Q2-19840920-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-buddhas_ancient_med_path_a_modern_challenge_part_ii-1515 Leandra Tej

Talk: 19840920-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-buddhas_ancient_med_path_a_modern_challenge_part_ii-1515 Leandra Tejedor Start_time: 01:17:25 Display_question: How do we work with difficult emotions that may arise in meditation? Keyword_search: awareness, anger, insight meditation, Feldenkrais, psychotherapy, yoga, tai chi Question_content: Questioner: Is there a mode of processing information in insight meditation? Larry: The mode is the… awareness. That is, the awareness is located between… let's say, direct expression, let's say, when you're sitting, and suppression. Let's say… anger comes up. I hope this is answering the question. Anger comes up. One common option would be you get angry, and you start screaming at somebody, or hitting them, or just get lost in angry thoughts. The other option, we repress it. Oop, a good person is not supposed to be angry. Squeeze it down. The approach taken in insight meditation is the word, in a sense, is a giveaway. It's seeing into… it's penetrating into the phenomena of life. And so what we would do is, we would allow the anger to be there, just as if you were, let's say, a naturalist studying a plant life, or studying a cloud formation. You allow the anger to be there, and you bring total attention to it. In other words, as you you feel it, you listen to it. Break_line: Now, what can be neglected, by a tremendous emphasis on this, is catharsis, that's not emphasized. And some people, in my experience, you see as we go on, they just need it. Maybe the Oriental people didn't, but many of us have so much chaos, that if you try to just have this very serene, meditative approach, it's premature. And the person may have to do some kicking, and screaming, and yelling, and Feldenkrais. And what is that…Ralphing? Whatever it takes. And psychotherapy, until the person settles down, so that the anger isn't so out of control, that they can listen to it. Because many people that I work with are very intelligent, and hear the instructions that say, can you just watch it? Can you just hear the anger? And they understand that, but they can't do it, because it's got such a powerful charge. So very often, lots of people that I work with, are also in psychotherapy. And with the right therapist, that can be quite helpful, or doing other things like yoga, and tai chi, and massage, I think it's all potentially very useful, and can be worked together. End_time: 01:19:55