The Happy Wanderer

Andreas Thef, modified 7 Years ago at 12/1/16 7:55 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 12/1/16 7:55 AM

The Happy Wanderer

Posts: 152 Join Date: 2/11/13 Recent Posts
I just stubled  upon this conversation between Shinzen Young and Har-Prakash Khalsa, who sees to be one of his students. And although I am familiar with Shinzen's meditation technique and terminology I'm not really sure how the reframing of the wandering mind talked about here would look like in practice. Can anyone explain what exactly he might be talking about?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCtjOgXsOuo
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Tarver , modified 7 Years ago at 12/1/16 10:34 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 12/1/16 10:34 AM

RE: The Happy Wanderer

Posts: 262 Join Date: 2/3/10 Recent Posts
Har-Prakash is not only one of Shinzen's students, but he is also a senior facilitator and the principal curator of Shinzen's videos.
My impression of what they are talking about is that "wandering mind" distraction comes typically in the form of See In and Hear In, which are obvious, but also Feel In, which is less obvious. That is the "cheer", or happy aspect, the pleasant tone of the wandering thought, the emotional quality of it being interesting. The idea that Har-Prakash and Shinzen are discussing is to use that "cheer" (Feel In) as the vector along which to recycle the reaction. What that would look like in practice would vary depending on focus range and technique (which are not discussed in the video), but could be as simple as noting "Feel" (i.e., Feel In) to label the pleasure of becoming distracted, and thus not actually becoming distracted.
Andreas Thef, modified 7 Years ago at 12/2/16 2:21 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 12/2/16 2:21 AM

RE: The Happy Wanderer

Posts: 152 Join Date: 2/11/13 Recent Posts
Thanks, Tarver, for clearing that up. I tried it yesterday. And althoug the wandering mind is no major obstacle for me at the moment, I found a little bit of frustration when I got aware of it. The happiness still is not obvious to me but I will keep trying. Thanks.