Thoughts & Emotions

Notice and focus on your subjective experience: mental talk, mental images, and emotions in your body.

Transcript

Bell Lengthen your spine and relax your shoulders and arms.

At any given instant,

You may be thinking about a person,

Place,

Object,

Memory,

Plan,

Or fantasy.

If so,

You'll probably notice a mental image.

Sometimes mental images can be vivid like the material world or a photograph,

But more often they appear as vague,

Fleeting impressions of form.

Most people see mental images in front of or around their eyes.

We'll call this area your mental screen.

Bring your attention to your mental screen and notice if you're experiencing any mental image.

If you are,

Great.

Be aware you're having a visual thought.

If you're not,

Great.

Enjoy that as a restful experience.

Your mental screen may be quite active with images or pleasantly blank and restful.

Either is natural,

Either is fine.

Just keep track of whatever's happening.

If your attention wanders to other experiences,

Like mental talk,

Sounds,

Or body sensations,

That's okay.

Just let those distractions come and go in the background and bring your attention back to your mental screen.

If you're experiencing mental images and they're pleasant,

Enjoy that.

If they're stressful,

Try to view them with detachment.

This will train you to watch your mind like a spectator watches a parade.

You appreciate what you're seeing,

But you aren't caught up in it.

If you're having difficulty detaching from stressful mental images,

Try taking a few deep breaths or relaxing your whole body or putting a slight smile on your face.

Now,

Let go of that and bring your attention to the space where you hear mental talk.

Most people hear mental talk in their head or around their ears.

We'll call this area talk space.

At any given instant,

You may be aware that you're hearing mental talk,

Such as an inner monologue or dialogue.

Or you may be aware that there's no mental talk.

Either is natural,

Either is fine.

When there's mental talk,

Listen with detachment.

When there's no mental talk,

Enjoy that mental quiet as a restful state.

If the mental talk lasts,

Continue to listen.

If it disappears as soon as you notice it,

Get interested in what comes next.

Maybe you'll hear another burst of mental talk.

Or maybe you'll hear mental quiet.

Now,

Let go of that and bring your attention to your body.

We're going to explore the presence or absence of emotional sensation in your body.

By emotional sensations,

I mean things like anger,

Fear,

Sadness,

Impatience,

Joy,

Humor,

Love,

Interest,

And so forth.

Many people feel emotions in their belly,

Chest,

Heart,

Throat,

Or face.

But you may experience them anywhere in your body.

If you notice emotions,

Great.

That's part of the richness of life.

If you're free of emotions,

That's great too.

Enjoy that as a restful state.

It's all natural.

It's all good.

If you notice emotions and they're pleasant,

Enjoy them.

If they're stressful,

Do your best to soften around them.

You can learn to relate to emotional sensations the way you relate to the sensations of physical stretching.

If you don't fight with the stretch,

You can feel yourself developing flexibility.

In the same way,

If you don't fight with emotional sensations,

You can feel yourself developing flexibility.

If you don't fight with emotional sensations,

You can feel yourself building emotional resilience.

If you're having trouble opening to stressful emotions,

See if there's a place in your body where the emotion is less intense and try opening up to that.

With time,

This may lead to a spontaneous softening in the more intense areas.

If your attention wanders to other experiences like thoughts or sounds or non-emotional body sensations,

Gently return to tracking the presence or absence of emotional sensation in your body.

The next time you're stressed,

Try focusing on your mental screen or on talk space or on your emotional body,

Even if it's just for a few seconds,

And see if the stress bothers you less.

Reviews

This is an area of genuine struggle for me. I appreciate the guidance in how to give it direct attention and acceptance.

Really interesting, really want to practice this more. Thank you!

Great focusing practice for meditation and for life-challenging situations. ✨

Ok I am starting to understand the method of this wonderful and great teacher's approach to mindfulness. Thank you!

Very effective. I feel lucky to have come across this meditation, and I know I’ll come back to this one. Namaste, thank you! 🤗

Comforting in the clarity and 'matter of fact' nature of instruction. A return 'home'

I love Shinzen Young's method. I feel it's much more challenging than just having the breath as an anchor (which I like and practice often, too), but also much more powerful. Every time I practice with one of his techniques, I feel I'm REALLY present and better able to direct my focus at different areas of life as I might need it.

I love the way Shinzen guides. His guidance is clear and concise and is easy to understand and follow. Namaste Shinzen!

Wonderful. I've struggled to allow feelings to inhabit my body. This is a good start

Thank you so much. Excellent. How meditation should be!

I appreciated the explored dimensions and so I was able to improve my observer. Thanks. :)

I really enjoyed this meditation. Was very helpful in reaching mindfulness of images, thoughts and emotions in the body without judgement. This whole series of meditations are wonderful in establishing a good foundation for a meditation practice. I do have to say that the ending bell is quite abrupt, however.

Direct and to the point. Pleasant.

Great guided mindfulness meditation for taming thoughts and emotions! The ending felt a bit abrupt, but I liked the bell.

Very good way to slow my thoughts.

Classic Shinzen...great new subtle distinctions

I like this one. Could be a bit longer but it is helpful for understanding what typically happens during meditation.

Wonderful...New way of seeing things, seeing mental images, metal talk .Thank u shinzen

Great. Loved the stretching analogy for emotional resilience.