Yogi: I’m not good at watching the mind. There is an interval where I’m lost in thought between knowing the thinking and switching to knowing the body sensation. How can I stop the thoughts between knowing thinking and knowing body sensation? And, how can I see the connection between the mind and the body?
Sayadaw: You’re fine right now. You are practicing observing and that is all you need to do right now. There is no need to make a connection between thoughts and body sensations. You’re just trying to ground your attention to the body or else the mind will be thinking too much.
It won’t be connected. Just be aware of your sensations – your breath or hearing – and keep doing that.
When your thoughts are actually causing sensations in the body, for example, when people are worried, they have a bad feeling in the heart or when they’re angry, the whole body feels hot, that’s when they are connected.
When you come to the body, you not only notice the bodily sensations but also notice the feelings in the heart area. That is connected to how the mind feels. That will give you a closeness to the mind. Just be content to do the exercise of being aware of what is happening inside the body and in the feelings.