In mindfulness meditation practice, we are instructed to rest our attention on our breathing as a way to focus and stabilize our mind. This is an ancient and time-honored approach that clearly has relevance for those of us living in the modern world -- who are often racing around, feeling stressed out, and having a hard time catching up with ourselves!
For those of us practicing in this way, several questions seem to come up over and over again -- one of them is usually expressed something like this:
"I see the point of trying to develop more steadiness and ease in my state of mind. I am now able from time to time to notice myself thinking and bring my attention back to my breath, but when strong emotions come up in meditation, I do not seem to be able to let go of those so easily. They are captivating and disturbing, and are compelling me to look more deeply at their history and meaning. Should we really be using our meditation practice to shut down and stifle our emotions?"
This is a great question, and there are several issues involved that are well worth discussing.
First of all, it is not recommended to use meditation as a way of repressing our emotions (or thoughts for that matter) by forcibly silencing them in order to achieve a superficially imposed sense of peace and quiet. Many meditators have found that they are never really able to completely pacify their mind and that holding that as the goal only produces frustration and disappointment.
The approach of "just sit there and quiet your mind," although commonly presented, is perhaps an over-simplification of the traditional method in which we:
1. Place our awareness on our breath.
2. Recognize what arises in our minds -- without trying to manipulate, judge or suppress anything.
3. Simply see what arises in our mind as it comes up. Just notice it.
4. Then let go of the thoughts and return our awareness to the breath thereby coming back to the present moment.
This sequence is what we initiate repeatedly in our meditation session -- as opposed to trying to stifle our thoughts and somehow magically hold on to that peaceful state. This more detailed method gives us some ground to work with -- that being our mind as it is rather than as we wish it could be. We might find this practice more realistic, more workable, and more compassionate to ourselves. Of course it is up to each one of us to determine how we will proceed.
When it comes to experiencing strong emotions in our practice, it can be helpful to notice that what we call emotions really has two major components. One is the "story line", which we do identify in our meditation practice as "thinking" and when we recognize it as such we are encouraged to let it go and return our awareness to our breathing and therefore to the present moment. The other component is actually energy that has a life beyond the "story line" -- the energy and physical sensation of anger, passion, envy, pride, etc.
In meditation practice, we are encouraged to simply experience this energy and physical sensations as they are and not get involved with manipulating the "story line" or "content." Just let the energy and sensations be there, be aware of them, without elaborating further. This way of experiencing our emotions is very powerful and may not map at all to our notion of peace and quiet.
These feelings, rather than being seen as problematic, can be seen to be completely natural and connected to what it means to be a human being. In more advanced meditation training the emotions can be "liberated" from ego-centric, repetitive "story lines" and experienced as a direct link to communication, appreciation of the inherent richness of our own being, and the penetrating quality of insight and wisdom.
So, we do not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Our emotions, rather than feeding stale and repetitive mental habits, can manifest as the very expressions of being alive and living fully in an authentic way. From that point of view we do not utilize our meditation practice to suppress our feelings and emotions but to liberate them, by becoming more familiar with how they arise, what they actually feel like beyond acting out or repressing them, and therefore working with them in a more constructive way.
Your thoughts?
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Susan Kaiser Greenland: Making Meditation Accessible
When meditation seems to stir up negative emotion | Wildmind ...
How to Cure 'Destructive Emotions'- Beliefnet.com
Reclaiming Our Souls: Meditation for Healing Emotions
Meditation On Emotions - Meditation - Videos - My Yoga Online
Meditation helps but even there I think most of us have resistance.
I think there are many ways to go deep into meditation, with music, walking, staring at something and there are electronic strobing lights that seem to induce alpha states. I am experimenting with clarifylife which has me go into a deep state with its questions and the music in the background. They are at http://www.clarifylife.com. And of course there are others.
In the end it's experiencing our inner world completely that is the requirement and it is so hard for some of us because of the pain we have gone through.
I think you might be interested in this book: Codes of reality! What is language?
http://www.vvv03.org/reality.pdf (Right Click & Save As)
http://tinyurl.com/3sekgqb
you will find a concise set of instructions for shamatha (mindfulness) practice, including how to work with the breath..... let me know if that answers your question, OK? Best, DN
As adjunct to your comments here, I found this commentary on the internet (the new repository of all dharmas!):
Anapana Sati Meditation on Breathing by Ven. Mahathera Nauyane Ariyadhamma:
Anapana sati, the meditation on in-and-out breathing, is the first subject of meditation expounded by the Buddha in the Maha-satipatthana Sutta, the Great Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness. The Buddha laid special stress on this meditation, for it is the gateway to enlightenment and Nibbana adopted by all the Buddhas of the past as the very basis for their attainment of Buddhahood. When the Blessed One sat at the foot of the Bodhi Tree and resolved not to rise until he had reached enlightenment, he took up anapana sati as his subject of meditation. On the basis of this, he attained the four jhanas, recollected his previous lives, fathomed the nature of samsara, aroused the succession of great insight knowledges, and at dawn, while 100,000 world systems trembled, he attained the limitless wisdom of a Fully Enlightened Buddha."
Best wishes and many thanks Sifu! DN
I agree with ignoring the "story line", and simply experiencing the physical and psychological energy that is bound up in the emotions. Only when we fully experience this energy with mindfulness does the process of emotional arousal and subsidence play itself out fully...and the emotions resolve themselves.
The Awakened Heart is as much a part of Enlightened Consciousness, as is the Awakened Mind....and the Awakened Heart is not always serene and peaceful.
Accepting whatever emotions are felt in the moment...without clining to the storyline...and not pushing them away because we "shouldn't feel that way"....is the fastest way to regain one's inner balance.
(BTW I don't want to blow my anonymity, but you know me -- from music etc.)
Annedyth
His voice broke by his mother's graveside as he recited the funeral liturgy. After drawing in a deep breath he paused but for a moment to collect himself and then proceeded with the prayer that flowed mellifluously from his lips. And he readied the shovel to throw in the first clod of dirt upon her coffin. You see, he had a duty to the other mourners in honoring the memory of his mother to collect himself by carefully watching what stirred in his heart."
It is with equanimity that one gives thanks to the maker of life and in the same breath the taker of life. And so at the graveside her name was hallowed. Who do we sanctify if not the one who is born to this life and the one who sheds the mortal coil for eternity.
Always be watchful and greet all things with equanimity. This is the secret of the strength of Maa Durga. It is our strength "
With these Grains of Sand I Bless Thee
Chandra Pandit
"You are not your feelings - you are the Awareness of your feelings."
Imagine your head sticking out of the top of a washer machine - arms out the sides - and feet below the bottom. Imagine getting shaken back and forth and beaten around and around - up and down and up and down...
That's what it's like when you 'are' your feelings, such as strong emotions.
Now, imagine instead standing next to a washer machine and peering into it. Imagine observing with insight from a position of peaceful, free-breathing stability the agitation and strong emotions at play inside - presently aware, with neither attachment nor indifference, and available to do the 'right' thing.
That's what it's like to be the Awareness of your feelings.
In the stillness of our meditation we directly 'know' ourselves to be the Awareness of our feelings - stably rooted in the seat of the present and observing with clarity the constantly fluctuating sense-field of experience - like peering into a washer machine from the outside.
The challenge comes when we step off the cushion into daily life - then, over and over, we find ourselves 'coming to' inside the washer machine - going round and round, expending energy and telling ourselves 'stories' justifying our strong emotions, for instance.
Recognizing that one is in the washer machine, and then getting out, over and over, again, is called Practice.