09/01/2026
Here's what I do: I get quiet for a moment and bring my attention to something that feels uncomfortable or unwanted. I generally start with a physical sensation, like noticing that I feel too hot or that I feel tired or sore. I find a place in my body that feels that sensation really strongly – like under my arms when I’m hot or behind my eyes when I feel tired – and I let myself fully feel it, for just a moment.
Then I start to bring my attention slowly outward, scanning the rest of my body until I can find a spot (at least one) where that sensation ISN’T present, or at least not as strongly. I might notice that my shins actually don’t feel hot or that my hands don’t feel tired. Maybe I started with the feeling of, “I am so sore,” but my mouth and my ears and my chest don’t feel sore.
Sometimes I have to really work at it to find where the sensations are different, and sometimes it’s easy and obvious.
After I’d practiced doing this with physical sensations for a while, I started to add in emotional experiences (which are really just physical sensations too).
I start out the practice with whatever I’d been telling myself, like “I’m so anxious right now.” And then I slowly scan around my body to see if I can find anywhere where there are sensations other than the energy of anxiety. Again, sometimes that's easy, and other times all I can come up with is my baby toe.
But that baby toe is something!
Here’s what we are training in when we do this practice…
First, we get good at recognizing that when we describe our experience, we’re telling a story.
We’re so used to describing one aspect of our experience as our whole experience.
I am… depressed, hopeless, stressed, lost, anxious, not good enough, behind, incapable…
Our mind hears us describing ourselves that way – making our entire essence about one aspect of how we are feeling.
That’s not to say that this feeling isn’t big or hard or doesn’t seem like it overrides everything else. But the reality is that there is almost always more to the story.
This practice helps us train in zooming out and scanning for what doesn’t conform to our habitual way of thinking.
It primes us to start questioning our first thought and to look for alternative experiences. In that way, it trains us for curiosity rather than certainty.
It trains us to find space around the painful parts.
The beauty of this practice and learning to finding space around the painful parts is this:
The pain doesn't have to go away (because often it won't). But when we practice looking for the rest of our experience, the pain no longer has to become the entire landscape. It can remain painful without becoming the whole picture.
The discomfort’s there. But so are my feet on the ground, the breath in my lungs, and a thousand other truths waiting to be noticed.
