How Emotions Are Mapped in the Body

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Kalama
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Bodily maps of emotions

Post by Kalama »

The whole article in English is freely available online through the PNAS open access option: http://www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10 ... pplemental

Of speciaL interest for Buddhists is the reference to the sensation of joy or rapture (Pali: Piti) because -as the findings show - the whole body is involved .
In Buddhism joy is stated to be the condition of tranquillity (see S.N. 12,23) moreover we find this issue in a simile concerning the first Jhana (absorption) : '...there is no part of his entire body that is not suffused with this rapture and happiness. Just as a skilled bath-attendant or his apprentice might strew bathing powder in a copper basin, sprinkle it again and again with water, and knead it together so that the mass of bathing soap would be pervaded, suffused, and saturated with moisture inside and out yet would not ooze moisture..'

Kalama
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Mkoll
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Re: Bodily maps of emotions

Post by Mkoll »

Dear Kalama,

Thank you for the link. That anger is very active in the upper torso, head, and arms correlates with my felt experience. When I used to fly into rages, I would always have the strong urge to punch inanimate objects and often would do so.

:anjali:
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Babadhari
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Re: Bodily maps of emotions

Post by Babadhari »

very interesting. i wonder what equanimity looks like.....
Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion.
Aflame, with birth, aging & death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs ......

Seeing thus, the disciple of the Noble One grows disenchanted. SN 35.28
Kalama
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Re: Bodily maps of emotions

Post by Kalama »

kitztack wrote:very interesting. i wonder what equanimity looks like.....
well, equanimity overcomes emotion, doesn't it?
Kalama
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Re: Bodily maps of emotions

Post by Kalama »

[quote="Mkoll"]Dear Kalama,

Thank you for the link. That anger is very active in the upper torso, head, and arms correlates with my felt experience. When I used to fly into rages, I would always have the strong urge to punch inanimate objects and often would do so.



Dear James,
hopefully using a punching ball? ;-)
Sure , redirecting the energy by some sort of exercise avoids negative processing of anger.
But- as you said - 'used to '- I assume that your experience led to better insights how to handle anger ,e.g. - or better i.e.- practising right effort. In consequence the attention to the breath , which corresponds to emotion too, supports to calm body and mind (which- B.T.W.- we all know is a major mean for meditation).

I ' jumped' to the first Jhana because of the clear relation of the simile with the experience of joy involving the whole body.
But your reference to anger and its urge offers another and very important aspect : to talk about the conditioning , i.e. the ..phassa- vedana - tanha - upadana..connection of Dependent Origination. Looking forward to your comment.

Metta Kalama
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Re: Bodily maps of emotions

Post by Babadhari »

Kalama wrote:
kitztack wrote:very interesting. i wonder what equanimity looks like.....
well, equanimity overcomes emotion, doesn't it?
hi kalama
my thought was that there would be no colours on the chart at all for equanimity..... no hot, no cold
Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion.
Aflame, with birth, aging & death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs ......

Seeing thus, the disciple of the Noble One grows disenchanted. SN 35.28
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Mkoll
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Re: Bodily maps of emotions

Post by Mkoll »

Kalama wrote:Dear James,
hopefully using a punching ball? ;-)
Sure , redirecting the energy by some sort of exercise avoids negative processing of anger.
But- as you said - 'used to '- I assume that your experience led to better insights how to handle anger ,e.g. - or better i.e.- practising right effort. In consequence the attention to the breath , which corresponds to emotion too, supports to calm body and mind (which- B.T.W.- we all know is a major mean for meditation).

I ' jumped' to the first Jhana because of the clear relation of the simile with the experience of joy involving the whole body.
But your reference to anger and its urge offers another and very important aspect : to talk about the conditioning , i.e. the ..phassa- vedana - tanha - upadana..connection of Dependent Origination. Looking forward to your comment.

Metta Kalama
Dear Kalama,

I usually punched a wall, a door, or my computer monitor - this was when they were CRTs. It had to be something that was destructible or would cause me knuckes pain. I actually still have really hard knuckles in my right arm; I did it so much that I think my body compensated and built more bone there.

I don't do it any more because I don't let myself get anywhere near that angry. Mindfulness quickly catches the beginning stages of it and I head it off using one of the many techniques the Master taught. Yes, thinking about dependent origination helps and I think it falls under the 4th technique in MN 20. Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammasambuddhassa!

How do you 'jump' to the first jhana? I'm curious to know the details of your process. I'm still a beginner so I'm nowhere near jhana but I like to know the different techniques people use.

:anjali:
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
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kmath
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Re: Bodily maps of emotions

Post by kmath »

Excellent post Kalama thank you!!
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Kusala
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How Emotions Are Mapped in the Body

Post by Kusala »

"He, the Blessed One, is indeed the Noble Lord, the Perfectly Enlightened One;
He is impeccable in conduct and understanding, the Serene One, the Knower of the Worlds;
He trains perfectly those who wish to be trained; he is Teacher of gods and men; he is Awake and Holy. "

--------------------------------------------
"The Dhamma is well-expounded by the Blessed One,
Apparent here and now, timeless, encouraging investigation,
Leading to liberation, to be experienced individually by the wise. "
Kalama
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Re: Bodily maps of emotions

Post by Kalama »

kmath wrote:Excellent post Kalama thank you!!
and thank you for the feedback , Kmath!°
Kalama
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Re: Bodily maps of emotions

Post by Kalama »

kitztack wrote:
Kalama wrote:
kitztack wrote:very interesting. i wonder what equanimity looks like.....

hi kalama
my thought was that there would be no colours on the chart at all for equanimity..... no hot, no cold
Hi Kitztack,
yes , otherwise there would be something wrong with a mapping based on emotion
Kalama
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Re: Bodily maps of emotions

Post by Kalama »

[quote="Mkoll"][quote="Kalama"]

How do you 'jump' to the first jhana? I'm curious to know the details of your process. I'm still a beginner so I'm nowhere near jhana but I like to know the different techniques people use.

Dear James,

I think you are right on track with consideration of MN 20 in respect to anger.
Regarding the Noble Path training , right effort is concerned , the nutrion for right mindfulness (sati).
Dependent Origination shows the critical links to be aware of , i.e. where the sensation (vedana ) conditioned by contact (phassa )develops to emotion , this urge of tanha, leading to further unwholesome development.
As I mentioned already by 'jump to the first Jhana' I wanted to emphasize the validation of the simile by the study , stating that joy /rapture (piti) involves the whole body. Speaking about different Jhana techniques however is exceeding the issue by far and would be better discussed under topics already treating that.
B.T.W. my impression of your comments is that your understanding exceeds that of a beginner.

Metta Kalama
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