by Peter Carlson | Feb 26, 2026 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this talk, Allie Vaknin provides a review of the second of the four foundations of mindfulness, vedanupassana, traditionally translated as mindfulness of feelings. Her comments include references to how feelings can be understood not only as emotions, but also as craving pleasant experiences orexperiencing unpleasant feelings with aversion. The goal of practice is to directly know a feeling as just a feeling, not a person, without impulsive reactivity.
Here is the Emotion Wheel illustration she refers to in the talk: Feeling Wheel
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:08 — 44.1MB)
by Peter Carlson | Oct 17, 2025 | Listen to Dharma Talks
It is our custom to provide an opportunity for someone who has recently completed a significant retreat to “think out loud” about the experience, as sharing important insights helps that person integrate what was learned and informs those listening about the benefits of the immersive training experience. Mitch attended a Black Heritage Retreat at the Shelbourne Falls retreat center in Massachusetts, following the teachings of S. N. Goenka, an internationally important teacher of mindfulness meditation. Mitch provides a review of how the retreat operates as well as how it has benefited his own practice. His comments were followed by questions and comments from those attending.
Here are the notes regarding Mitch’s retreat experience: https://orlandoinsightmeditation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/Mitch-Sullen-Retreat-Report.docx
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:08:08 — 62.4MB)
by Peter Carlson | May 16, 2024 | Listen to Dharma Talks
Mindfulness of Feelings is the Second Foundation of Mindfulness, and during this talk, Peter provides a review of the various categories of feelings, which are not emotions, but rather the impulsive reactivity we all experience that precedes craving and clinging. Managing feelings skillfully is key for developing the process of Awakening. Some of the current neuroscientific research findings that are found in different areas of the brain that identify how feelings arise, associated with thoughts and then regulated are reviewed that seem to validate aspects of human experience as described in Buddhist teachings.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk, which provide a more extensive review than from Peter’s verbal comments: Skillfully Managing Feelings
There is a recording posted in the Audio section of the website under Guided Meditations entitled “Guided Contemplating Feelings Meditation” that is intended to support this talk and to build ways to skillfully manage feelings.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:02:50 — 57.5MB)
by Peter Carlson | May 16, 2024 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This recording provides supportive suggestions for recognizing the various manifestations of feelings–pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, both worldly and unworldly. The goal of this meditation is to learn how to let go of unwholesome feeling tones–impulsive reactivity in the mind–to skillfully develop insight into the transitory and impersonal nature of subjective experience.
This meditation is intended to supplement the conceptual knowledge contained in the Dharma talk that followed it, and which is posted in the Archives as “Skillfully Managing Feelings”.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:57 — 41.1MB)
by Peter Carlson | Jul 13, 2023 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk first focuses on reviewing the Second Foundation of Mindfulness, Mindfulness of Feelings; the second focus is on a core concept of Buddhist psychology, Dependent Origination, within which mindfulness of feelings plays a key role. Peter Carlson provides a contemporary rendition of dependent origination, Contingent Provisional Emergence, which describes the ancient concept using more contemporary psychological terminology.
There are two sets of notes accompanying this talk: MINDFULNESS OF FEELINGS and Understanding Contingent Provisional Emergence
There is a guided meditation posted on this site intended to complement the contents of this talk: Guided Mindfulness of Feelings Contemplation
Next week’s talk will review the Third Foundation of Mindfulness, Mindfulness of the Mind
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:42 — 60.1MB)
