Resting with the surface experience can help it rest but it doesn’t get to the root of how the distress or discomfort is created. Isolating out and resting with each of the components is the next step and goes further. And adding in some inquiry questions can help clarify and release even more. I tend to use the questions sparingly, but they are very helpful.
– from a previous post
I am writing a separate post on this topic this since it is essential to inquiry.
Resting with the surface experience of discomfort can make a big difference when what we are used to is fleeing from it. By surface experience, I mean how the combination of sensations and imaginations making it up appears to us before we differentiate and separate out the different components.
Resting with each component, one at a time, helps clarify and release further. We rest with the sensations. Notice an image or words associated with it, and rest with that image or those words. Rest until they fade on their own, if they do. Then, return to resting with the sensations, wait, and see if any images or words surface. Repeat.
Adding in simple questions can further help with the clarification and release. I can ask if the image I am resting with is a problem or a threat. If it is, then rest with the sensations making it feel that way. If I rest with an image of the future, I can ask if that image is the actual future. I can ask if certain words (the images or sounds) is a threat. And so on. I can also ask
I can also ask mining questions to see what additional images or words are connected with a sensation. If the sensation (body contraction) could speak, what would it say? What does it mean? What’s my earliest memory of feeling that way? What does it need from me?
Each of these three are in themselves very helpful. And the second and third tend to allow for a deeper release.