Practice Resource guide

Coping with Difficulties

We cultivate practices to work with difficulties whent they arise during meditation .

About this Page

Introduction of the Concepts and Practices on this page and how they relate to recovery

How this Concept Applies to Recovery

Coping with Difficult Emotions

Often when difficulties arise (whether in meditation or in life) we feel stuck, trapped, and overwhelmed. Thus we return to our habitual strategies. But how do we break out of those patterns - seeing that we are so stuck and trapped?

There are several powerful practices that fellow practitioners and teachers have developed over the years. This page explores some of those options.

How The Practice Helps

Strategies and Resources available to us

When we work with these practices, over time they cultivate a new set of habits. When difficulties arise, these resources eventually become available to us as a resource - even when our brains are triggered with fear, craving, anger, or grief.

  • Three Refuges

  • Four Noble Truths

  • Four Heart Practices

  • Five Hindrances and their antidotes

  • Four Foundations

  • RAIN

  • SOBER Breath

  • Three Refuges

  • Curiosity

  • Appreciation

Refuge in the Dharma

Practices that explore and deepen understanding of the Concepts

The Path

Read the Book

  • Four Noble Truths

  • Four Heart Practices

The Path and Growth

Listen to Talks

  • Three Refuges

  • Five Hindrances and their antidotes

  • Four Foundations

Growth

Stay Curious

Entering, Grounding, Centering, Collecting

Impermanence

  • Doubt

  • 3 Poisons, 8 Winds

  • Dissatisfaction, pain, stress

  • Impermanence (Anicca)

Lists

Refuge in the Buddha

Practices that connect us to our deepest Wisdom

Meditation

Rewire the Brain for Recovery

  • Curiosity

  • Kindness

  • Four Foundations

  • Appreciations

Inquiry and Investigation

Explore and Experience

    • RAIN

    • SOBER Breath

    • Five Hindrances and their Antidotes

Renunciation

Practice Letting Go

RAIN

SOBER Breath


Refuge in the Sangha

Practices that cultivate connections with wise friends and mentors

Meetings

Attend and Befriend

Wisdom, Insight

  • Contribute your time, energy, skills, and finances to sustain the Sangha.

    • Contribute Financially

    • Volunteer set up or clean up meeting

    • Volunteer to greet new people

    • Volunteer to read reading or the script during meeting

    • Reach out to new people between meetings to share your experience. ;

Wise Friends and Mentors

Develop Deep Connection

Interbeing, Belonging

  • Ask phone friends if they have time for another wise friend or mentor to work the program with - inquiries, extra readings etc.

  • Wise Friends; Trade time during their phone or zoom call

  • Mentors: focus time during the phone or zoom call on the process on just one person in the relationship - the mentee.

Core Intentions

Support the Sangha

Make decisions through a process in which each member’s voice is respected and considered



Playlist
 Connect with others who have traveled this path. Each of the links on this list addresses the concepts of this section. So feel free to start with any link. If none of these recordings interest you, then use the concepts listed under the Growth heading to search for talks from the Buddhist Sources page.

Insight Community

Thai Forest / Theravada

Thai Forrest / Theravada

Secular / Academic

Buddhist Recovery


Zen


Zen

21:23 - How to Deal with Strong Emotions - Plum Village

58:34 First Noble Truth Plumb Village

Tibetan


Amplified Voices

Recordings from people who are members of communities that are currently underrepresented in Western Buddhist sanghas will be pulled from the list above and highlighted here.

Workbooks


Books


Recognize, What's going on? What's happening?

Allow, Accept, Antitode

Inquire, Reflect, Investigate

Nurture, Nonattachement, Let Go, Respond