Online Mindfulness Therapy Blog

Read more of my thoughts about Online Mindfulness Therapy

Objective Consciousness

Mindfulness is a special form of consciousness that I refer to as objective consciousness which is quite different from subjective consciousness, which is what we are most familiar with.

Subjective consciousness refers to the way we react to sense experiences (visual, auditory, taste, smell, touch and thoughts and memories). This kind of consciousness is conditioned and colored by past experience, which is what makes it subjective, depending on your past encounters with the object of experience.

Objective consciousness is not affected by past experience but refers to the DIRECT EXPERIENCE of the object of experience without the subjective baggage. Another term we often use to describe the objective consciousness of mindfulness is bare attention which indicates its direct and uncolored nature.

The cultivation of mindfulness is all about seeing things objectively as they are rather than reacting out of past conditioning. Can we see a tree without labeling it “oak tree”? The label is a subjective construct; it is useful for communication, etc, but that subjective construct is NOT the same as the reality, the objective reality, of the oak tree. Whenever we blindly attach to a subjective construct we create a barrier, an obstruction to seeing the reality of things and this creates a dissonance between subjective consciousness and objective reality which can cause a whole array of problems and conflict that fuels suffering (dukkha).

Just think about the conflict and misunderstanding caused by blind attachment to labels in interpersonal relationships.

Fundamentally, the problem with subjective consciousness is that it creates the illusion that we understand something when the reality is that we don’t understand anything. A fundamental understanding in Buddhist Dharma is that ALL phenomena are fundamentally a mystery. We create stories about this mystery, theories and beliefs, understanding, but none of these constructs can fully equate to objective reality.

Again, we must remember, the problem is not in the stories that we create but in the blind acceptance of these subjective constructs as reality. This is the meaning of the term moha, delusion, the root cause of the three poisons of greed (loba), hatred (dosa) and delusion (moha) that cause dukkha.

When we become blindly attached to subjective constructs then we become prisoners of out beliefs and opinions and the labels effectively separate us from reality, creating a disconnect from reality that prevents change and healing.

An essential function of mindfulness, if not the primary function of mindfulness (sati) is to re-establish objective consciousness and to reconnect with reality.

This is VERY important if we are interested in healing anxiety and depression and stress and other forms of dukkha. Recovery and healing cannot occur as long as we remain locked into delusional subjective constructs (sankhara).

Labelling depression as “depression” is fine, but the moment we blindly attach to that label we effectively inhibit healing and recovery. This is the problem of REACTIVE IDENTIFICATION that is at the root of suffering. Identification refers to the subjective process of blind attachment (upadana) with our labels and stories of what we think depression is. Depression or any other form of suffering cannot heal whilst we remain identified with subjective consciousness (vinnana).In order for depression or anxiety to heal we must see exactly what is there. Objective consciousness is a requirement for healing.

The more we see the more we heal

This is one of the most basic concepts in mindfulness work. You cannot heal that which you do not see. Seeing clearly is everything and mindfulness is all about seeing clearly. But, of course, you must not attach to whatever you see because that will stop further discovery. Reality, truth, is always one step ahead of whatever we see, hear or experience; the truth is unknowable. Our path is one of opening to the mystery that is truth and to follow that path of inquiry and discovery because each moment of discovery brings us a little closer to truth and it is that journey that brings such great benefit.

True Self

True Self refers to objective consciousness itself. True self is the observation of objects of experience, it is the knowing of mental objects, it is pure consciousness.

True Self is not the contents of your mind, it is not the objects of consciousness but that which sees those objects clearly and without reactivity of any kind.

For this reason, your True Self is independent of the content of mind; independent of thoughts, emotions, memories and perceptions. This is the fundamental Buddhist teaching of anatta, literally “no self”.

You are not the content of your mind

You are the space in which that content arises and passes away. You are the sky, not the clouds or birds that fly through the sky. The essence of your True Self is that space. The essence of who you are is that space, which is limitless and free from any conditioning. Conditioning refers to mental objects that arise in that space, but you are not those objects. For this reason, the fundamental nature of True Self is freedom and you are that freedom.

Being free from conditioning allows wisdom-intelligence freedom to operate without any limitations or constraints which leads to skillful action as well as creating the ideal conditions for healing and wellbeing. Mindfulness unleashes this wisdom-intelligence which is why mindfulness can be so effective in healing anxiety, depression, stress and other forms of dukkha.

Reactive Identification

In mindfulness psychology we understand that the main cause of suffering (dukkha), of anxiety, depression, stress and all forms of emotional anguish is the habit of becoming blindly attached to thoughts, emotional reactions, memories and perceptual reactions. Thoughts are not the problem, but blind identification to thoughts is the problem. Reactive identification is a habit built on unconscious, automatic conditioned reactions that we unconsciously learn, never questioning them, blindly accepting them as truth. This is the primary reaction of delusion (moha) described by the Buddha.

The path of mindfulness meditation is one of awakening to these blind habits of the conditioned mind and it is this very act of awakening and seeing clearly that sets the mind on a new path of liberation from the cause of suffering.

Reactivity in all its forms feeds suffering while mindfulness liberates the mind from suffering. When we see our reactions clearly with mindfulness, in that very moment we become the “seer” the one that knows the mind, Buddho. This seeing causes a fundamental shift from becoming the content of mind to being the observer, the True Self, which is not the content of mind, not the thoughts and emotions, but the conscious space around those mental objects. The analogy of the sky resonates powerfully here because the essence of the sky is space, not the clouds or other objects that arise and pass away in that space. They come and go, but the space, the sky, remains unchanged. This is real power, and this is the nature of your True Self, Buddho.

The problem is not that we think too much, but that we believe these thoughts as true reflections of things.

Our practice is not to accept thoughts, nor reject them either, but to awaken to thoughts and emotions and any content that the mind generates out of conditioning, with the pure equanimity and conscious awareness that we call mindfulness.

VIPASSANA MEDITATION AND THE MIND

The Dhammapada begins with the famous verses:

“Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; mind is their maker.

If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts suffering follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.

Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; mind is their maker.

If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow.”

The heart and mind, called citta in Pali is naturally a central topic for purification through The Path of Mindfulness and vipassana meditation. Whether the mind is free or bound by the chains of samsara and dukkha depends entirely on the presence or absence of mindfulness. We must, therefore, apply mindfulness and vipassana meditation directly to the contents of the mind and actively search for all traces of blind attachment and habitual reactivity that create agitation and instability in the mind. This ardent application of mindfulness to reveal what is happening in the mind as it is happening is called cittanupassana, or “mind watching.” In essence, we choose to seek out dukkha wherever it exists and purify it with mindfulness.

These opening verses are particularly interesting and give much insight into many aspects of the path of Dhamma. What happens in the mind is absolutely central, because it sets the direction that will condition how we act as well as proliferating a wide network of inner beliefs and prejudices that distort our perception. The ox refers to the ego, the rather stupid and limited part of the mind that is dominated by fixed patterns of habitual reactivity just as the ox is chained to the cart. Like the ox, we become dull and stupid and unable to respond or engage intelligently and compassionately with life. Consequently, the heavy burden of suffering will follow us as we repeat the endless cycles of emotional and behvioral reactivity that is samsara.

Contrast this with the effortless nature of the awakened mind that is not chained to habitual reactivity. A shadow has no weight and creates no dukkha, or instability and dissonance. The never departing shadow refers to the Buddha nature of Original Mind that is always present. Not being chained to reactive thoughts, beliefs and emotions, the Original Mind, or bodhicitta is free to engage fully with life, without creating suffering. The pure mind is the mind that is free from blind habitual conditioning and where satisampajanna and satipanna are dominant. Awakening through mindfulness allows the wisdom-intelligence of satipanna to arise and this leads to skillful actions that are not conditioned by the past. This is why the purification and liberation of the mind is so central to the path of Buddha Dhamma.

What these verses tell us is that the spiritual path for the purification of the mind and heart must place the mind at the very center of mindfulness practice and meditation. The Buddha emphasized that the only way to effectively liberate the mind and heart from samsara is to work directly with the mind, with the beliefs, emotional reactions and other cittasankharas that arise out of habit and ignorance. Hence cittanupassana, the contemplation of mind should become the foundation for our mindfulness practice and vipassana meditation. The Path of Mindfulness and the focused application of mindfulness in cittanupassana meditation is the main path for purifying the mind through observation of the contents of the mind. We can purify our actions, our personality and our destiny by working directly with the contents of the mind and this is what we do in cittanupasana-vipassana meditation. Ajahn Chah was renowned for his emphasis on the importance of mindfulness of the contents of the mind, as in the following passage:

The untrained heart races around following its own habits. It jumps about excitedly, randomly, because it has never been trained. Train your heart! Buddhist meditation is about the heart; It’s about developing the heart or mind, about developing your own heart. This is very, very important. Buddhism is the religion of the heart. Only this. One who practices to develop the heart is one who practices Buddhism.

Cittanupassana meditation or “mind watching” involves observing each state of mind that arises in the present and observing it with sati and satisampajanna. If there is anxiety, then we respond to the anxiety with mindfulness and know that there is anxiety and observe the anxiety as a mental object. If there is agitation, then we respond to the agitation with mindfulness and we acknowledge it and observe it. If there is anger, then we respond to the anger with mindfulness and relate to it as an object to be investigated.

