Zen approaches for practice methods when your amygdala kicks in for some reason...

[Douglas]

One of the things I've noticed more since sitting is that I notice those situations where the amygdala starts asserting itself due to some perceived situation you don't like (future). My approach is usually just to watch it, and it seems like this is the right approach. But are there writings or recommendations for specific ways to observe it (this might be the wrong way of phrasing it)?

Gassho,
SAT/LAH
Doug

[Jundo]

Hi Doug,

Do you mean like a sudden panic or worry, or a fight or flight response?

Others may have some tips but, I would say, just breathe, observe, let it pass. Don't buy what it is selling and, like a storm, it is bound to pass. Reach inside and recall what a feeling of "peace and equanimity" feels like, as we taste in Zazen. Summon up that feeling from memory, and focus on it. If needed, focus on the breath, or even a mantra of your choosing, until the feeling calms down.

Other things to do are just common sense and grandma's advice: For example, get moving and doing something else, especially something in nature or something distracting you enjoy, and move your attention to that.

I would say ALL our Zen writings are about this in some way.

Gassho, Jundo
stlah

[Ic90]

I’ve dealt with this in my own practice, and while I don’t believe that there is a “right” or “wrong” way to observe the arising, occurring, and cessation of these things, I know how it feels to stress about whether or not I’m doing it “right”.

What has worked for me is to, as Jundo said, move my focus as best as I can to the present moment. For me, the breath works best. I will count my breaths and attempt to let go of any other thoughts without fighting or avoiding them. In time, this tends to calm me enough that the proverbial storm passes and I return to present moment awareness.

Another thing that has worked for me when I’m troubled by panic or anger or other amygdala antics is to silently recite the Heart Sutra and keep my focus on the words as best I can. Anything can work here, you don’t need to use the Heart Sutra specifically. Just chanting something in your head and letting the words and phrases wash over you can shift your focus pretty quickly, I’ve found.

Hopefully this is helpful!

Gassho.
Sat/lah
Ian

[DanielxSwish]

It sounds like you are having some emotions come up due to a perceived situation in your mind. If that is the case, I can relate. This has come up a lot for me when really working with the fist precept, non-killing. Dogen says life is non-killing. So how do we nurture life?

Some things that came up while working this precept and reading about it is that to nurture life, for me, I must be fully myself in each moment. I cannot push the things I don’t like away. With emotions like fear, anger, greed, love, hate, lust, happiness… all of them, I practice welcoming them. If necessary, I sit with it and fully experience it. Become one with it. We are human. There is nothing wrong with these emotions or us.

Fully experiencing the feeling/emotion also helps me stop thinking about what is creating it and brings me back fully into the moment.

Gassho,
satlah
Daniel

[Koushi]

Hi Doug,

Most folks don't notice or question the machinery, so to speak, rather getting dragged around—so you've already done the hard part.

I've worn this groove myself most of my life though, so I'd like to gently note that "watching/observing" can become its own little job. The mind/our brain loves a project. If you give it an instruction to begin watching the worry, fear, etc., you run the risk of watching yourself watching fear—and somewhere in there grading the job being done.

In shikantaza we really don't have a "technique" for observing thoughts. A thought arises, or a truck drives by outside, or the cicada's shrill song hits your ears. These things come, it's known, and we continue sitting. They aren't things to be observed—merely things being the scenery, too, just like you.

Off the cushion, (and on, but especially off), I'm reminded of Uchiyama Roshi writing;

Thoughts are secretions of the brain, which is of course also a part of our life. To see that these secretions are nothing other than secretions is kan—insight. Usually, we act basing our actions on those thoughts. We live, so to speak, for the sake of these secretions of the brain.

Uchiyama, Deepest Practice, Deepest Wisdom pg. 34

When the surge comes up about some imagined future, or a fear, or a worry, or panic strikes—I'd say there's no "method" needed, but more of a return. Feet on the floor, air in your lungs, a focus on living. Some things do require deliberation, problems do need to be figured out and planned for, actions being taken—but sometimes, a lot of time, worry is just worry. The future your amygdala is guarding against exists in one place: a thought, a brain secretion, electrical signals in your brain causing physical experiences.

If you hold it, hold it loosely, and let it go while you get back to sitting, living, doing.

Gassho,
Koushi
STLaH

[Chikyou]

Everyone gave great advice so far. One thing I’ll add that really helped me is accepting that this just happens sometimes (and sometimes more than I’d like!) and that it doesn’t mean zazen was bad, or that I failed. That it’s perfectly fine sometimes for it to be like that, in fact it will be, and to not get caught up in the idea that I “wasn’t doing it right”. Just letting it go and beginning again next time.

Gassho,
SatLah,
Chikyō

[Douglas]

Hi Doug,

Do you mean like a sudden panic or worry, or a fight or flight response?

Others may have some tips but, I would say, just breathe, observe, let it pass. Don't buy what it is selling and, like a storm, it is bound to pass. Reach inside and recall what a feeling of "peace and equanimity" feels like, as we taste in Zazen. Summon up that feeling from memory, and focus on it. If needed, focus on the breath, or even a mantra of your choosing, until the feeling calms down.

Other things to do are just common sense and grandma's advice: For example, get moving and doing something else, especially something in nature or something distracting you enjoy, and move your attention to that.

I would say ALL our Zen writings are about this in some way.

Gassho, Jundo
stlah

Hi Judo, not nearly as bad any of that. It's just that I notice even the small "pulls" in that direction. Especially since I started practice. For instance, the other day somebody who I managed at work made a mistake, and I found myself dreading having to explain to our customer an error was made. As I watched it, what it felt like, I tried to see where this irrational fear was coming from (who knows how the customer would react!). It occurred to me this was coming from deep in my brain somewhere.

