Mindfulness And Insights Into Our Own Nature

In this talk we discuss how we can use mind wandering (during mindfulness) as a way into deep insight. We discuss what to do during the meditation session and what to do after, offering you a process to use when you notice your mind repeatedly wandering to a certain topic, area, or issue you are facing.

Transcript

When practicing mindfulness meditation, The mind will wander. Can we use where the mind wanders as a way to discover insights into our own nature, To find our feelings associated with meditation or other things? So if you're framing the question that way, I would say yes, I use mindfulness meditation to discover where my mind is and to help focus it. But I also use mindfulness meditation as insight into my own nature. So in a recent meditation session, I noticed my mind wandering repeatedly to a certain moment in my life. And initially I was pulling away from it, But then it's like, Oh yeah, We're doing mindfulness meditation. I just acknowledge and accept it and then return back. But it kept happening. It kept going back to this place, This event. So that to me tells me that my mind is holding onto something. Now I wouldn't necessarily say it's connected to the act of meditation per se, But it's something that my mind is throwing up and it's like, Hey, Deal with this. I'm stuck on this. I'm ruminating on this. So as I'm meditating, I'll return back to the breath, Back to the breath. But it got to the stage where it was like, Okay, This is clearly something that my mind is holding onto. And it's clearly something that I haven't processed yet. So recognizing that fact, I took note and at the end of the session, I went back into that space, Explored that part of the mind, Explored that memory and sort of looked into the deeper meanings of it. Where is that memory held in the body? What else was happening? And doing a sort of a more intuitive guidance or part therapy, Self introspective approach in relation to the things that came up in that meditation session. That's the approach I take when certain thoughts or things keep popping up repeatedly. It's like, Hey, Here's something that I need to work on. I strongly suggest that mindfulness is a base. It's a core practice, But I don't think it should be the only practice and it can provide deep insight. And you know, As you're meditating, Your mind will pop up stuff. You label it as a distraction, Thought, Whatever, You return your focus back to the breath. But part of you can sort of keep a mental log. It's like, Huh, Okay, That's what my mind is going to. And that can give you a bit of an insight into your own self.