If there is depression, then we observe the depression, without becoming depressed. If there is sadness, then we observe the sadness, without becoming sad. If there is fear, then we observe the fear without becoming afraid. If a thought arises, we observe the thought without becoming lost in the thinking. Each thought, belief, opinion and emotion that arises can be made into an object to be observed with mindfulness. The reactions of the mind are very seductive and when there is unawareness and avijja we tend to blindly identify with the form that they take and become the thought, belief or emotion. When something doesn’t happen according to expectation or desire the mind produces an emotional reaction and we become disappointed or angry. We remember a painful event, the mind reacts out of habit and we become upset. A minute later we remember something pleasant and we become happy. Reactivity creates successive states of mind, or cittasankhara, but avijja causes us to become the thought or emotion as dictated by past conditioning and attachment. The active side of mindfulness is required to restrain this tendency to be seduced by every thought and emotion, every sankhara that arises in the mind. Consequently, the very first skill that we need to develop in cittanupassana meditation is vigilance (appamada). We need to wake up from our daydreams and resist the pull of thinking and reacting so that we can fully engage with each thought and emotional reaction as they arise in the present.

Once we have recognized that we are reacting, we can stop right there and begin the most important part of cittanupassana, which is to open the eye of conscious awareness, or satisampajanna. Through awareness and satisampajanna, we establish an objective relationship with the thought or emotion as a mental object to be investigated. No longer distracted by reacting or thinking, we can now listen at a very subtle intuitive level to the experience as it unfolds in the present. This paves the way for vedanupassana meditation, the mindfulness contemplation of the feelings associated with mind states. This creative interface with intuitive feelings is where transformation takes place, because the mind states depend on feeling energy (vedana) to give them power. Thus, mindfulness of mental states naturally progresses to mindfulness of the underlying feeling tone of the thought, memory or emotion.

Through mindfulness, we take the abstract and reduce it to objective content that can be observed and mindfulness of the associated feelings facilitates this process of experiential unfolding. For example, if you look into the structure of anger, you will probably discover a whole ecology of feelings such as sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment accompanied by a variety of inner beliefs and memories. These specific mental objects are much easier to work with than the original abstract emotion. This is how cittanupassana facilitates inner transformation. Through uncovering the detailed inner structure of emotions, we are able to see what makes the engine run and as we change these component parts, the engine will run much better. Change at the subtle level revealed through intuitive feeling results in transformation of the structure of emotional reactions and the core belief structures that dominate our mind and create dukkha.

Becoming the Observer

The purification of the mind requires liberation from the forces of reactivity and ignorance. Only when the mind is completely free in the present can it fully engage with life and respond wisely and compassionately. We must free the mind and spirit, collectively called the psyche, from the reactive patterns of the ego, the compulsive reactivity of thinking based on blind attachment to inner beliefs and all the reactions of greed, hatred and delusion that have become the fabric of our being. There is an old Chinese saying,

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.

Choose your words, for they become actions.

Understand your actions, for they become habits.

Study your habits, for they will become your character.

Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Vipassana meditation is meditation on the contents of mind as they arise. We establish mindfulness of the mental objects of thoughts and emotions (cittanupassana) and the feelings that accompany them (vedanupassana). We choose to develop the mind and heart, collectively called citta by developing a very special type of relationship with the contents of mind, based on mindfulness. From this grounding in intuitive pure awareness (satisampajanna) our innate and intuitive intelligence (satipanna) will flourish and the mind begins to discover a completely different state of being in the world. This is the path for developing the heart, a spiritual path that leas to freedom from reactivity and the dukkha produced by habitual reactivity. In perhaps one of his most famous descriptions of vipassana meditation, Ajahn Chah describes this state of keen watchfulness as follows:

Try to be mindful and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool. All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool and you will clearly see the nature of all things. You will see many strange and wonderful things come and go, but you will be still. This is the happiness of the Buddha.

All begins with mindfulness of the flow of thoughts and emotions that arise in the mind. Letting things “take their natural course” means that we are receptive to the innate intuitive intelligence of each situation, rather than being swept along in the usual stream of habitual reactivity. When we awaken to our experience, we introduce the element of freedom and things can truly take their natural course, which means that they can change without the corrupting influence of reactivity. When guided by a sensitive and alive awareness, change will always lead towards maximum stability and the resolution of dukkha and this is the experiential insight that is satipanna. With satisampajanna we relate to things without reaction, which means that we don’t grasp on to the sankharas of our experience. Instead, we allow experience to change under the guidance of intelligence (satipanna) and this is the in-the-moment realization of anicca.

With sustained mindfulness, “your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool.” This stillness and composure is the state of samadhi that develops out of mindfulness. From this still center, the mind can relate to everything with equanimity (upekkha), friendship (metta) and non-attachment (anupadana). Developing the mind that is still in any surroundings allows us to awaken to our Original Mind, or bodhicitta, that is not conditioned and not reactive and as we develop the Path of Mindfulness, this becomes our refuge as the “clear forest pool.” Like the pool, bodhicitta welcomes all the animals of the forest, from the fierce tiger to the poisonous snake; from the elephant to the smallest insect and this openness of heart is the expression of metta. The “rare animals” that come to drink at the pool are the shy voices of the subtle aspects of experience that arise during cittanupassana-vipassana meditation and that we do not normally see when the mind is reactive. When we awaken, the world opens up before us and our experience is enriched by what we experience. We become dynamic and intelligent living beings that receive life, instead of cold and mindless robots that can only react out of habit.

Mindfulness is the expression of freedom and when we are grounded in freedom we can engage with all phenomena, pleasant or painful with a sense of wonder and interest, instead of reacting out of fear and aversion and wanting to acquire and control. When we relate to the “strange and wonderful things” of our thoughts and emotions with pure, objective mindfulness, then they become our teachers. Fear and anxiety become our teachers; anger and hatred become our teachers. Happiness and well-being become our teachers; beauty, order and stability become our teachers. All becomes possible when we open to the truth of experience as it is with an open mind and an open heart that are ready to discover and ready to learn. This is the relationship of freedom that leads to true and lasting happiness. The equanimity and stillness of bodhicitta is being in the world with freedom to fully engage with life without compulsion and without reactivity. This state of inner and outer harmony is indeed the true “happiness of the Buddha” and it is our birthright to be realized in each moment of life. The path of Buddha Dhamma is about awakening to this happiness right now, in every present moment of life, pleasant or painful. It is not some distant rarefied state to be achieved in the future after years of study and practice, but something to awaken to right now and learning to do this is the Path of Mindfulness and vipassana meditation.

Preparation

A session of vipassana meditation is often simply called sitting meditation. The term sitting is very appropriate, because it conveys the qualities of patience, attentiveness and non-reactive awareness that you might use when sitting with a friend. You know from experience, that the most important attitude is to listen with an open mind and heart. This attitude of warm and receptive listening that is an expression of metta, or loving-kindness is the essence of mindfulness as we apply it during vipassana meditation.

Meditation sessions can be anything from fifteen to forty-five minutes long, but you should not force yourself to practice longer than feels comfortable. It might be more appropriate to do three fifteen-minute sessions with breaks, rather than one long session. Meditation should not be an exercise in endurance and it is the quality of meditation that is most important and how well you are able to sustain mindfulness on mental content and feelings. Five minutes of high quality sitting is preferable to forty-five minutes of forcing yourself beyond your comfort level. The quality of your meditation will improve with practice, especially when you approach it in this way. As always, you start with where you are and find what works best for you, rather than trying to follow some prescribed method. There is no simple technique that will substitute for what evolves organically through your practice of sitting and observing the mind.

Make a special place in your home for meditation that is quiet and comfortable. It is helpful to establishing a routine and it is useful to set aside a certain time each day for practice. Regular practice is important as it is with any skill that you are trying to develop. With practice your mind will become more and more tuned in to the process and you will find it easier to settle into meditation. Whether you sit on the floor or in a chair is not important and you need to experiment to find what works best for you. It is often very beneficial, but not essential to meditate with a group, because there is something very powerful in the energy transmitted within a group that aids the development of samadhi. Humans are social animals and when they meditate in a group, there is a connection at the non-verbal level that is mutually supportive.

Meditation is not about following conventions and you do not need to become a Buddhist to meditate. You will become a Buddhist by default if you practice the Path of Mindfulness and are genuinely interested in uncovering what is skillful and what best leads to happiness, well-being and the resolution of dukkha. What interested the Buddha was helping people awaken to Dhamma, or the truth of experience, rather than adopting the conventions, beliefs and rituals of a religion and, in fact, he strongly advised against this. Your temple for worship is your heart and mind and the path of awakening to the truth of experience in each moment of living.

