Bursting bubbles
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: "I'm not lost for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost ..."
Posts: 5,273
I love the bubble analogy! I took a mediation course once where the leader used this same imagery. She said when meditating we often encounter racing thoughts (monkey mind) that keeps us engaged with the madness. The thoughts seem to be able to draw us in. She suggested that while meditating, imagine each of these thoughts floating by, encased in their own bubbles. Some float by and disappear on their own, others you may reach out and pop and they are gone.
There are many variations on the technique of bubble meditation.
Another variation is here...using actual bubbles!
There are many variations on the technique of bubble meditation.
If something is bothering you, either as you sit in meditation, or even in your daily life, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Zen Living says:
Imagine your distraction is enclosed in a bubble. Give the feeling a name: anger at __________; stress about ____________; sadness because of ____________; physical pain in my ____________ (you fill in the blanks); OR, just plain anger, stress, sadness, loneliness, frustration, irritation, confusion. Watch it float around, imagine the feelings banking around inside it. Concentrate on your breath, and when the feeling seems to have played itself out, take a deep breath, and poof! Imagine blowing it away.
Other thoughts and feelings will surely come up. Imagine them in bubbles, too. Watch them and name them. See them for what they are: just thoughts, just feelings, not necessarily reality or anything that defines who you are. It doesn’t have to control you. Just sit and watch, and blow those bubbles away when you are done observing them.
Imagine your distraction is enclosed in a bubble. Give the feeling a name: anger at __________; stress about ____________; sadness because of ____________; physical pain in my ____________ (you fill in the blanks); OR, just plain anger, stress, sadness, loneliness, frustration, irritation, confusion. Watch it float around, imagine the feelings banking around inside it. Concentrate on your breath, and when the feeling seems to have played itself out, take a deep breath, and poof! Imagine blowing it away.
Other thoughts and feelings will surely come up. Imagine them in bubbles, too. Watch them and name them. See them for what they are: just thoughts, just feelings, not necessarily reality or anything that defines who you are. It doesn’t have to control you. Just sit and watch, and blow those bubbles away when you are done observing them.
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Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Chester, UK
Posts: 684
That's a great description. I wonder if bubble gum meditation counts as another variation?
As to why the the analogy holds, from what I've learnt from mindfulness I'd say it's because we are really our "awarenessing mind", as Jon Kabat-Zinn calls it, and not our thoughts, feelings, and sensations. So if we have the thought "I could do with a drink" and are not aware of it as what it actually is - a thought in our awareness - it would appear instead as if it's a part of us and that we really do want a drink. Being aware of the thought as a thought creates the separation that AVRT also talks about.
I wonder then what does AVRT add to mindfulness? Kabat-Zinn summarises mindfulness as "Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally." If we had not heard of AVRT, we could still practice mindfulness and this would allow us to get out of our own way, as it were, and be more able to make informed choices about drinking/using rather than following on auto-pilot every thought and feeling that arises on the subject. I think AVRT though really helps because the whole business of making the choices has already been done, when we made our informed and considered Big Plan. This means that we don't have to be continually making choices, with the risk of one day perhaps making the wrong decision, and can move directly on from recognition to instant dismissal and spend our time and energy living
As to why the the analogy holds, from what I've learnt from mindfulness I'd say it's because we are really our "awarenessing mind", as Jon Kabat-Zinn calls it, and not our thoughts, feelings, and sensations. So if we have the thought "I could do with a drink" and are not aware of it as what it actually is - a thought in our awareness - it would appear instead as if it's a part of us and that we really do want a drink. Being aware of the thought as a thought creates the separation that AVRT also talks about.
I wonder then what does AVRT add to mindfulness? Kabat-Zinn summarises mindfulness as "Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally." If we had not heard of AVRT, we could still practice mindfulness and this would allow us to get out of our own way, as it were, and be more able to make informed choices about drinking/using rather than following on auto-pilot every thought and feeling that arises on the subject. I think AVRT though really helps because the whole business of making the choices has already been done, when we made our informed and considered Big Plan. This means that we don't have to be continually making choices, with the risk of one day perhaps making the wrong decision, and can move directly on from recognition to instant dismissal and spend our time and energy living
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: "I'm not lost for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost ..."
Posts: 5,273
Originally Posted by AlericB
If we had not heard of AVRT, we could still practice mindfulness and this would allow us to get out of our own way, as it were, and be more able to make informed choices about drinking/using rather than following on auto-pilot every thought and feeling that arises on the subject.
I quit this way a couple of years before I knew there was a named technique. I had been delving into Buddhism, and when I read about AVRT the parallels were striking.
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Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Chester, UK
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Yes, and what I love about AVRT is the way it combines all this collective experience into its laser beam approach to addiction.
I didn't know of the technique either when I quit drinking (70 non-counting days ago now) and it helped me understand what I was going through and gave me a technique I could apply and also a new goal of secure abstinence - I never really believed I could ever achieve a secure state of non-drinking. Whenever I feel I haven't quite got there yet, I just switch the "I" to "IT" - so "IT is saying I haven't got there yet, I know I have and am now fully recovered" - and I am back to myself again.
Hat's off to Trimpey, and everyone here too!
