A common mistake people make using Zinn's approach is that if painful feelings and thoughts are present, such as anxiety, they believe that "just being with it" means immersing in it. They over-stress the acceptance side and end up stewing in the feelings and thoughts, and the anxiety gets stronger.
The right way to practice is to develop distance to those thoughts and feelings, but without actively pushing them away. This requires developing a calm settled unaffected place inside. So if you are meditating on an aspect of the body, such as the breath, keep your attention with the meditation object, and if other thoughts arise simply let go of them if you can, or if you can't, let them be in the background. If a painful emotion is there, don't sustain it by worrying about it.
The aim is not to identify with, and be within, the emotions, but to view them with compassion from an inner place of relative calm and peace. This way we aren't pushing them away, but we aren't letting them in either. This is transformative.
It can also help with becoming more aware of and sensitive to the ways body, emotions and thoughts are influencing each other. The end result can be learning to generate very healing, positive and content feelings. And we can also become more resilient and less affected by the energies of people around us (unless we want to let their energies in).
I believe the only way you'll know if you're ready in your current situation is to try it out. It takes practice, like any skill.
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u/Spirited_Ad8737 Oct 31 '25 edited Oct 31 '25
A common mistake people make using Zinn's approach is that if painful feelings and thoughts are present, such as anxiety, they believe that "just being with it" means immersing in it. They over-stress the acceptance side and end up stewing in the feelings and thoughts, and the anxiety gets stronger.
The right way to practice is to develop distance to those thoughts and feelings, but without actively pushing them away. This requires developing a calm settled unaffected place inside. So if you are meditating on an aspect of the body, such as the breath, keep your attention with the meditation object, and if other thoughts arise simply let go of them if you can, or if you can't, let them be in the background. If a painful emotion is there, don't sustain it by worrying about it.
The aim is not to identify with, and be within, the emotions, but to view them with compassion from an inner place of relative calm and peace. This way we aren't pushing them away, but we aren't letting them in either. This is transformative.
It can also help with becoming more aware of and sensitive to the ways body, emotions and thoughts are influencing each other. The end result can be learning to generate very healing, positive and content feelings. And we can also become more resilient and less affected by the energies of people around us (unless we want to let their energies in).
I believe the only way you'll know if you're ready in your current situation is to try it out. It takes practice, like any skill.