WORKING WITH THE MIND

Here are some meditation teachings from Pema Chodron, which have helped me in my ability to work with my “monkey mind”. 

1. What’s within our control: One thing I remind myself often is that we can’t control how many thoughts we’re going to have, if they’re going to distract us, or how long we’ll be distracted for, what we CAN control is how we respond once we notice we’re distracted. That’s where having a practice that we can return to again and again throughout the day can be helpful

2. Interrupting the momentum of our thoughts: We interrupt the moment of our thoughts (or our distractions, etc) by going right to the experience itself, the felt sense of the experience. By shifting into the felt sense, we’re training ourselves to wean off this narrow view we have of identifying with everything.

3. Directly experiencing the body: As soon as you notice yourself in the middle of a familiar “storyline” or a familiar distraction, greet that as a mindfulness bell to come back to your body. Go into your body and see what your physical reaction is to the thought or distraction - maybe there’s a tightening in the shoulders or a cloudiness in your mind, a knot in your stomach. Continue this practice as much as possible throughout the day, whenever you’re distracted or lost in thought, come into the body and ask yourself “what am I feeling in my body” and let yourself be present to to that for a few moments.

4. Working with a “Wild Mind: Instead of trying to tighten up and be more rigid with your mind when it’s jumping all over the place, see if you can soften and relax more, focus on the spaciousness of the out breath.

NOTICING BODY SENSATIONS 

I learned about the difference between “focused” noticing and “peripheral” noticing through Ashley Stinson. It can be helpful to realize that not everyone perceives sensations in the same way.

Some people have a “focused perspective” which involves locking in on something and following it down a rabbit hole. Other people have peripheral noticing, which means your awareness may jump around and it might be hard to fully flesh out one sensation unless you’re guided.

If you’re more peripheral focused, you might be more aware of the connections between sensations and notice the edge of a sensation more or locate only the center of the sensation. 

TAPPING EXERCISE

The body is the container for our feelings and sensations. It is the boundary that separates us from our environment and others.

The skin is our first line of defense. This exercise, from Peter Levine’s Trauma Healing program, encourages us to experience our body as a container for our feelings and sensations.