It is usually helpful to begin with a few minutes of samatha type meditation to stabilize the mind and there are many techniques to choose from. Meditation techniques that develop awareness of the body are particularly helpful in stabilizing the mind. This can start with simple body scanning, to notice the various sensations throughout the body. The practice of mindfulness of breathing, called anapanasati is one of the most popular preliminaries for vipassana meditation. This involves simply noticing the in-and-out breathing in a relaxed and natural way. You do not try to modify your breathing as in some yoga practices, but simply observe with mindfulness what is happening at the level of physical sensations. This will naturally focus your attention and strengthen samadhi and mindfulness, as well as refining your level of awareness to a more subtle level. When you begin to notice the mind becoming more settled, then you can let go of anapanasati and turn your attention to the contemplation of the mind, or cittanupassana.

Find the still center

In each session you begin begins by closing your eyes and gently focus your attention inwards and settle into an open and receptive state of mindfulness. This state of inner stillness and silence is called samadhi and during meditation we will use mindfulness to bring us back to this still place over and over again. This is your reference point from which you can engage and relate to the contents of mind. Through mindfulness practice and meditation you will become progressively more tuned in to this still center in your psyche and it will become a tremendous source of freedom, strength and stability that will help you in all aspects of life. As Chuang-tzu said about the power of samadhi,

To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.

The still mind of samadhi arises when there is satisampajanna and when we allow thoughts, beliefs, emotions, impulses and perceptions to arise and pass away, without any taint of further reactivity against them. This stillness, equanimity, tranquility and stability provides the right conditions in which satipanna can arise. There is nothing to do except be silent and mindful and totally present for your experience of the thoughts and feelings that arise during meditation. In this way you establish “presence,” which is the opposite of reactivity where you are distracted and agitated.

The mind will often wander and become distracted by extraneous thoughts and worries that do not have any particular relevance to the primary object of your meditation. You may have made a courageous resolve to meditate on an important core emotion that has been a source of much dukkha, yet before you know it you find that you have become lost in seemingly irrelevant thoughts about what to have for dinner. This is a perfectly natural activity for the mind and you should not fight against it, because that will simply create more tension. The appropriate response to the wandering mind is simply to develop vigilance and notice when the mind has wandered and then gently, but firmly bring the attention back to the primary object, which in this case was an emotion. The faculty of sati and samadhi will strengthen over time and you will develop a natural resistance to the hyper-reactivity of the mind. The only time that you would not let go of a distracting thought is if it carries an emotional charge, in which case you should temporarily switch your mindfulness onto this mental object and follow it until it has resolved. You must be careful about what you discard as not important, because that is a judgement by the ego-mind and you may end up missing a very important part of the experiential unfolding process. Sometimes, the irrelevant details turn out to be very important and at other times what seems truly insightful at a psychological level proves to be ineffective at producing change. Therefore, it is advisable to approach all thoughts that arise in the mind with equanimity and openness and a willingness to investigate them fully with mindfulness.

Create a space for observation

During vipassana meditation you watch mental content as if you were watching a movie or a play. Cittanupassana simply means focussing mindfulness on the thoughts and emotions that arise in the mind, without reacting with wanting or aversion or identifying with them. With practice, you can develop the perfect objectivity of satisampajanna and the art of paying close attention to what actually arises in your conscious experience (citta) from moment to moment. At all times, the purpose is to watch the contents of the mind and to avoid becoming the thought or emotion. If your mind is agitated by worry, the approach of cittanupassana is not to continue the stream of thinking and worrying, but to become the observer of the thought-emotion, which you place on your mental screen.

To help get the relationship of observer and observed right, it may help to first choose a neutral or pleasant thought-feeling and practice palcing it on your mental screen and practice observing it. Take a recent pleasant memory and imagine yourself watching the event from a comfortable distance, close enough so that you can see all the details, but not so close that you become caught up in the scene. You may find it helpful to imagine being in a cinema and placing the thought-emotions on the screen. For others, what works best is to create a safe space, like a room, into which you can place the thought-emotion. The objective is to create a sense of space between you and the emotion so that you can observe it, without being overwhelmed b y the emotion. You need to be close enough to feel the warmth, but not so close that you get burnt. You need to be close enough to be conscious of change and experiential unfolding, but not too close that you become reactive. This safe space in which you can observe an emotion with mindfulness is called the Creative Interface or Therapeutic Space of mindfulness and it is in this space that transformation and resolution of dukkha will take place.

Choose a subject for meditation

Vipassana meditation is always focussed on the real-time, moment-to-moment feeling experience as it arises in the present. However, the field for vipassana should encompass all aspects of life and should not be confined to only what happens to be in the present. Vippassana meditation should be used as an opportunity to examine unresolved issues from the past as well as worries for the future, because these will affect the quality of our living present. Meditation should not be seen as an escape from past pain or anxiety about the future. If these are present in your life then they will generate dissonance and instability. They are manifestations of dukkha and deserve your full and unbiased attention. Mindfulness practice must incorporate the whole field of past, present and future and bring them all into the present moment for meditation. Vipassana meditation is not an escape from dukkha, but a courageous engagement with dukkha and all thought-emotions, whether originating in the past, present or future are suitable subjects for vipassana meditation. This is where vipassana differs from meditation techniques that try to calm the mind and remove stressful thoughts. In vipassana we deliberately focus on stressful thoughts and any other contents of the reactive mind for the purpose of awakening to the reality of these specific manifestations of dukkha so that we can allow them to transform and resolve through the action of satipanna. This is simply good preparation, rather than leaving things to chance, because if you are worried about the future or troubled by painful memories, you can be sure that they will return. By taking the initiative and preparing yourself to greet them with mindfulness, equanimity and wisdom, you are taking the path that counteracts ignorance and habitual reactivity and facilitates the creative interface of mindfulness that leads to the resolution of dukkha.

Search for Dukkha

After you have established a mindful space internally, it is helpful to begin by actively scanning the mind for any hint of dukkha, any vestige of attachment and subjective emotional reactivity that constricts the heart and mind. When you look inside, does it feel relaxed and balanced or agitated and in conflict? It may be helpful to pose a question such as:

Do I feel completely at ease in relation to myself, right now?

Do I feel completely at ease in relation to my family, right now?

Do I feel completely at ease in relation to my work, right now?

Do I feel completely at ease in relation to my world, right now?

You may find that the mind is already very peaceful and free from agitation, worry and other manifestations of dukkha. If this is the case, then meditate on this state and engage with it fully with mindfulness. It is just as important to fully experience inner stability and well-being as it is to consciously experience instability and dukkha. It is through our experience of what is skillful and wholesome and free from suffering that the psyche can learn new ways of being.

Find Anchor Words

After you have accessed a particular emotional state, pleasant or unpleasant, it is useful to find a word that best fits the emotional complex. The word acts as an anchor that allows you to access the particular emotional state throughout your meditation and allows you to check the resolution process and determine if the emotion has become more or less intense. The other great benefit of a word anchor is that it helps the process of objectification so that you can relate to painful emotions without becoming overwhelmed by them.

From cittanupassana to vedanupassana

After you have successfully established a relationship of mindfulness with the present state of consciousness (citta) arising from either the present situation or from a painful memory or anxiety about the future, then you are ready to proceed to the next step of vipassana meditation, which is the contemplation and investigation of the underlying feelings, called vedanupassana.

Meditation on your Feelings

The purpose of vipassana meditation is not simply to investigate the deeper structure of experience, but to become exquisitely sensitive to what needs to change in our living experience and then facilitate that change. In other words, vipassana meditation has a purpose, which is to allow intuitive wisdom-intelligence, or satipanna, to arise and direct inner transformation in a way that leads to the resolution of dukkha. If the mind is dominated by conditioned habitual reactivity and avijja, then change becomes chaotic and destructive, leading to conflict and further suffering, but when mindfulness is present, then change becomes intelligent and constructive leading to greater stability and harmony in the psyche.

It soon becomes evident to anyone practicing mindfulness meditation, that within every dissonant state of dukkha there is also an innate directionallity, a kind of positive pressure that naturally leads to the resolution of that state of instability. It is as if the path to the resolution of instability is encoded in the inner structure of that state when it was created. We can see this most clearly in the natural world. For example, if a glass of water is emptied on top of a mountain, that water will naturally begin a journey towards the ocean. The direction of this purposeful and intelligent change was set in motion the moment the water was carried to the top of the mountain. The journey is dictated by this innate direction of movement from the state of instability on top of the mountain to stability, when it reaches the ocean. In this same way, dukkha will naturally resolve by itself into a more stable energetic state within the psyche, if given the freedom to change. Vipassana is simply the insight, or awakening, into the path that leads to the resolution of dukkha, and mindfulness provides the freedom in which intelligent change can take place. This process of Psychological Homeostasis happens at the experiential and intuitive level, far below the level of the ego and the thinking mind and this is why investigation with mindfulness is so effective, because it penetrates beneath the surface into the dynamic structure of experience. The wisdom-intelligence that guides this process is called satipanna, which will arise whenever there is sati and satisampajanna, and vipassana meditation is the process of awakening to this innate intelligence. This form of transformation is intuitive and is something that is revealed the moment we let go of preconceptions and reactive thinking. We do not make change happen by applying psychological insights gained from meditation or elsewhere, but simply by bringing about a state of inner freedom in which change can occur spontaneously, under the direction of satipanna. Most of our work involves learning to stay out of the way, rather than trying to solve problems through the intervention of the thinking ego-mind.

