When pleasant or unpleasant (and even neutral) thoughts, emotions, and sensations arise in our field of awareness, we often assign them labels, such as good or bad, wanted or unwanted. Classifying our likes and our dislikes is not inherently wrong, but when we habitually react to these labels, it can bring suffering to ourselves or others.
What if instead, we brought mindfulness to the feeling tones of pleasant, unpleasant and neutral? Observing in this manner is one way of working with reactivity.
In this guided meditation, Mindfulness Exercises founder Sean Fargo invites us to become aware of sensation in the body. Whether we feel that sensation as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral, we practice holding all of it with tenderness and care.
Please listen in a safe, quiet place where you can be relatively free from distraction. Find a posture that balances comfort with alertness, whether standing, seated, or lying down. May this meditation be of benefit to you in your practice.
Please remember that mindfulness practice is not a replacement for therapy. Listen with care and self-compassion and practice within your window of tolerance. If this, or any other episode, triggers overwhelming, uncomfortable feelings, contact your healthcare provider.
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‘Feeling tone,’ in the context of this classic mindfulness meditation, does not refer to emotions. It is a translation of the Pali word, vedanā. Vedanā refers to the general hedonic tone of sensation. As sensation is experienced by the body, mental factors label this sensation as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. This process is part of being human.
Bringing mindfulness to feeling tones deepens our awareness of how we tend to react when something has received a label. Often, we grasp onto what we label as pleasant, while we resist or try to push away the unpleasant. In the Buddhist account, it is this reactivity that leads to suffering, for nothing pleasant lasts forever and the unpleasant will always be a part of life.
Mindfulness of feeling tones is a first step in working with our reactivity. As we practice awareness of the process of labeling, we also practice remaining present, despite the label given to any particular sensation. Meditating on feeling tones invites us to apply curiosity, care and tenderness to pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral experiences – equally.
The practice does not aim at making everything neutral. It aims at becoming increasingly capable of holding space for both wanted and unwanted thoughts, emotions and sensations.
As you practice this meditation, you may find you struggle most with allowing for pain or discomfort. Sometimes joy is the harder one to stay with. Note which sensations you tend to recognize most easily, note the presence of grasping or aversion, and do your best to address all of it with gentleness and compassion.
Explore mindfulness of feeling tones further with the following free mindfulness resources:
- Meditation Script: Feeling Tones – Pleasant, Unpleasant or Neutral
- Meditation Script: Pleasant vs Unpleasant
- Mindfulness Worksheet & Video: Pleasant vs Unpleasant
About Sean Fargo:
Sean Fargo is a former Buddhist monk who founded Mindfulness Exercises and leads the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification.