I didn't know of the technique either when I quit drinking (70 non-counting days ago now) and it helped me understand what I was going through and gave me a technique I could apply and also a new goal of secure abstinence - I never really believed I could ever achieve a secure state of non-drinking. Whenever I feel I haven't quite got there yet, I just switch the "I" to "IT" - so "IT is saying I haven't got there yet, I know I have and am now fully recovered" - and I am back to myself again.
Hat's off to Trimpey, and everyone here too!
Reach Out and Touch Faith
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: On a Sailboat
Posts: 3,871
Originally Posted by Tatsy 
Oh my, do I understand the cocker attributes. I have a working-trial blood-line Labrador - every tract of water has his name on it and he can't resist the gravitional force towards it: much like I was with alcohol.
Unfortunately, I have a stream across my land, with rather muddy banks. Yuck.
I need to teach my dog to dissociate from water, as I did from my alcohol obsession. Sadly, my dog doesn't possess that part of the neo-cortex that has the ability to transcend the urge/compulsion to jump into water. Unlike me, as a human being, I have the higher brain that's capable of transcending the alcohol urge, if I choose to put it into action.
Unfortunately, I have a stream across my land, with rather muddy banks. Yuck.
I need to teach my dog to dissociate from water, as I did from my alcohol obsession. Sadly, my dog doesn't possess that part of the neo-cortex that has the ability to transcend the urge/compulsion to jump into water. Unlike me, as a human being, I have the higher brain that's capable of transcending the alcohol urge, if I choose to put it into action.
The treats are a great way to teach your dog to redirect that type of behavior, I use only Postive + training with Zero and what I do if he starts misbehaving at home. (If out I take my service dog outside the store ASAP and then redirect). Then step down to medium value rewards over time, and eventually low before slowly weaning him off.
My service dachshund has no fear of water, until he gets wet. I discovered this the hard way the first time I got him to the marina and onto my friends dingy. He's the same way when sitting on deck. Good thing I got him a life vest with a handle on top. Haven't had to use the handle yet, knock on wood.
Edited to add: actually my dog can enlist his brain to stop him jumping into water....if I offer a high enough incentive, a particularly juicy treat. But the moment the treat isn't offered, or I offer a lesser treat, he forgets, and goes straight back to his old water running days. He has no recollection, but humans do. My dog can't drive a car, operate machines, create awesomeness, but humans can...because of the great inhibitor neo-cortex, which AVRT calls in to action.
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Join Date: Feb 2016
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Thanks for this advice, Shockozulu. I will try downgrading the treats gradually, to zero. It would be great to reach a treat less point, I use so many, constantly run out, drop them etc., and their so expensive!
Ahhhh, I expect he looks so cute in his vest. Can you tie the vest onto a safety line, in the dingy, or would that be more unsafe, danger of entangling or tripping?
Toonces the driving cat clip is hilarious! I shielded my cats' eyes, don't want them getting ideas.
Ahhhh, I expect he looks so cute in his vest. Can you tie the vest onto a safety line, in the dingy, or would that be more unsafe, danger of entangling or tripping?
Toonces the driving cat clip is hilarious! I shielded my cats' eyes, don't want them getting ideas.
Reach Out and Touch Faith
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: On a Sailboat
Posts: 3,871
Originally Posted by Tatsy
Thanks for this advice, Shockozulu. I will try downgrading the treats gradually, to zero. It would be great to reach a treat less point, I use so many, constantly run out, drop them etc., and their so expensive!
Ahhhh, I expect he looks so cute in his vest. Can you tie the vest onto a safety line, in the dingy, or would that be more unsafe, danger of entangling or tripping?
Toonces the driving cat clip is hilarious! I shielded my cats' eyes, don't want them getting ideas.
Ahhhh, I expect he looks so cute in his vest. Can you tie the vest onto a safety line, in the dingy, or would that be more unsafe, danger of entangling or tripping?
Toonces the driving cat clip is hilarious! I shielded my cats' eyes, don't want them getting ideas.
As for Zero's life vest its safer not to tie him to the dingy. He does have a handle on his vest so I can pick him straight up if he were to fall out of the water. It also has a flotation piece under his next to keep his head above water. My concern is more that he'll fall in from looking over the side of the sailboat, which he can do for hours. We have seals so brazen they will jump in the dingy when we're outside on the sailboat's deck! The dolphins are running by several times a week and are beautiful as well.
Here Zero is watching the waves:
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Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 2,654
Oooohhhh, thank you for that photo of Zero, he's just soooo gorgeous! The aquamarine sea is beautylooks calm, with gentle waves, so I see Zero does t need restraining, plus he looks so intelligent and well behaved.
I used to sail off my local coast, western UK, it was a very rare day when the sea and sky were blue, usually dark choppy waves and cloudy sky! I loved it though, very bracing and invigorating.
I used to sail off my local coast, western UK, it was a very rare day when the sea and sky were blue, usually dark choppy waves and cloudy sky! I loved it though, very bracing and invigorating.
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Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: NC
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Great analogy with the bubbles, thank you! I'm new to AVRT, just doing a lot of reading, and what AV recognition reminded me of is Harry Potter's "Riddiculus" spell to force an evil shape-changing monster into a ludicrous form - up until that point it seems a serious threat but once you laugh the monster is defeated. Now I'll picture it going "pop" like a bubble!
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