During vipassana meditation, we deliberately tune in to the intuitive and experiential feeling level that lies beneath the thoughts and emotions and use these intuitive feelings as a guide to facilitate the changes that lead to the resolution of suffering. Therefore, the investigation into the depth of our experience must include an investigation with mindfulness of the feelings (vedana) that accompany the mental states that arise during the contemplation of the mind, or cittanupassana. This means letting go of the contents of our thoughts and emotions and searching for the feeling tone and feeling energy that powers these thoughts and emotional reactions. This important part of vipassana meditation is called vedanupassana, the investigation of feelings, which is one of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (satipatthana).

Vedana refers to the general felt-sense or feeling tone that accompanies an experience and can be pleasant, painful or neutral. A pleasant or positive felt-sense is called sukhavedana, while a painful or negative felt-sense is called dukkhavedana. Alternatively, experience may have a neutral felt-sense, called upekkhavedana, which is neither pleasant nor painful, but none the less powerful in its effect. The associated vedana gives meaning and power to thoughts, beliefs, emotions, memories and perceptions. Vedana is the glue that holds experience together and without it, memories, negative thoughts and emotional reactions would not become lodged in the mind, but would simply evaporate like drops of water in the hot sun.

Mental pain is analogous to physical pain in that its primary purpose is to direct attention to the cause so that you can see what must be done to remove the cause. If you perceive a burning sensation in your hand, you respond by looking at your hand and intuitively take the appropriate action of moving your hand away from the fire until the pain subsides. The appropriate response to the pain of the fire is dictated by awareness of the cause, and your innate and intuitive intelligence (satipanna) automatically directs the appropriate action that leads to the resolution of the pain. You do not have to think about what to do and in fact, thinking would be a distraction that may prolong suffering. Mental pain (dukkhavedana) has a similar function and is intended to direct your attention to the source of your mental suffering (dukkha). If you respond with mindfulness to the dukkhavedana, then you will allow satipanna to arise and this intuitive intelligence will guide the mind to change internally to resolve the underlying dukkha. However, as has been said before, there must be freedom in which satipanna can arise and operate and this requires mindfulness and satisampajanna, the clear and direct perception of things as they are.

In vedanupassana meditation, we do not focus on the meaning of our thoughts or emotions, but on the feeling energy, which is often called the felt-sense or feeling tone that accompanies each thought or emotion. Mindfulness and investigation are applied to unveil the vedana that permeates our mind states, beliefs and emotional complexes and gives them power. This is the heart of vedanupassana meditation: a journey into the subtle awareness of intuitive feelings as a guide to facilitate transformation and liberation. This practice is not restricted to our inner journey of transormation and we can apply the same sensitivity to intuitive feelings in our personal relationships. The more sensitive and open we can be to the intuitive feeling level, the more in touch we will be with the needs of others and with the unique needs of each new situation. Compassion requires this extraordinary sensitivity and presence for the subtle feeling level of experience.

Intuitive Feelings as our Guide

The heart of meditation at the feeling level is to use changes in felt-sense as a guide. This means tuning in to the subtle shifts in the intensity of dukkhavedana, sukhavedana and

upekkhavedana. The principle of Psychological Homeostasis informs us that given the freedom to change, the psyche will always move in the direction that leads towards the resolution of dukkha. Mindfulness and satisampajanna provides this freedom, or therapeutic space, in which satipanna can arise and transformation can happen, just as habitual reactivity sustains dukkha by inhibiting satipanna and the freedom to change. When suffering resolves in this way, it is naturally accompanied by a shift in feeling tone from dukkhavedana to sukhavedana and finally to upekkhavedana and we can monitor these changes during vedanupassana meditation.

When dukkhavedana resolves, it is accompanied by a release of trapped feeling energy (vedana) from the highly constrained state of attachment to a state of non-attachment. This release of energy is experienced as sukhavedana. In experiential psychology, this change is called a felt shift and provides a guide that something beneficial has happened internally.

During experiential unfolding, there is a further progression from sukhavedana to upekkhavedana. This represents the completion of the reintegration of feeling energy back into the psyche and a return to a state of stability and equilibrium (upekkha) and this is the last step in the resolution of dukkha. This resolution happens as we let go of inner attachment to reactivity; but it is not you who lets go, it is the mind letting go of itself. This process happens all the time in everyday life. For example, you may be consumed by anxiety (dukkhavedana) about an upcoming job interview, but once you are actually in the interview, the tension subsides and you feel a surge of enthusiasm (sukhavedana) and after it has finished, everything returns to normal (upekkhavedana). When we focus mindfulness on painful emotional state of dukkha, we may experience a powerful release of energy from dukkhavedana to sukhavedana as the emotional complex begins to undold and transform, but eventually the euphoria subsides as this emotional energy reintegrates back into the psyche. This state of stability and balance produced by the resolution of suffering is accompanied by the felt-sense of upekkhavedana, which is a much higher state of happiness associated with peace and freedom.

Working with Emotions with Mindfulness Meditation Therapy

Vedana should not to be confused with emotion, because an emotion has a very definite structure, whereas vedana simply describes the property or quality of an experience. Vedana is undifferentiated feeling energy, whereas emotions have a structure composed of thoughts, memories and physical responses in the body. An emotion takes shape when the energy of vedana becomes crystallized around these thoughts, memories, beliefs and actions.

It is very easy to identify with emotions because they are so compelling, but this is a form of delusion called moha, the seductive face of avijja that causes us to become identified with mental reactions (sankharas). Something goes wrong and we become upset and act out the emotion in the form of conditioned paterns of negative thinking and behavior. Moha causes us to identify with the reaction and become upset. If anger arises as a primary reaction and we identify and attach to this reaction, then we become the anger and it will dictate how we think, feel and act. Moha prevents change by limiting our freedom, so you must develop mindfulness as an antidote to moha. Through mindfulness, we learn to avoid identifying with emotional reactions and learn to see them simply as mental objects that arise in the mind.

The Path of Mindfulness and particularly vipassana meditation and Mindfulness Meditation Therapy is a very skillful way of working with emotions in which we essentially de-construct the emotional complex and illuninate the internal structure of the emotion. All emotions have an internal structure composed of specific feelings, memories, perceptions, beliefs and imagery. The internal imagery provides an organizational structure for feeling energy and gives cohesiveness to the emotion. This inner structure is like the workings of a Swiss watch. When you gain a thorough familiarity with the internal mechanism and individual parts, then you have something very tangible and concrete to work with. You cannot repair something as complex as a swiss watch without this knowledge, yet do we approach our emotions with this degree of attention to detail? We do not. We are seduced by the superficial and immediate appearance of our emotions; we identify with this and remain completely ignorant of the inner workings. This is the state of ignorance, or avijja, that is the central problem that sustains emotional reactivity and dukkha. The Path of Mindfulness is a deliberate path of dispelling avijja by the simple and persistent application of mindfulness and investigation (sati-dhammavicaya).

No one wants to experience sadness, fear, anger, anxiety or depression, but avoidance and aversion or resistance will not make them go away. Trying to replace negative thoughts with positive thinking may keep painful emotions at bay for a while, but this will not stop them reappearing in the future. Similarly, using meditation to try and empty the mind of thoughts in an attempt to create a state of tranquility is simply another form of resistance and avoidance. The emotional reactivity will return the moment it is given a chance. Understanding that avoidance and repression are not skillful, the Buddha taught us that the only effective way to resolve dukkha is to face our suffering directly and compassionately with mindfulness. This is the First Noble Truth of suffering, which states that we must awaken to suffering, wherever it exists, internally or externally. We awaken by establishing a relationship of non-reactive mindfulness with the feeling level that lies at the heart of all emotional reactions. Mindfulness provides the right conditions for the transformation and resolution of dukkha just as unawareness, or avijja, inhibits transformation and resolution.

Mindfulness creates a therapeutic space of non-deluded, pure knowing, or satisampajanna. This creates the right conditions in which intuitive wisdom-intelligence (satipanna) can arise and this is what leads to transformation and liberation. Vipassana meditation, when focused on emotional suffering as the object of meditation, creates the right conditions in which satisampajanna and satipanna can arise and this facilitates transformation. This form of vipassana meditation is the primary tool in Mindfulness Meditation Therapy. In this approach, we allow emotional complexes to heal from within, which is much more effective than anything we might try to do to them through thinking. We do not heal emotional suffering; it heals itself, and mindfulness combined with investigation provides the right conditions in which this natural healing can take place.

Reframe the emotions

When an emotion arises, it is usually in the form of a personal statement, such as, “I am anxious; I am angry; I am frustrated; I am disappointed; I am afraid; I am sad.” The reference to “I am” is a statement of subjective identification with the emotion and this is the root reaction of delusion (moha) that causes the emotion to dominate consciousness. If you remove the self-reference, then the emotion becomes reduced to an objective phenomenon that can be observed with mindfulness. Therefore, it is helpful to change “I am…” statements into “I notice…” statements, such as “I notice anxiety in my mind; I notice anger; I notice frustration; I notice disappointment; I notice fear.” This simple process of reframing emotional reactions creates a space between you as the knower or observer and the emotion as a mental object that you can observe. This helps prevent you from becoming overwhelmed by emotional reactions. If you cultivate this non-reactive relationship with the emotion, then you create the ideal conditions for intelligent change. Through this simple exercise in reframing the emotion, you effectively stop yourself from becoming entangled in the emotional reaction. Instead, you become the container of the emotion. Cultivate an objective relationship based on mindfulness with your anxiety, anger, disappointments, fear or any other of the numerous emotional reaction that torment you and you will create the ideal conditions for transformation and liberation from them all.

