Shinzen has such a clear manner of speaking, he's so helpful. I struggled with intense emotions as a young adult - it was difficult to have equanimity on the front and back end of my emotional experience. I suppressed some uncomfortable emotions and refused to let go of others. The two most effective techniques I learned were to let feelings arise and to let them go. Give them their moment; let your body resonate with them wholly. Be with them. Stay present in the center of your emotion. As you let them pour over you as Shinzen describes, your conscious presence will dissipate the emotion. As I allowed emotions to arise and to pass, the process became shorter and less intense. I could bridge the process and simply accept what was happening. It was the first time I felt freedom! It's difficult to allow suppressed feelings to surface - it takes courage. I clung to anger to suppress sadness. By letting go of anger, I allowed the sadness to arise, and then to pass. Then I didn't need the anger any more! It's like unpacking a messy suitcase - you don't want to look into it, but if you just take out the first thing, fold it, and put it away, the remaining items become more manageable. It really works; trust me.

@axelmont

6 жыл бұрын

I know this comment is 2 years old, but I must say: being on a very similar path on purging supressed emotions and learning how to deal with them in a more liberating way, it's quite motivating and inspiring to read someone that describes the level I aspire to be at in such a natural and authentic manner. I appreciate it!

@goofyboy8419

4 жыл бұрын

My anxiety disorder and depression has been cured by being aware of my sensations and emotions. I stay with them. Every time fear arise I watch the feeling I watch the sensations. My heart palpitate, the muscle in my leg tighten.. I become aware of them without any judgement or aversion. I simply let them be. Although it was difficult when I start it, it not so difficult now. Same with depression- when it engulf me I watch whole my body. How does it feel, what are the sensations in my body. It passes away eventually.

@ecologiesofmindfulness564

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your additional explanation. It helped to read your comments and understand through the written word what I still felt was missing from the recorded explanation. They were both helpful but I think your words made them more understandable to me and relatable. Definitely see how a high regard for equanimity is necessary for letting emotion have their full vent and then just as hard as it came, it seems to just go (Based on how I understand this) this is very helpful.

@squamish4244

Жыл бұрын

My problem is that allowing for complete experience is TOO difficult if I don't manage my medications and energetic problems properly. I have struggled with benzodiazepine dependency in a vicious circle with kundalini syndrome for 15 years, and unless I take some medication, fear can overwhelm me and turn into panic, which simply retraumatizes me. (And I work with doctors and energy healers on this stuff.) So allowing complete experience can be a huge difficulty for me. Ironically, fear is what fuels my kundalini syndrome, yet taking benzos to control it keeps my nervous system weak, which keeps the fear going. A diamond-cutter hard puzzle to solve, this has been.

I know Young goes complex and is a respected authority on this, so i will add an Osho method. Next time you feel anger (or shame or impatience), set a timer and be totally immersed in the emotion. Totally. And try and make it worse. I have not been able to go beyond 30 minutes without eventully returning to calm.

@Raina430

4 жыл бұрын

brothajack1993 Trying to make it worse is a great idea, since I’m using an incredible amount of energy to keep overwhelming fear from getting worse! Hard as it is to sit with adrenaline flooding my body, I’m going to try this.

@MarcusNorton1024

4 жыл бұрын

@@Raina430 The only way today I thought of immersing myself in it is basically tensing up my head (which kind of requires me to hold my breath). I have to imagine you all are focusing more on thoughts though but having a difficulty focusing on thoughts.

@Raina430

4 жыл бұрын

Marcus Norton I focus on sensations.

@yummypasta92

3 жыл бұрын

It's counterintuitive but it makes sense. My panic gets worse if I try to make it better or try to avoid it, because I'm fearing the fear itself. If you try to make it worse, you're not fearing it, you're welcoming it. Just a change in attitude can totally change the relationship with what is arising.

@Raina430

2 жыл бұрын

@@yummypasta92 Thank you. I’m able to do this at times. I’m going to try to use this technique more.

The big six negative emotions listed at 3:20 are anger, fear, sadness, embarrassment, impatience, and disgust.

I am glad Shinzen is uploading new videos.

