Trudy Goodman – BHNN Guest Podcast – Ep. 90 – Working With Thoughts, A Guided Practice

Trudy Goodman returns to share a resonant guided meditation practice on working with thoughts using mind, body, awareness, & imagination.

Trudy Goodman, Ph.D, is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA. She also teaches residential retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA, Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center, and Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, among others. Learn more at TrudyGoodman.com.

This talk from Trudy Goodman was originally published on DharmaSeed.org

Working With Thoughts, A Guided Practice

In this Dharma session from Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Fall Insight Meditation Retreat on 10/24/2016, Trudy Goodman leads a guided practice around working with thoughts. Welcoming participants into contemplation and meditation on the mindful awareness of the arising and passing of thoughts, Trudy offers freeing insight and imagery into the nature of mind and consciousness.

“It’s powerful and freeing to see how thinking happens in the mind, to observe the mind-stream of inner-thought, to sit by the banks of the stream of consciousness, aware of what’s happening without being identified and caught up in it.” – Trudy Goodman

Joseph Goldstein shares a Dharma talk around working with thoughts, on Ep. 84 of the Insight Hour

Cookie Jar of Mindfulness // Imagination, Mind & Body (11:08)

Reflecting on ‘dharma play’—using playful imagination techniques to open to more mindfulness—Trudy shares her imaginal ‘cookie jar’ method, where she imagines various categorized cookie jars to place her thoughts into. From here, she explores how to overcome compelling thoughts returning to the mind by mindfully attending to bodily sensations, underlying emotions, and the delightfulness of breath.

“Bringing attention to the body helps to disengage from the story. We might feel tightness in the chest, or pulsing or buzzing in the head, tension in the eyes or the face. Just sensing and attending to the physical sensations helps us see the connection between the mind and the body, and it also helps to disentangle from the momentum of a thought-storm.” – Trudy Goodman

Trudy and Jack uncover how to quiet our minds and steady our hearts in modern times, on Ep. 117 of Heart Wisdom

Fear, Acknowledgment, & Breath (18:01)

After offering perspectives for applying attention to feeling and thinking, Trudy shares tips for how to skillfully bow-to and acknowledge disturbing or fearful thoughts with mindfulness and love. To close, there is silent meditation before swift reflection.

“A skillful way to work with what’s arising is to acknowledge, offer a bow, ‘Oh, this. Here it is.’ Touching with mindfulness, and then letting go.” – Trudy Goodman

For Trudy Goodman on thoughts and the preciousness of life, tune to Ep. 68 of the BHNN Guest Podcast

      

Art via Jorm S