Establish a Safe Zone

We must take special care when working with powerful core emotions such as depression, anger or the intense emotions associated with childhood trauma and abuse. There needs to be a safe working relationship, so that you do not become overwhelmed by the emotion. Without this therapeutic space you will become vulnerable to secondary reactivity and the proliferation of negative thinking. Forming the right relationship with emotional suffering requires positive friendliness (metta) and patience (khanti), which are natural qualities of mindfulness.

We must begin by taking a gentle approach based on friendship and genuine interest. The emotional afflictions are not enemies to be uprooted and destroyed. That is the way of violence and completely contrary to The Path of Mindfulness. Dukkha is not our enemy, but our teacher whose function is to show us the way to non-suffering. Therefore, the best way to begin to establish a safe relationship with our suffering is not to react against it with resistance, but to learn to be present with it. This requires small steps, in which we touch the suffering with mindfulness and then withdraw. Through repeated mindfulness contact we begin to replace the original reactions of aversion with a more stable state of presence. There is a cumulative effect from making frequent contact with any painful emotion and in time, mindfulness will become the natural response to the emotional reaction instead of habitual secondary reactivity. Through frequent contact, you will naturally become more familiar with the emotional reactions and you will naturally become less reactive. The more we see of the details and structure of the emotion, the less overwhelming it will be. This may seem counter-intuitive, but fear depends on abstraction and ignorance and mindfulness counteract this. If we were to encounter a cobra in the wild, our first reaction will most likely be one of fear and panic. However, if we stop and focus mindfulness on the snake, we will naturally begin to learn more about the reality, or truth, of the snake. We see how it reacts to our movements, how quickly it moves its head and whether it feels threatened or not. All of this information allows us to respond to the cobra in a skillful way and it is exactly the same when we relate to our dukkha with mindfulness. Ignorance breeds dukkha; mindfulness dispels ignorance and heals dukkha.

If the emotion becomes too strong, then simply step back, open the eyes and take a break for a minute or two. There is no rush; practice with patience and compassion towards yourself. The relationship of mindfulness is like a dance in which you make continual adjustments to the needs of your partner and the needs of the dance. Every step you take in the “dance of mindfulness” is a small yet significant victory, so allow yourself plenty of time to become a skillful dancer when working with strong emotions.

Access the feeling level

If you are troubled by a traumatic memory, then carefully recall the memory and picture the event in your mind, just to the extent necessary to access the associated feelings, without becoming caught up in thinking about the event, which will simply perpetuate emotional reactivity. Surround the emotion with lots of space and approach it in small steps so that you can maintain a mindful and comfortable relationship with the feelings. It is often very helpful to first practice approaching and withdrawing many times in quick succession. The purpose is not to dwell on the emotional reaction, but to make contact with the present felt-sense of the emotion. This does not involve thinking about the emotion, but sensing the emotion. Do this as many times as you need until you can sit comfortably with the felt-sense of the memory, without becoming overwhelmed. Learning to develop this balanced way of relating to painful memories is an essential part of establishing the mindfulness-based relationship with the emotion. Leraning not to react is a very beneficial skill in its own right, but this also creates the right space in which the core emotions can begin to change internally.

If you are worried about the future, then picture possible future scenarios. Again, adjust your position until you find a safe zone where you can sustain mindfulness of the feelings and avoid being overwhelmed by emotional reactivity and thinking. Make frequent mindfulness contact and learn to dance with the felt-sense of the anxiety about the future, keeping just the right distance as you would with a dance partner.

Memory images or imagined future images provide a reference point, or anchor to which you can return at periodic intervals to monitor progress during meditation. The purpose of recollection is not to proliferate suffering by wallowing in painful memories or worrying about the future, but to learn a different way of relating to these emotions that allows you access the inner structure of the emotion, without becoming reactive. It may take considerable practice, approaching and withdrawing over and over again with traumatic memories or intense anxiety about the future, but in time you will be able to sustain contact for longer and longer periods of time. This process of contact desensitization is widely recognized as an essential requirement for working with trauma and phobias, but most importantly it paves the way for working with the internal structure of the emotions, which will lead to transformation and resolution.

Another useful tool that will help you access the feeling energy that surrounds an emotion is to find an anchor word that resonates with the feeling. Allow a word to emerge from the emotion and check it to see if it really fits with the internal felt-sense of the emotion. You may be focusing on anxiety and the word “heavy” emerges as a good fit. This technique of finding word anchors is used to great benefit in a psychotherapeutic technique called Focusing, developed by Dr Eugene Gendlin. As experiential unfolding takes place, you may find that the word anchor that best fits the felt-sense of your experience will also change. “Heavy” may change to “sad” and later to “black” before resolution is complete.

After you access the feeling level of an emotional complex, simply allow yourself to rest there, being mindful of the feeling tone and bring your attention back to the feeling over and over again if you get distracted. If you become distracted by thoughts then gently acknowledge the thought, let go of the thinking and return to being mindful of the feeling. Often, these frequent transitions between distactions and mindfulness of the primary emotion can be very important, even if the distracting thought seems totally irrelevant. Distractions can be thought of as a safety mechanism that allows the psyche to process feeling energy in small bite-sized chunks and you should look at distractions as a natural part of the process of transformation, rather than something to be resisted.

It is not necessary to do anything or to try and understand anything about the feelings that you are experiencing. The whole focus is on simply being present for the feeling with mindfulness and satisampajanna, because this intuitive awareness is itself much more transformational than any indirect knowledge about the feelings that you may acquire. The conscious presence of mindfulness contact is often sufficient by itself to produce major changes in an emotional complex, even if nothing else happens at the level of psychological insight. This is the phenomenon called Contact Resolution, in which the simple act of making contact with inner suffering with mindfulness brings about a resolution. At other times there may be considerable movement as the feelings behind the emotion unfold. This process is called Experiential Resolution and is more common with intense emotional complexes such as trauma and will typically involve the differentiation of inner experiential imagery.

Take time to cultivate the mindfulness-based relationship with your feelings. This is one of the most valuable things that you can do and is worth doing with care and attention. In many ways, the practice of contacting inner emotions with mindfulness is like blowing warm air onto a block of ice. As the ice melts, the water is set free to continue its natural flow towards the ocean, where it finds complete peace and stability. Often, all that is needed is that you experience this new way of relating to your inner feelings with love, compassion, appreciation and the equanimity of mindfulness. The power of this quality of mindful presence for facilitating healing cannot be overemphasized. True mindfulness (sammasati) is the attitude of loving kindness (metta), which has the characteristics of openness, compassion and genuine interest even towards the most unpleasant aspects of our experience. This change in relationship allows the contracted and rigid parts of the mind to soften and become malleable, which creates the ideal conditions for change.

Explore the feeling

When you are able to relate to the felt-sense of a core emotion, then you can begin to explore and investigate the inner structure of the emotion. All emotions have an internal structure, which is based around experiential imagery. The psyche thinks in pictures and uses imagery to organize emotions. We often think that emotions arise out of strongly held beliefs, but actually beliefs and thinking originate from a much deeper level of organization in the psyche, which is provided by inner imagery. The inner imagery encodes all the feelings that make up the emotion and give it power. When we focus mindfulness on the felt-sense of an emotion like anger or anxiety, we will begin to uncover the inner imagery and this provides a rich field of specific and concrete material, which aid in the transformation of intense emotions.

Sit with the emotion. Walk around it. Hold it in your hands. Observe it with careful attention to detail.

What does it look like? Is it big or small, stationary or moving, in color or monochrome? Does it have a shape or is it amorphous? Is it organic or inorganic, alive or dead?

What does it feel like to the touch? Is it hard or soft, rough or smooth, brittle or malleable, hot or cold?

What does it sound like? Does it make any sound? Is it trying to say something?

What does it smell like? Does it have a pleasant perfumed scent or an unpleasant smell?

What does it taste like? Is it sweet or bitter?

By exploring these and other structural details of the emotion that you are observing, you will make it much easier for the energy to differentiate and unfold, which leads to transformation and resolution. In general, ignorance (avijja) promotes reactivity and inhibits change, whereas conscious awareness of these experiential details promotes change.

Allow experiential unfolding

When you have established a relationship of mindfulness with the feeling level of an emotion, the feelings that have become amalgamated into the emotional complex will begin to differentiate. It is important to follow these subtle changes in the quality of feeling and be fully mindful of each and the more of this internal structure that you make conscious, the more the emotional complex will transform. What seems like an impenetrable fortress of depression or anger will begin to differentiate into the underlying feelings that form the feeling structure of the emotion. This is the process of objectification, in which the abstract nature of an emotion differentiates into tangible objects. Touching each of these individual feelings with mindfulness and satisampajanna will begin to take apart the fortress of the emotion, brick by brick. What seemed impenetrable is now penetrated and this is the beginning of the process of experiential differentiation that will eventually lead to resolution. It should always be remembered that what keeps emotional reactivity such as anger and depression alive, is ignorance of the individual feelings and memories that make up the internal structure of the complex. As you expose each component into the light of conscious awareness, you are embarking on a path that will inevitably end in the resolution of the emotional complex. The only thing that keeps reactivity alive is ignorance of this internal structure, which is the reality of the emotion, and delusional attachment to the superficial and abstract appearance of the emotion, which is pure illusion.