When teachers like Shinzen describe their 'struggles', I get the urge to roll my eyes. They have worked hard to be sure, but most of them, Shinzen included, had powerful enlightenment experiences after a few years of practice (four years, in Shinzen's case, and it happened when he was about 30) that took away a lot of their deep fears and doubts and filled them with a strong faith to continue practicing. Meanwhile the rest of us, the other 95%, have been busting our asses for many years without any breakthrough. Like, come on, Shinzen. That's called 'success bias'. He's less prone to it than others, like Adyashanti or Tolle, but he still very much has it.

Such an honest, revealing, and helpful video. Thank you, Shinzen!

Amazing. In 12 minutes, Shinzen Young describes a way to reduce and even neutralize suffering. I've listened to his tapes for hundreds of hours, so I don't think I would have recognized this before that. I think it would have sounded very abstract. But I learned the details of this practice from listening to the taped ( now available on cd) lectures of Shinzen Young. THANK YOU FOR POSTING.

Kinda puts a new perspective on the phrase “be afraid, be very afraid”

@Raina430

4 жыл бұрын

LOL, very true!

Thank you, very helpful! 👏

I have a fragile faith in the Dharma due to the endless doubting provoked by my OCD, which was super-powered by a terrifying psychedelic experience, and so it can be very hard for me to stay with fear all the way through. And I also developed a dependency on benzodiazepines a year later, which mangled my biochemistry. I've had more panic attacks than I can count. I've been hospitalized briefly several times with extreme anxiety and despair. So far, my life is still hounded and controlled by fear to such an extent that it destroyed my career, relationship, everything. The toll on my family was huge. Now 16 years later I am still suffering, nothing major has shifted, but I keep working on the fear and staying with it. It hasn't distilled into its essence yet.

@brettmiller5443

Жыл бұрын

The same thing happened to me 22 years ago, my wife and a friend. It has been 22 years for us and we still grapple with it. I have had panic attacks since age 11. All the way, full dissociation, total. It always feels *totally* difficult and alien. For me Therevada works well, but I have not always kept Sila-Vissudhi, and Restlessness is always near. I take my meds for Bipolar and sparingly if necessary...B3nzodiazipines, prn by my clinician. I've been meditating for 16 years formally, but not always ardently. If it weren't for the training from my teachers, more would be hurt by my rascality and delusion and i would have been dead by suicide. The dhamma when used properly doesn't cause fear. It's good in the beginning, good in the middle, and especially good in the end. Goodwill to you my friend and we are fortunate to be alive. Yours in Metta

@squamish4244

Жыл бұрын

@@brettmiller5443 It's such a relief to hear someone else who's had the same experiences! It's hard to find on here. I think Shinzen is so technical that he brings out the specific aspects of people's experiences in the comment section, whereas the popular neo-Advaita teachers like Adyashanti do not. (And I like Adya, but he and others like him have a very low success rate.) I have received tremendous benefit from energy healers for my psychic knots and kundalini syndrome (which is a result of psychic knots). Without them, and the Dharma, I would also have ended it a long time ago, probably by abusing drugs so hard that I would have stopped breathing during sleep. I actually won a judgement against the doctor who addicted me to benzos and then totally fucked up my treatment because he was lazy and incompetent. Every other doctor in my province learned what he had done in their newsletter. The awareness of the dangers of narcotics has finally sunk in, although now they overreact and are too stingy with meds. God forbid you run out a day early - nope, no meds for you. Although if they'd had this attitude 15 years ago, they would have caught my addiction very early on. I also have a brainwave entrainment device that I use to meditate much longer than I could otherwise, and do neurofeedback. I'm excited about Shinzen's project involving ultrasonic stimulation of the basal ganglia to induce what he called "the deepest state of mental quiet I have ever experienced".

@brettmiller5443

Жыл бұрын

@valar One thing I have attempted to keep close over the years, is practicing gratitude. Toward my teachers, my medical clinicians...both psychological and physiological. Regardless of how skillful. I understand that the education of my own body and mind is tantamount to the responsible selection of those individuals in my care. They have made mistakes as have I. Yet I would not seek vengeance against someone who fell to weakness. I have been handled roughly in mental institutions but letting go of anger (dosa...along with the rest) helps keep *me* happy. My loved ones say it helps in the times I succeed at practicing this consistently. When I project and identify as a victim, they suffer and so does my life.