I also recalled how I felt a couple of years ago after getting laid off and how that felt as well, thinking of the similarities.

Gassho, Doug
SAT/LAH

[Douglas]

Hi Doug,

Most folks don't notice or question the machinery, so to speak, rather getting dragged around—so you've already done the hard part.

I've worn this groove myself most of my life though, so I'd like to gently note that "watching/observing" can become its own little job. The mind/our brain loves a project. If you give it an instruction to begin watching the worry, fear, etc., you run the risk of watching yourself watching fear—and somewhere in there grading the job being done.

In shikantaza we really don't have a "technique" for observing thoughts. A thought arises, or a truck drives by outside, or the cicada's shrill song hits your ears. These things come, it's known, and we continue sitting. They aren't things to be observed—merely things being the scenery, too, just like you.

Off the cushion, (and on, but especially off), I'm reminded of Uchiyama Roshi writing;



When the surge comes up about some imagined future, or a fear, or a worry, or panic strikes—I'd say there's no "method" needed, but more of a return. Feet on the floor, air in your lungs, a focus on living. Some things do require deliberation, problems do need to be figured out and planned for, actions being taken—but sometimes, a lot of time, worry is just worry. The future your amygdala is guarding against exists in one place: a thought, a brain secretion, electrical signals in your brain causing physical experiences.

If you hold it, hold it loosely, and let it go while you get back to sitting, living, doing.

Gassho,
Koushi
STLaH

Thank you for that. I had forgotten reading about what Uchiyama Roshi said in his book about "secretions". Very appropriate!

Gassho,
Doug
SAT/LAH

[Jundo]

Everyone gave great advice so far. One thing I’ll add that really helped me is accepting that this just happens sometimes (and sometimes more than I’d like!) and that it doesn’t mean zazen was bad, or that I failed. That it’s perfectly fine sometimes for it to be like that, in fact it will be, and to not get caught up in the idea that I “wasn’t doing it right”. Just letting it go and beginning again next time.

Gassho,
SatLah,
Chikyō

You speak wisely, Grasshopper. EVERY moment is "next time."

Gassho, J
stlah

[Jundo]

Hi Judo, not nearly as bad any of that. It's just that I notice even the small "pulls" in that direction. Especially since I started practice. For instance, the other day somebody who I managed at work made a mistake, and I found myself dreading having to explain to our customer an error was made. As I watched it, what it felt like, I tried to see where this irrational fear was coming from (who knows how the customer would react!). It occurred to me this was coming from deep in my brain somewhere.

I also recalled how I felt a couple of years ago after getting laid off and how that felt as well, thinking of the similarities.

Gassho, Doug
SAT/LAH

Doug,

I have spent enough time hanging around Zen and Buddhist teachers of all kinds, in Zen centers and big Japanese monasteries, east and west, to know how "human" are monks and teachers ... getting annoyed at this or that, having worries, bad hair days (if they have hair.) They are not "robots." The ones who seem emotionally "super-controlled" in person may be so perhaps, but they also might be tamping it down or putting on a facade. Most experienced Buddhist priests I know have emotions, get ticked off, are concerned, sometimes raise their voices at someone.

HOWEVER, that does not mean that it is okay for Buddhist folks to go to the other extreme: WALLOWING in emotions, fanning the flames, pouring gasoline on anger, mulling revenge plots in our heads, reliving situations or lost in "might be" scenarios for tomorrow, getting in hot fights ... etc. etc.

MIDDLE WAY PLEASE!

Also, a Zen fellow should know how to "see through" this world of chaos and "ups and downs" and reactivity EVEN AS we are simultaneously living normal life in this world of chaos and "ups and downs," and reacting like normal human beings to it all! We are totally "free of birth and death" even as we worry about it sometimes, get a colonoscopy and buy a life insurance policy for the family!

So, don't beat yourself up about still being "human" rather than a robot or stone Buddha statue!

Gassho, J
stlah

PS - I am reminded of the SILLY scene from this really BAD American moving a few years ago that I posted awhile back .... Well, don't go getting in fist fights please!

[Seiko]

...the amygdala starts asserting itself due to some perceived situation you don't like...

Hi Doug,
So, the amygdala has more than one function. And he can poke his nose in anytime, on or off the cushion. Fight or flight is just the tip of the iceberg. Mr A. Mygdala sneakily attaches emotional significance to memories and persuades you to associate specific stimuli with a negative outcome. This little hooligan can spark emotions, fear, anxiety, aggression, pleasure, bliss even, elevated heart rate, changes in blood pressure, faster respiration, he stimulates the release of adrenaline and cortisol, as well as starting survival actions such as freezing, attacking or running away.

The problem with trying to get little Mr A. Mygdala in line is that he often does all this stuff without your permission, triggerring an unwanted response in that millisecond before your conscious mind kicks in to assess the situation. So by the time you register what the situation actually is, you already lost control - you are already dealing with a physical and mental response that you wouldn't have chosen.

In my own life I dealt with this little sucker in two different ways, firstly I honestly investigated what was triggering Mr A. Mygdala's mischief. Then:

(a) I had BWRT therapy to build new neural pathways. This changed my automatic (pre-thought) reaction to certain things.

(b) I trained myself to notice when the amygdala is becoming naughty. In the very early stages. Before he does much damage. And I say to him "hello anxiety (fear, worry, whatever), I see you, I know you are there, you behave yourself and stay back there, I'm busy right now". So I park those feelings. They are not immediately gone, but they are no longer of prime importance.

I hope some of what I wrote here is useful.

Gasshō, Seiko, stlah