Free Mind and Emotions by Matthew McKay Page A

painful (0 to 10): _______________ How true (0 to 10): _______________
Leaves in a Stream
    This is a classic meditation practice, used in various forms all over the world to quiet and clear the mind. We thank Steve Hayes (2005) for this particular version. Find a quiet place to practice where you won’t be disturbed.
    Sit down, close your eyes, and imagine that you’re sitting on the bank of a slow-moving stream on a warm, peaceful autumn day. Occasionally a leaf falls into the water and floats away on the current, drifting out of sight downstream. Give yourself enough time to form a clear picture of the scene.
    Start noticing your thoughts. Whenever a thought comes to mind, sum it up in a simple word or phrase: “boring”…“Johnny”…“sad”…“dumb exercise”…“what’s for lunch?”…and so on.
    Put your word or phrase on a leaf and let it float away, out of sight and out of mind.
    If thoughts arise as images, without specific words, then place the images on the leaves and let them float away.
    Don’t try to make the current flow faster or slower, and don’t try to change what’s on the leaves in any way.
    Don’t worry if the stream won’t flow or if you find yourself stuck on a leaf along with a thought or image. Don’t be surprised or worried if the leaves disappear, the whole scene disappears, or you go somewhere else mentally. Just notice that these things happened and then return to the scene beside the stream.
    Keep doing this for about five minutes. This should give you enough time to have the experience of trying to let go of your thoughts.
    Open your eyes and record your reactions below.
    If the stream stopped flowing or you went elsewhere mentally, describe what happened:
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    If you never really got a clear image of the scene, describe what you were thinking while trying to do the exercise:
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    This exercise shows how sticky some thoughts are. They can grab you and take you along for a ride even when your intention is entirely otherwise. But this exercise also gives you some practice in letting go of thoughts and letting them drift away. When the stream wouldn’t flow or you were stuck on a leaf with your thoughts, you were experiencing cognitive fusion. When the stream was flowing freely and the leaves carried your thoughts out of sight, you were experiencing cognitive defusion.
White Room Meditation
    Like the previous exercise, this is a meditation technique for observing thoughts as they pass through your mind, this time visualizing a simpler, indoor setting. Again, find a quiet place to practice where you won’t be disturbed.
    Sit down, close your eyes, and imagine that your mind is an empty white room with two doors. Your thoughts enter through one door and leave through the other.
    As each thought crosses the room, dispassionately observe and label it: “jealousy”…“depressing thought”…“thought about Joan”…“mother”…“guilty thought”…and so on.
    Notice when thoughts don’t quickly leave the white room and instead hang around in your mind. This happens when you start buying into or believing your thoughts.
    As before, record what happened or failed to happen: _______________
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    This exercise gives you practice in labeling or categorizing your thoughts, a key skill for practicing the real-life defusion exercises in the next section.
    Real-Life Defusion Exercises
    In your day-to-day life out in the real world, you can’t walk around saying, “MilkMilkMilk,” or periodically drop into the lotus position on the sidewalk to meditate. You need shorter, simpler defusion exercises that you can do in an elevator, on the bus, in a meeting, on an airplane, in the shower, in your car, or wherever you find yourself. Here are some approaches you can use in your day-to-day life.
“What’s My Mind Up To?”
    This technique helps you defuse