@squamish4244

Жыл бұрын

@@brettmiller5443 I practice forgiveness too, but there's compassion, and there's 'idiot compassion' as the Buddhists say, where someone doesn't learn anything because you are too nice. When a professional messes up this badly, you have to hold them accountable. And he really was appalling. It turned out he wasn't even signing his own prescription forms, his nurse was, so he had no idea what I was taking. That's almost malpractice. For 300k a year and three months' vacation. And other mistakes I needn't go into. Part of the reason I did it is so that he would learn what he did wrong, and so that other doctors would learn it too, so they wouldn't make the same mistake with others. My other healers have made mistakes, my parents made mistakes when this started etc. I've managed to practice forgiveness for them. What makes it so much harder is the sheer endurance of the existential dread. I hear inspiring stories from people for whom the dread has lifted, but I'm not one of them. I sabotaged myself just this summer because things were going fairly well, and my mind couldn't have that! So it looked for a reason to be in a state of terror again, I found some triggering content and WHAM! I was back in the shit. I've had some success with ketamine treatments in the last five months. They seem to be able to dislodge the blockages in my mind and have led to massive full-body energetic releases as decades of stored trauma is released in hours of flopping around and shaking. Someone I've been talking to said that they did 5 meo DMT and a huge amount of dread lifted from their shoulders. I was paranoid about psychedelics for many years, but maybe they can solve the same problem they created.

This one is excellent...

To be fair Shinzen does communicate with people in prison and dying people so his dharma talks in KZread are not his only kind of communication. He would understand the statement - "circumstances don't matter - only my state of being matters. What state of being do I prefer?"

Good stuff this is how you change your vibration and frequenty

Thank you ! I don’t understand the statement that aging is a natural state of no self! In my experience peoples egos often get a lot worse as they age. 😊

@squamish4244

Жыл бұрын

Yeah life experiences weigh on people and grind them down. Or balloon their egos. They become bitter, angry, resentful. And their minds become less agile. The nicest people I know tend to be young people! (Speaking very generally, but even so.) Theoretically aging is a natural state of no-self, but ironically the best people to comprehend that are those who've already put in a bunch of work and had major realizations before they get old.

It sounds like the experience of the first four jhanas in some respects, as well as the similarity to sexual experience in some regards, if one pays attention to the body with mindfulness throughout. After a number of years "suffering" from panic attacks I decided to start "standing my ground". Eventually the mind learned to drop into equanimity at the peak (climax) of the anxiety attack.

@squamish4244

Жыл бұрын

Interesting. I have panic disorder and have had hundreds of panic attacks. My brain chemistry is all out of whack from benzo abuse and kundalini syndrome. I do get medical treatment for these issues. I have the ingrained habit of 'talking myself down' internally from panic - I don't know if I've ever ridden out a panic attack by standing my ground all the way through. The last time I tried the terror became so extreme I had to go to the hospital. But I'd also stupidly allowed myself to run out of medication.

@brettmiller5443

Жыл бұрын

@Valar: I have had lung Cancer (Spindle Cell Sarcoma [2011]) Renal Cell Carcinoma [2014] Kidney disease stage 2.9/4 (Right now, stable). OCD, and Bipolar I, Severe, with Psychotoc features. I have taken my meds for 20 years most every night. @Valar: Life is a Beautiful Challenge. You need Love. You got it dude!❤️

