5 Things I Learn from Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young (photo link)

 I’ve been listening to Shinzen Young’s meditation instructions this week on Insight Timer.  He provides a kind of meditation primer in a series of 10-minute sessions.  Here are some things I picked up from him. Some "take aways": 

1. You can train yourself to feel positive emotions.  You can try using a mantra (I can do this!), you can imagine yourself in a place you love, you can make your body feel positive emotions (joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration, awe, love) and concentrate on that feeling.
2. When you're "noticing" you can noticing sounds and feelings in your body/relaxation.  Both are about "directing attention."  First, focus on something (limit your attention), then spend time experiencing it.
3. In labeling meditation, you say "feel" for the times when you are experiencing it, rather than "resting."  You can also pay attention to "talk space" (around your ears) to listen for thoughts/ words that come to you as chatter.  He says "enjoy the resting when you feel it."  
4. He says we should watch thoughts (the mental screen) in a distracted way, like we would watch a parade.  We can label anything - thoughts, emotions, sensations.  He calls emotions "emotional sensations."  The goal is to build "emotional resilience."
   
5. Your practice can affect your day.  Young ends meditations with things like "may your practice affect your actions, interactions, decisions.

He says we should "enjoy the sound of the bell," and "enjoy a restful state."  I wrote about that concept earlier.

The names of his sessions are "training positivity," "physical sensations," "thoughts and emotions," "noticing I and II," "labeling 1 & 2"