When you focus mindfulness on the intuitive felt-sense level of an emotional complex, it is not uncommon to experience inner symbolic representations. This is particularly the case with intense core emotional complexes such as anger, anxiety, fear, depression and guilt, or emotional trauma. Generally, the most common forms of symbolic representations that arise during experiential unfolding are psychophysical sensations and experiential imagery.

It is quite common to notice heaviness around the eyes or tightness in the jaws. It is also not uncommon to experience psychophysical “hotspots” where emotional energy seems to be highly focused. Again, the object is not to analyze, but to be mindful of whatever unfolds at the experiential level. Psychophysical sensations, like memories provide a way of accessing repressed feeling energy. The correct practice is to focus mindfulness on the associated feelings and allow your experience to unfold. You may notice that the physical sensation gets stronger or changes from a dull heaviness to a sharp sensation. As you follow these changes in sensations, you may notice changes at the feeling level as well. This is the process of transformation in progress. You may not understand what is happening, but you can sense at an intuitive level that what is happening is important.

The other main type of inner phenomena that most people will experience when they focus on strong emotions is some form of experiential imagery. This is not surprising, because the mind process information through the language of mental pictures and imagery is a rich medium for representing feelings. Experiential imagery is not the same as visualization created by the imagination, because it arises spontaneously from the intuitive feelings themselves, without us making any effort to construct images.

Memory based images are relatively easy to work with, but often imagery can take on a much more abstract and surrealistic form with shifting colors and shapes. Sometimes, imagery of a mythological or archetypal form may arise. Whatever the form of imagery that arises, the response is the same, which is to access the feeling level and allow intuitive wisdom to guide the unfolding process. We do not need to do anything except be fully present and for the experience and allow our intuitive intelligence (satipanna) to guide the process, rather than trying to understand or interpret what unfolds. This is experiencing transformation as a living process, rather than trying to change the mind by applying external wisdom. Whatever form the experiential imagery takes, the principle is the same, which is to stay mindful and be sensitive to the directionality inherent in the imagery and let transformation happen in its own way. This is what leads to Experiential Resolution of emotional complexes.

Revisit the feeling level often

At frequent intervals return your attention back to the original thought-emotion that you chose for vedanupassana meditation. You may find it useful to use a word anchor to help you conjure up the emotion. If it was anger, then re-access the anger by remembering the specific situation that led to the anger. Determine for yourself whether there has been any resolution in the intensity of the emotional reaction. By doing this in an objective and scientific way, you will learn what is helpful and what is not and you will begin to build an inner skill in the application of mindfulness. Return to the emotional complex over several days or weeks and check whether it has changed. Repeat another session of vedanupassana on the same emotion. With this degree of attention with focused mindfulness combined with investigation (sati-dhammavicaya) the emotional reactivity is bound to change. Ignorance is the major factor that sustains and fuels emotional suffering and if you systematically counteract this avijja with applied mindfulness, then it is only a question of time before the emotional complex will dis-assemle and resolve itself. Mindfulness is one of the most effective ways to promote healing, but it will take time to undo the years of habitual reactivity so you must be patient and persevere.

Experiential Imagery and Mindfulness Meditation Therapy

During mindfulness meditation or in a session of Mindfulness Meditation Therapy (MMT) it is very common for repressed emotional energy to represent itself in the form of dream like imagery called experiential imagery and we can use this imagery very effectively to facilitate the transformation and resolution of persistent negative emotions. Experiential imagery refers to inner visual representations that arise out of the emotion itself. There is something about the experiential image that feels intuitively right and resonates with the feeling. Experiential imagery is not the same as visualization, in which you deliberately create an image, because they are allowed to arise quite spontaneously from your inner feelings, without any preconceptions of what form they should take. Sometimes, experiential images are easy to interpret, but more often than not, they seem to have a life and language of their own that is beyond rational interpretation. Fortunately, we do not need to interpret or understand their meaning; what is much more important is to simply experience them. We can think of experiential imagery as the psyche expressing itself in the field of conscious awareness through the medium of imagery. The psyche uses imagery to organize experience and emotions internally and the imagery gives a framework around which experience, memory, feeling and beliefs are assembled. This is called the Structural Theory of Emotions.

There is a particularly strong connection between feeling energy and the structure of experiential imagery and if the emotion changes so will the imagery. By the same reasoning, a change in the structure of experiential imagery will produce a change in the intensity of the emotion. This is called Image-Feeling Reciprocity and has profound implications for our inner process of transformation. It is very difficult to directly change an emotion like depression or anger, because it is very abstract; but it is very much easier to change the structure of an image, because it is concrete and has a specific form. Every subtle change in color, position, size, context and other sub-modalities will produce a corresponding change at the feeling level.

As always, the starting point for working with experiential imagery is to focus mindfulness on an emotional complex, which we make the object of our meditation and allow imagery to arise from the present felt-sense of the emotion. Imagery may first appear as a color, which may later differentiate into a shape with a certain texture and position in our inner visual field. During Mindfulness Meditation Therapy, we allow the imagery to change in its own way, without any kind of interference or attempt to analyze the contents. What is most important is the direct conscious experience of the imagery as an unfolding process and not the interpretation of what it means. If you allow the imagery to change freely, under the guidance of the intuitive wisdom-intelligence of satipanna, then what emerges will naturally lead towards the resolution of dukkha. We are allowing the psyche to heal itself through the medium of inner imagery. This can be very effective, because experiential imagery is the natural language of the psyche and imagery acts as a catalyst for transformation and healing.

The Sub-modalities of Imagery

The Structural Theory of Emotions states that emotions have an inner structure, organized around experiential imagery. Feeling energy, called vedana is encoded in imagery and specifically in the sub-modalities of imagery. There are three main categories of visual sub-modalities: Spatial, Sensory, and Asccociated sub-modalities. The spatial sub-modalities include position, size, shape, and movement. The sensory sub-modalities include color, color intensity, and texture. Imagery also has the associated sensory modalities of heat, sound, taste and smell. Each of these sub-modalities encodes a particular quality of feeling energy and brings this energy together in the form of an emotion. The emotional energy takes on further form as thoughts, beliefs and intentions, which eventually manifests as speech and action. Every habitual emotional reaction has a structure that leads to an outward expression, but this whole process is powered by emotional energy that is encoded in the core experiential imagery. Awareness of the subtle qualities of this inner imagery is, therefore, very important for facilitating emotional transformation, because any change in these sub-modalities will produce a corresponding change in the intensity and persistence of an emotional reaction. The specific form of the sub-modalities is ultimately what gives power to our beliefs and actions and is equivalent to the inner mechanism of a Swiss watch or a car engine. Understand these specific details and the process of transformation, resolution and healing, will begin to unfold quite naturally. The solutions appear in direct proportion to how thoroughly you investigate the emotional imagery in the same way that the very act of carefully examining every part of the Swiss watch or the car engine will reveal the problem that needs to be fixed. The most important action in either case is the response of investigation with mindfulness, because this allows you to see what is actually there and it is the seeing and knowing that is transformational. When you see the loose wire, the broken spring or the intense red color of experiential imagery you immediately know what needs to be done to resolve the situation. If you do not look, then no solutions will appear. In the case of the experiential imagery, changing the color from red to white or blue may be the key step that helps resolve the emotional suffering.

Experiential imagery often appears at a very specific position in our inner visual field. Why this is the case is not important; what is important is that you focus mindfulness on the feeling energy associated with this specific position and allow experience to unfold from that awareness. For example, you may be meditating on an anxiety reaction and experience a patch of red color that always appears at the upper right-hand corner of your inner visual field. You can sense intuitively that this is the correct position and that the left-hand corner or the bottom of your inner visual screen does not fit with your experience. In this case, the combination of the sensory sub-modality of color and the spatial sub-modality of position encodes the specific feelings that form the emotion of anxiety.

Whenever we uncover experiential imagery, we always investigate what needs to happen next. If you were to meditate on this inner imagery, you may notice that the image seems to want to change its position and move from one side to the other side or from top to bottom or even diagonally. It is useful to follow these inner movements and see how they affect the quality of what you are feeling. If a threatening image moves from the top to the bottom of your visual screen, does it become more or less threatening? You can experiment and discover what leads to the reduction of dukkha and what does not. Similarly, you may find that as you continue to focus mindfulness on the imagery, the color spontaneously changes from red to green. Such subtle changes may seem insignificant to the rational mind, but at the intuitive, experiential level, such changes are frequently very significant.