YES! New videos... :DDD

@Shinzen Videos - as long as you define some thing as "hard" it will be so. Your tenacity is significant in your own history and by the way each and every moment of your own history - when there was suffering, when there was not, was rich in its own experience. Do you define the moments of suffering as hard? What if, instead of calling an experience, whatever its duration "hard" you simply reminded your listeners that suffering means opportunity to explore more of the unknown? That suffering is a "gateway to the only real adventure" which is exploration of the unknown? Transforming a negative emotion into adventurous exploration while completely immersing oneself in that emotion rather redefines a particular kind of experience. I don't expect you to jump up and down in joy so that you can transmit your experience to others. I do want you to watch your definitions and understand that even something like unmitigated rage actually can be compassion filtered through negative definitions. The essence of that rage may surprise someone courageous enough to want to allow the flow of (inevitable) change to carry them to where they are going anyway. In my 6th decade I am virtually an infant in discovering more of myself. Great talk. I don't like "try". I don't like "hard". I do want to "know", really know what lies beneath or at the center or what is hidden whilst in a tantrum. You have probably witnessed the truth of all things and you are "fortunately" in a position to explain it to others. No circumstance is unfortunate. All circumstances are neutral. We bring our definitions to each and every circumstance. I clean up after about 700 people on my block not because I'm good but because no one else will do it and I am not paid to do this. Is the last 25 years living in Hotel Hell in the Hollywood ghetto the most disgusting and horrifying quarter century of my life? Is the last 25 years a very efficient training experience in "achieving" no self? Mopping up the vomit, lucky me...scooping up the human feces cuz street people got nowhere to poop, oh lucky me...definitions. And yes I cry a lot.

very glad indeed :D !!!

Finally someone not Woowoo or sales based.

there's something about the mix down on the volume that's piercing in my headphones. not sure if it's the mids. thanks for these videos

Does anyone know where he talks about aging's affect on ones ability to make progress towards enlightenment, as he mentions here?

Should a beginner do try this? Do you need stream entry? What if the fear makes you dissociate?

Can someone explain what it means to let fear for to essence. I think he skipped over that one.

So does this mean to sit with the feeling no matter how intense it gets?

Yep stepping back or you could just give it some loving kindness or laughter, silly me, LOL

I still don't understand what the actual process is to deal with intense emotions when they arise? Must I simply observe the sensation in equanimity?

@flexnetuser2268

7 жыл бұрын

ॐ Jordan Gould Dear Jordan, I don't know if you still have this question, but I've always had it too. You might try reading this. shinzen.org/Articles/artPain.pdf I'll try to say it simply. I take the attention that's normally in my mind or outside experiences, and focus it on my body sensations with all the concentration I can muster, while trying to relax. Usually I do this lying down, as I don't have a lot of energy. I go wherever I feel the most sensation, or even just feel everything. Normally as soon as I start doing this it feels bad. As I focus on these bad sensations they get even worse! But I keep relaxing and focusing trying to feel each little icky thing. Sometimes it becomes like a burning mass. I keep doing this letting all sorts of bad sensations, (or good ones), pop up. I think this is the whole field of sensations one normally suppresses, as humans don't like pain. But if I do this long enough, eventually the discomfort begins to dissolve, and I feel better and more grounded. Not only that, but often some insight comes to me. Vioassana means insight. I think we normally tighten up in resistance to the pain of life. But this can cause us to get into a habit of doing all sorts of stuff to avoid feeling our body. Yet our body is a field of information, and it's a great idea for us to be in it rather than disconnected into our heads or the world. So this teaches our nervous system to stop escaping, and to stay grounded. The body is amazing. To be in the flow we need to allow energy to flow through the body. Shinzen gives so many examples and details of this in those talks I mentioned. Good luck. And many thanks to Shinzen Young!! Long ago, I purchased some of his taped lectures that he did maybe 25 years ago. Now they're sold as CD's, so you can still get them. Some used to be on KZread, but they're gone now. To me they were brilliantly crafted and incredibly precise. They saved my life.

@ceeIoc

4 жыл бұрын

terefe feyssa what’s equanimity?

I feel like I'm missing something because I'm having trouble following

@Shinzen Videos - defining something as "hard" makes it so. I was born in Echo Park in 1953. Kids these days, in case you haven't noticed, are accelerated exponentially ("evolution") so why not tell them that it may not be hard? See? Definitions=knowing=experience.

@markbrad123

6 жыл бұрын

If you call it easy but it still feels like a solid rock of emotion what then ?

@dennismason3740

6 жыл бұрын

p.s. - no self, no problem - you will understand sooner or later.

@dennismason3740

6 жыл бұрын

p.p.s. - so there is no confusion I will define "poor" person as a person without the material resources the most people with internet access take for granted, from garbage eaters (I ate from trash receptacles for years) to working class folk without medical insurance. I have known a (very) few "street" people who I would and could not honestly call "homeless" because they were (are) happy and live from the heart and that is a kind of home without walls. Shinzen would benefit from talking to street people because that is not beyond his talents.

