TOO STRONG

Some sensory experiences can be strong and potentially overwhelming for some people. There are at least two mindful ways to deal with this situation.

The first one is to turn toward the sensation and deconstruct the sensation in terms of what it is, how intense it is, where it is, how much space it occupies, how it is changing, etc. By becoming curious about the details, it may make the unpleasant sensory experience lose its grip.

Another mindful strategy is to turn away from the unpleasant sensory experience. In this case, you would allow the sensation to be in the background of your awareness, but you would not focus on it. You would rather focus on another sensory experience, a pleasant or neutral one, preferably experienced elsewhere in the body. For example, if you had an unpleasant fear sensation in the belly, you may want to focus on the contact of your feet on the ground or the sound of a bird.