ANCHOR THE MIND WHILE DEALING WITH DEPRESSION

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 15 (46:44-47:27)

When I was depressed at home and trying to be mindful, I couldn’t directly watch the feeling of depression because it was too overwhelming. 

I was always running around in my mind, avoiding that object – so, I would be watching my breath or finding some strong object to anchor the mind.

Every now and again, when I felt a bit more stable in the mind, I would look at the depression to see how much I could watch it. When I couldn’t, I would go back to always using other objects to stabilize the mind, just keeping the mindfulness going and not dealing with the depression.