Interesting approach

What did you like most about What You Resist Persists?

When I bought this audiobook it was because I wanted to reinforce an experience I had during a 10-day Vipassana meditation retreat. From the extended (meditation) sittings I had a burning pain in my lower back and in my backside, and my knees had locked so tightly that to straighten my legs took about as long as the break itself. The pain was excrutiating.

Then I noticed that the more I resisted, the worse the pain got. So after a while I made the decision to go into the pain, to explore it, to no longer resist it. And with that decision I was able follow the pain in my back as it went from side to side, like a pendulum, and as it extended out in concentric circles. Then going down to my knees I was able to explore that pain too.

Suddenly a rush of energy coursed its way up through my body and out the top of my head. And for a moment I was like a soft drink bottle that had been shaken before opened, I felt these bubbles of energy rushing through me. And as that energy left, there was no longer any pain. It had completely gone. It was one of the most remarkable experiences I've ever had, and I was able to get up from my meditation mat like an agile child. There was no residue of pain whatsoever.

So I got the lesson - what you resist persists. But it's been harder to apply to my mind, and so this title really resonated with me, though it wasn't exactly what I was expecting.

Here the author is presenting a way of dealing with the mind in the form of "switch words". And this didn't appeal to me so much because I wanted something more closely aligned with my own experience (of not resisting). But the author is convinced. It's not your standard approach (I don't think), but it is interesting and could well be just your thing.

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