The Mindfulness Code by Donald Altman

Author:Donald Altman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781577318934
Publisher: New World Library

Close your eyes for a moment and visualize your craving. Whatever it may be, picture it being located in a gourd like the one that traps monkeys. Now extend your arm and squeeze your hand through the gourd’s narrow hole. Let your hand grab and literally clench your craving. However tightly you are holding it, clench it tighter! Keep holding on to it, even if your hand starts feeling fatigued. Observe that this is how it feels to clench and hold on to craving. Feel how painful it is to hold on like this. Let yourself experience how craving is constricting and harming your life in the moment.

Now give yourself permission to let go of your craving by relaxing your hand. Spend at least one minute slowly releasing craving. You might say to yourself, “In this moment, I can relax my mind, relax my grasping, relax my hand, and relax my craving.” Slowly release your clenched fist. Feel how the blood returns to your hand. Move your fingers and notice how your hand has freedom of movement again. Observe the pleasant sensation that comes from letting go. Now slowly pull back your arm, remove your hand from the monkey trap, and leave your craving behind for the moment.

At this time, expand your awareness beyond the craving to the space all around you. You can expand the mindful view by paying attention to the moment-by-moment feelings in your body, taking slow, conscious breaths, noticing the different colors in the room, listening to all the sounds around you, or noticing what aromas are present. Observe how the craving can still be present in the gourd, but you do not have to reach inside to grab it. You can be centered and grounded in a mindful view. Also, remember that craving can be the impulse to push something away. Those struggling with anorexia, social anxiety, or fear suffer from a craving in the form of avoidance. These experiences can also be imagined in the gourd. Regardless of how large or small the craving, you can use this meditation to physically observe what it feels like to let go of craving.

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