling, And offer a gentle label. You might even notice hearing out or hearing in, Or noticing that an image in your mind is seeing in, Or feeling. Are you feeling a physical sensation like your feet on the ground? Or a product of an emotion, A sensation in the body caused by happiness or anxiety or fear? These can be hard to manufacture in a seated formal meditation, But they're very common in our day-to-day experience. So as these images, Sounds, And feelings arise, Just offer a gentle label. See, Hear, Or feel. This is an open awareness practice. So as your attention moves around, Investigating these things that come and go in our experience of seeing, Hearing, And feeling, Just notice it, Offer a soft mental label, And then let it go and welcome what comes next. If more than one comes at a time, Just pick one, Label it, Rest on it for a moment, And then be open to what comes next. See, Hear, Or feel. And if your mind wanders off to other things, That's perfectly normal. We're not trying to be rid of our thoughts. We're simply noticing what arises, And if it fits into these categories, Offer it a gentle label. And if not, Just let it go and focus your attention on seeing, Hearing, And feeling. And as we become aware of these sensory experiences, We're cultivating mental presence, Which is the matching of thought to action. And mental presence is the key for our happiness beyond changing circumstances. Happiness beyond changing circumstances. So in a moment, I'm going to ring a bell three times to bring the meditation to a close. And when you're ready, You might gently tilt your head from side to side, And wiggle your fingers, And begin to slowly open your eyes with a low gaze in front of you. And begin to take in the sights in the room, Seeing out, Noticing that you're seeing. So the simple goal of this technique is that when we're seeing, We know that we're seeing. And when we're hearing, We know that we're hearing. And of course, When we're feeling, We know what we're feeling. And that's really the big one. Seeing out and seeing in, Hearing out and hearing in, And the different ways we can feel. Sensations in our body that are physical sensations, And sensations that are created by emotions. This technique is just a taste of the see, Hear, Feel practice. And if you like this technique, I encourage you to practice it more. Also, You may want to learn more about it directly from Shinzen Young at shinzen. Org. Thank you for your practice.

Reviews

Wonderful considerations on becoming fully aware of what we see, hear, or feel and how this inevitably leads to happiness beyond circumstances. Namaste 🤓🙏🏻