Introduction to Mindfulness_349810_bookemon_ebook.pdf Coaching and Practising Mindfulness | Page 80

Once we notice an unpleasant feeling, focus as best we can on how we experience it IN THE BODY (versus endlessly thinking about it) . - "breathing with". We use the skills we develop in working with physical discomfort or pain, applying them to emotional discomfort. Keep in mind: Mindfulness is not about getting rid of anything but provides a way to be with IT without struggle, in each moment, as if with a sick (inner) child that needs to be held & reassured. The will still be pain, but more bearable and with less intense suffering. Thoughts: let them float buy or each time label them as "thinking" or give them a name (e.g. "anxious mind", "inner critic"), and go back to the practice (non-attachment helps intentionally disengaging from being carried away by the automatic negative thought stream, "what's wrong with me" etc.). Mindfulness of hearing & thinking (like images projected on a screen at the movies). Jade: "simply staying with [thoughts] might be less frightening and healthier than (spiralling off into) analyzing it". Awareness of emotions by simply sitting- or breathing with meditation. 79