@markbrad123

6 жыл бұрын

Sorry if I confused your mind. I take your point self contrived emotional pain comes from the mental fabrication of the reactive mind. However although originating in fabricated measure once an emotional pain become actual it cant simply be reversed by redefining what you call it. To ease the pain would take a depth of watching. Often people can be impatient and think they can simply just issue an order to get rid without opening up the 'bonnet' and watching, staying and letting go, otherwise you may just create a compulsive iterative turmoil. Of course if you didn't let the thought weather fool you in the first place such no brainers would just pass in emptiness easily.

🙏💕

@Shinzen Videos - If I may a little story. You are intrigued by a commentor (apparently in need of intelligent dialogue) describing street people in a way that you had never considered. You decide to test this odd bit of information in an easily accessible real-life situation and you slowly and calmly approach the loudest dirtiest scariest street corner raver downtown. The Raver has been singing "96 Tears" by the Mysterians at the top of her lungs. She turns her wild eyes in your direction and you are, palms up, holding a "Hello Kitty" metal lunchpail. She stops singing and goes quiet. Standing a respectful distance away staring into her big brown eyes you say "May I offer you a masterfly prepared vegan lunch, dear one?" and she says "why, yes, that sounds utterly delightful" and you are taken aback by her melodious articulation and you say, "Vermont?" and she says "Smuggler's Notch, Stowe...as one might guess I'm not much of what you call a "people person'" so I built a little cabin and grew potatoes...can you imagine living on potatoes on a mountain?" and you say "as a matter of fact I lived on the side of Mount Yari for a bit except that we ate tasty rice - the bastards let us have a bit of soy sauce - not for long though yeah, I CAN imagine...as a matter of fact I would bet you a pack of American Spirit Organics that if the potato salad in this fine "Hello Kitty" lunchpail is not the best you have ever tasted, well..." "Sounds like a pik-i-nik to me, BooBoo" in a Yogi Bear impersonation that is so spot on you are stunned that a woman could even achieve that pitch with such liquidity. "Sit and gimme!" she squeals and promptly sprints to a tiny triangular patch of grass with a sapllng in the middle aft er brushing away dry dog feces with an empty Doritos packet lying on the sidewalk. "litter" she twitters "I could spit" and she does and she aplogizes to the tree for all of the litter and the tree, flittering in the breeze replies. She nods and gestures for you to sit. "if you are a human with a cowardly soul you will go away now. If you are just as real as real can get..." and you both break into "What You See is What You Get" and you pass the luchpail to her like the treasure that it is. She by the way is seated in a perfect full lotus....to be continued. The Dramatics wrote and recorded that last bit. This is beginning to sound like a Zen Love Story any zen writers out there are welcome to jump in as it narrates itself. Keep in mind that this is the "craziest witch" that the monk could find.

I know Shinzen Young has highly valuable points and information to feed, but i can't get myself to watch this video because he lacks the conviction and determination behind his voice whilst story telling and providing information. From aforementioned problem of uncertainty behind his voice, actions and words has definitely made it increasingly more difficult for me to watch the video whilst maintaining an understanding and appreciation of his points. I understand he's a kindhearted person and his voice definitely reflects it, however it is essential for me to have a speaker that has a instinctual drive and power behind his words for me to appreciate what he has to say. Just a slight recommendation, but nonetheless i love your vibes and points upon further analysis. :)

@karakovaexperience4109

5 жыл бұрын

ScrubNation and less “ums” would help me listen and absorb what he’s trying to say..

@goofyboy8419

4 жыл бұрын

I agree with your point.

@ceeIoc

4 жыл бұрын

You must hate Tolle lol

@johnpienta4200

2 жыл бұрын

Don't throw away a perfectly good map to enlightenment because you don't like the font 😉

@freddelameilleure2969

2 жыл бұрын

Tolle is superficial in his teachings when you hear this.

Why should I do this?

@flexnetuser2268

7 жыл бұрын

D34tho One answer is, this is very helpful if you're suffering, and nothing you can do makes it better. It's very handy because it works for physical or emotional suffering. 😍

@TheJustbristol27

5 жыл бұрын

Because your feelings and emotions are important to you and the progression of your life.

De thong yermey....Got it