Another important spatial sub-modality is the size of the image, which is also related to how close the image is relative to you, as the observer. A large image will be more threatening than a small image. Size is often a key sub-modality in phobias. If a person has a phobia of spiders, it is very likely that his internal representation of a spider will be very large and very close. If the phobia resolves itself spontaneously or after a period of therapy, the internal image will probably have also become substantially smaller and appear at the back of his inner visual field. Like all sub-modalities, any change in structure correlates with a change in the intensity of feeling. When a person says “It’s not such a big problem now,” this reflects an actual change in the size of his internal imagery.

Movement is another spatial sub-modality that can encode feelings. Rapid movements are often associated with intense emotional reactions, whereas slow movements generally convey calm and balance. Again, when there is mindfulness, your intuitive feelings will show you what resonates with your present experience and what needs to happen next. All you have to do is be aware and allow these changes to happen. If you feel overwhelmed or confused, this may be represented internally in the form of spinning imagery. By focusing on the spinning image with mindfulness, you may discover certain subtle adjustments that result in the image slowing down to a more comfortable speed, with a corresponding reduction in the feeling of confusion. What is most important is to allow these subtle changes to arise spontaneously, which they will do if given the freedom of mindfulness. We do not have to make the changes happen through deliberate intervention, but simply allow the changes to arise naturally from our inner experience of the emotion. These natural, experiential changes will always be more effective than anything we do deliberately.

Of course, color is one of the most important sensory sub-modalities and encodes a great deal of feeling energy. The color red is often associated with anger and frustration, sexual lust and other highly charged emotions. Black often indicates emptiness and depression, as in the expression “He is in a black mood.” The color blue is often associated with tranquility and a sense of well-being. White is associated with purity and innocence and green is associated with rejuvenation. Besides the specific color, the intensity of the color also encodes emotional energy. Vivid imagery is associated with equally intense emotional reactions, whereas distant memories often appear indistinct and dull.

Besides spatial and sensory sub-modalities, experiential imagery is often associated with other sensory modalities such as touch sensations and sounds. An image may feel cold and clammy or hot and prickly. Very often, experiential imagery will have an auditory component. The imagery might contain a person or yourself, speaking. It is important to investigate the voice tone, loudness, speed and other auditory sub-modalities, because these are what carry the meaning and emotional energy that gives power to the emotion. If you feel intimidated by a parent or by your boss, it is very likely that your inner imagery of that person will not only be very large relative to you, but that he will speak with a louder voice. When you ask yourself what needs to change, you might find that making the imagery of the parent smaller and you larger; and making your voice louder and their voice softer could completely change how you feel and react. These subtle changes are what you discover quite naturally from you investigation with mindfulness of the actual internal structure of your emotions.

Nothing can change if you remain at the superficial and abstract level of perception, but the moment you open the lid and investigate the reality of what is there, you will find that the possibilities and solutions will present themselves in abundance. The key is to look and this is the purposeful application of mindfulness to investigate mental phenomena and the essential nature of vipassana meditation. All these details are immensely important for the transformation of emotional complexes and the more you become conscious of the detailed structure of the sub-modalities, the more things will change in a beneficial direction. Ignorance sustains suffering and one of the specific ways that it does this is by preventing us from knowing the subtle details of the internal structure of our experience.

Types of experiential imagery

Internal experiential imagery occurs in a variety of forms depending on the nature of the emotion and the individual. Some of the most common types of experiential imagery are Inner Drama, Memory Imagery, Abstract Imagery and Symbolic Imagery.

Inner Drama

Inner drama is one of the most common forms of internal imagery in which the mind replays an event that has strong associated feelings of pain or pleasure. It could be a recent argument with your partner or child or a difficult encounter with a colleague at work. Emotions like guilt, anger and remorse often involve elaborate inner imagery in which we relive events over and over again. Often, worries about the future will result in playing out various scenarios. Such inner dramas can serve a useful function in helping us prepare for the future. However, they are only useful if we can remain objective and have a balanced, non-reactive relationship with the content of the drama.

The best way to work with inner drama is to watch the drama as if projected onto a screen or a stage. You need to remain objective so that you can examine the unfolding imagery with mindfulness, without getting caught up in the drama. As always, the content is not as important as the feeling energy (vedana) that empowers it, and as you meditate on the drama, pay careful attention to the feelings that arise. After you make contact with the feeling energy, or felt-sense of the inner drama, you can let go of the contents and stay with the feeling and allow changes to unfold experientially. Eventually, after the process of experiential unfolding has reached a natural conclusion, return your attention to the original inner drama and see if there has been any change in the intensity of the emotion.

We can use inner drama as a way of accessing unresolved emotional reactivity, which we then make the object of our mindfulness meditation. Additionally, we can use use this form of imagery as a method of preparing ourselves for the future. It is always a good practice to take the initiative now and train the mind to meet the potential difficulties that may unfold in the future when we meet the parents, or get some disappointing news. If we don’t prepare ourselves, then we will most likely fall into our usual patterns of habitual reactivity and suffer. We should prepare, and the best way to prepare is to meditate on the specific emotions that are likely to arise and find a way to resolve this emotional energy beforehand.

Memories

Visual memories are the most familiar form of imagery, but memory images are much more than just a photographic record of events. They can become highly symbolic as they are processed by the psyche. The original memory may change under the influence of other parts of the mind until it no longer represents what actually happened.

Some memories are particularly vivid, with a photographic quality that encodes a great deal of emotional energy. These photographic, or eidetic memories often arise after emotional trauma and particularly if we were unable to process and assimilate the emotions assocuiated with the experience. Not surprisingly, physical, sexual or emotional abuse during childhood can produce post-traumatic imagery, because a child does not have the maturity to process these experiences. Post-traumatic stress may arise from witnessing an accident or from war or the experience of a violent event, because these experiences fall outside of the normal range and are equally difficult to process, even as adults. These trauma-induced memories become recurrent, because the underlying emotional energy remains unresolved and unassimilated. Unable to process the emotional conflicts associated with trauma, the mind becomes highly reactive, generating many layers of secondary reactivity. This secondary reactivity results in the repression of the original unresolved primary reactions and prevents transformation and resolution of the conflict. The repressed emotional energy becomes trapped in the mind where it continues to generate further reactivity and suffering, called post-traumatic stress disorder.

At the core of many phobias is some form of eidetic imagery that encodes intense emotional energy. A traumatic experience of drowning, being shut up in a closet, or even a frightening encounter with a spider can all generate very intense eidetic imagery that becomes imprinted in the subconscious. When the appropriate stimulus is present, these vivid eidetic images reappear along with the intense associated emotional reaction of fear and terror. When a phobic sees a spider, it is not the external image of the spider that causes the emotional reaction; the reaction is produced by the internal representation, the subjective inner image of the spider. This will probably be very large and have intense color. These subjective sub-modalities are added on to the actual memory and this post-experience processing leads to the intense emotional reactivity of a phobia.

We can work with memories during vipassana meditation and cultivate a relationship with the memory image as a primary object for meditation. We do not try to interpret the memory, but simply cultivate mindfulness and satisampajanna of the memory image and allow it to unfold and change, experientially. The photographic quality of traumatic memories means that they tend to be very detailed and display the sub-modalities of intense color, size and rapid movement. These vivid sub-modalities give emotional intensity to the memory and are actually much more important than the contents. Therefore, resolution of a traumatic memory requires that these sub-modalities change. Resolution may lead to a decrease in color intensity or a change from color to black-and-white or the image may become significantly smaller and seem more distant. Traumatic images are typically very close and “right in your face” so you might expect that if the image recedes into the distance, then it will become less emotionally intense. The contents of the memory may remain the same, but how it is perceived changes and this is what matters.

It is the full conscious experience of the transformation of the sub-modalities that leads to resolution and this requires sustained mindfulness. During mindfulness, the details and sub-modalities unfold quite spontaneously under the guidance of satipanna, as the psyche re-processes sensory data into a more stable form. An intense traumatic memory-image is most certainly a very unstable state for the psyche and Psychological Homeostasis will direct the psyche to find a new state that is more energetically stable. The freedom and therapeutic space of mindfulness allows the process of inner re-adjustment and re-processing to occur. Habitual reactivity has the opposite effect and prevents conscious awareness of the sub-modalities and internal structure of the emotion. Without this conscious awareness, nothing can change. Mindfulness Meditation Therapy (MMT) provides a very effective method of treating phobias and post-traumatic stress. The first phase of MMT teaches the client to recognize his habitual patterns of reactivity, which is essential, because nothing can change if it remains hidden from conscious awareness. The next phase of MMT involves forming a relationship with his inner experience of his feelings and associated imagery. Gradually he learns to stop the secondary reactivity that takes him away from the underlying core primary emotions. Mindfulness provides a systematic approach to noticing each and every impulse to react and as the client becomes skilled in this, he will begin to see the reaction before it overtakes him. This allows him a moment of choice that was not previously available when he was unaware of the reactive process.

Through sustained periods of mindfulness contact, the client experiences more and more of the detailed sub-modalities of the inner traumatic imagery. As this experiential detail is made conscious, the imagery will begin to change under the influence of satipanna and the process of Psychological Homeostasis. As the imagery changes, it produces corresponding changes at the feeling level and this can be monitored throughout the mindfulness meditation session. Eventually, the phobia begins to resolve into a more stable and less traumatic state and the associated inner imagery becomes less overwhelming. Over time, the phobia will lose its compulsive strength and no longer produce such intense emotional reactions, but this can only happen after there has been a significant change in the internal representation of the inner experiential imagery that lies at the heart of all phobias and traumatic memories.

Working with traumatic memories and phobias requires care, so that you do not become overwhelmed by the intense emotional reactions that have developed in reaction to the inner imagery. The best way to work with a painful memory, as with any intense emotion, is by slowly approaching the perimeter of the memory-image and carefully monitoring the level of feeling until you are able to experience the feeling without reacting. In this careful approach, which is greatly facilitated by mindfulness, you will be able to find a safe distance in which you can observe the inner traumatic imagery, without being overwhelmed. This approach of repeated controlled exposure is well recognized as an essential part of the treatment of phobias and traumatic memories. This well tested method is called exposure desensitization and resembles allergy desensitriztion, where patients are systematically exposed to low doses of allergen over several weeks. Each time we successfully experience traumatic imagery without reacting, we create a new response pathway in the brain, and through repetition, becomes the default pathway.

Abstract Imagery

Abstract imagery is quite common and often arises when you focus mindfulness on a general emotional state such as anger, fear or anxiety. Often, what you first notice is one or more patches of color, which later take on a particular shape. The shape may have a specific geometric form, such as a sphere or a cube or it may have a completely amorphous shape, like a cloud. Whatever the shape, the meditator will typically feel that this shape is significant and resonates with the inner felst-sense. Intuitively it is right, even if rationally it make no sense at all.

In one example, a person decided to meditate on a feeling of uncontrollable anger that appeared after his partner had said something particularly hurtful. What appeared in his inner experience was an abstract image consisting of a fuzzy orange patch on the left side of his inner visual field. As he continued to focus mindfulness on this abstract imagery, the color blue began to appear around the edges of the orange patch. At the same time, both colors became more intense and sharper and the image changed into a heavy, metallic sphere. With continued mindfulness, he observed the heavy sphere drop to the bottom of his inner visual field, where it rolled around from side to side and each time it rolled it seemed to get smaller. After a while, he was distracted by a seemingly unrelated thought about what to have for dinner. When he returned his attention to the original memory that made him so upset, he noticed to his surprise, that he no longer felt any anger.

In another session of Mindfulness Meditation Therapy, a young man in his late twenties, was experiencing intense anxiety and sadness about an upcoming move, away from his home. When he focused mindfully on the felt-sense of this emotion he noticed a black patch in the middle of his inner visual field. As he continued to invesigate this abstract image, he furthur noticed that there was a yellow layer on the outside of the black patch. After furthur mindful-investigation, he was surprised to notice that now there were two black and yellow patches, but the second one was yellow on the inside and black on the outside. As he continued to focus on the unfolding imagery, yet a third patch appeared; but this, he described, much to his amuzement, as “pink and fuzzy.” When asked what needed to happen next, all three parts spontaneously combined together to form one large patch. The feelings that accompanied this event were of a tremendous upwheling of strength and calm. When he focused his attention back on the thoughts about the upcoming move, he noticed that the anxiety and sadness had become significantly less intense and he felt better able to meet the challenges that lay ahead.

In both cases, the conscious experience of these unique changes in the sub-modalities of experiential imagery had a dramatic effect on the underlying emotions. None of this experiential imagery could have been predicted and no attempt was made to analyze it. What was important was that the clients experienced this unfolding content in the present and not what it all means. The colors and abstract forms arose intuitively and spontaneously as a result of the non-reactive awareness of satisampajanna and the intuitive intelligence of satipanna acting together to direct the sequence of changes that eventually led to the resolution of the emotional complexes. These sessions of experiential transformation can have a profound effect and this can be regarded as the psyche healing itself through the natural language of imagery.

In another session, a client meditated on the inner felt-sense of depression, which he had been struggling with for years. When he focused on the present felt-sense of his depression, the first thing he noticed was a sense of blackness. This is not uncommon, because black has a symbolic association with depression and anxiety, as reflected in our language with statements such as: “He is in a black mood.” After a few minutes of sustained mindfulness, the amorphous black cloud differentiated into a doughnut shape. When he imagined touching this shape, he noticed that it was rubbery, like a car inner tube. After further mindful-investigation to see what needed to happen next, he noticed that the inner tube began to deflate and as the air escaped, the depression lifted. Through the conscious experience of these changes in the structure of his depression, he discovered a way to free the core emotional energy that had become locked up in the mental formation of depression.

This kind of experiential change is often significantly more effective than trying to understand why we feel depressed, anxious or angry, because when we work with experiential imagery, we are working at a much deeper level of the psyche. Thinking about experience is always one step removed from the actual truth of experience; thinking is a reaction and not the direct experience of the emotions. As has been said many times already, it is the truth that liberates, not our efforts to become free from suffering and in the cases described above, the truth refers to the actual experience of the concrete inner language of imagery that forms the inner structure of the emotions. When we can see this structure, in all its detail, we provide the ideal conditions in which emotional suffering can transform and resolve.

Symbolic Imagery

Perhaps the most familiar kinds of symbolic images are those that arise when we are dreaming. Dreams are internal representations of inner psychological processing and like experiential imagery, they arise spontaneously. The emotional meaning of a dream image is encoded both in the symbolic form of the dream and in the sub-modalities, such as color, shape and size. Like any other prominent emotion, dream imagery can be made a primary object for mindfulness meditation. Traditional dream work usually involves the interpretation of the symbolic meaning of dream images in order to shine a light on the underlying psychological process. However, in Mindfulness Meditation Therapy, the emphasis is not so much on the contents as on the process of experiential unfolding of the dream imagery. If you remain mindful and try not to interfere with the dream imagery, it will usually undergo a process of transformation and this can lead to profound changes at the emotional level. This way of working with dreams is called Active Imagination and was originally developed by Carl Jung. Active Imagination is not fantasy or visualization, which are products of the thinking mind, but involves allowing the imagery to unfold in its own way through being mindful of the imagery and the feeling energy (vedana) that accompanies the imagery. As Jung said,

A fantasy is more or less your own invention, and remains on the surface of personal things and conscious expectations. But active imagination, as the term denotes, means that the images have a life of their own and that the symbolic events develop according to their own logic – that is, of course, if your conscious reason does not interfere.

The guiding principle in using Active Imagination is to be mindful of the intuitive feelings associated with the symbolic imagery and allow changes to unfold in a way can be felt internally to be meaningful and right. As always, you let your innate intelligence, or satipanna guide the unfolding process and resist trying to make things change according to preconceptions about what is supposed to happen. Mindfulness helps the process of Active Imagination by allowing us to tune-in to our present experience and discover the specific sub-modalities of the dream imagery that encode feeling. If you dream of a unicorn, it is not the symbol itself that is as important as the intensity of the white color of its coat, the color of its horn and the position of the beast in your inner visual field. These and other sub-modalities give power to the dream image and it is through mindfulness of these details, that experiential unfolding and transformation will occur. It is the attention to these details that makes the imagination active.

Symbolic imagery is not confined to dreams and similar dream-like imagery may arise during mindfulness meditation and particularly during Mindfulness Meditation Therapy where we focus our attention on core emotions. If symboloic imagery arises during meditation, it can be very productive to investigate the imagery, become familiar with the fine details of the structure of the imagery and allow the imagery to change in its own unique way within the field of mindfulness. As always, such imagery will change and eventually disappear, but if we allow it to change under the direction of our intuitive intelligence then that change will be beneficial. If we ignore the imagery or react to it with attraction (lobha), aversion (dosa) or blind belief (moha), then the changes that occur will not be in alignment with satipanna and the opportunity for healing will be lost. As always, mindfulness is the essential factor that allows us to follow the right path.

In one case, a woman complained about feeling completely overwhelmed by too many responsibilities and the continual frustration of things not working out according to expectation. She desperately wanted to find an inner sense of balance and calm to help her cope. During a session of mindfulness therapy she was able to access this inner sense of calm, strength and freedom and it took on the form of a wooden boat with a bright yellow sail. There was something very powerful and very real about the color yellow and the form that it took as a sail. This symbolic imagery provided her with a way of accessing her inner stillness that could not be corrupted by all the demands and frustrations of her life. As she continued to work with this powerful image, she discovered to her amazement that the “frustrations” took the form of small hard billiard balls. When asked what needed to happen next, she imagined taking these balls for a trip in her boat! This gave her the sense of control that she had long been searching for and could not find by simply talking about her problems. The change came about as a result of her direct experience of this inner experiential imagery and allowing the imagery to change under the direction of her innate intelligence. When we maintain a relationship based on mindfulness, the solutions present themselves quite naturally. It is not what we do that matters as much as being fully present and open to discover what needs to happen. This is allowing the psyche to heal itself, rather than trying to fix things through the distorted activities of the ego.

The Path of the Unburdened: Four Reflections to Begin the New Year

I thoroughly recommend you listen to this dharma talk podcast by Ajahn Amaro on 31 December 2023 at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, UK.

The Path of the Unburdened: Four Reflections to Begin the New Year

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