Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Experience

How to use this guide

Sink In, then use the first set of questions ("Sinking In Questions") to "jog" your awareness of the experience after sinking in. Look for an answer, but if you can’t find one, or if the question doesn’t make sense, then that in itself can sometimes be an answer.

The second set of questions ("Questions Between Sessions") can be used to reflect on changes to your experience of life in general.

It can be helpful to jot down brief notes on what answers you find, in order to keep track of how these answers might change over time.

Sinking In Questions

• Do you notice anything in particular at the moment? Do any particular qualities or aspects of the experience stand out?
• Underlying Experience
  • Does the underlying experience feel still, unmoving, or fixed in place? Or does it feel like there’s subtle flow or unfolding to it? If there’s a mix, does one feel more fundamental than the other?
  • Do you have any sense that everything is fundamentally okay? What does that feel like for you? What sort of qualities are associated with it? Does it show up any place in particular? (inside or outside your body, generally everywhere or nowhere)
  • Does awareness feel like it has a center to it, or that it’s originating in a particular place? (inside or outside the body, generally everywhere or nowhere)
  • Do you notice any emptiness or fullness to the underlying experience? Or maybe both? Or do those terms not really apply?
• Agency
  • As you’re answering these questions, does it feel like you are coming up with the answers and then saying them? Or does it feel like the answers are just sort of saying themselves, without you needing to come up with them?
  • Are your responses surprising or unexpected, or do you see the answers forming before they’re spoken out loud?
• Body
  • Do you feel connected to the body at all? Does it feel like a whole body, or just sensations arising? Or does the body feel distant or absent?
  • If there is a body, what’s the sensory experience? Does it feel heavy, light, elusive, distant, etc?
  • Does it feel like there’s a clear / strong boundary between the body and everything around it? Or does that feel fuzzy or blurry? Or transparent / non-existent?
    • Not visually, but the felt sense of the body.
  • Gently move your arm. Does the movement feel any different? Do you feel embodied / connected with the movement, or does it just seem to be happening with no connection to yourself?
• Memory / The Present Moment
  • Call to mind something that happened today or yesterday.
    1. Does an event or situation come easily to mind? Does it seem like it really happened, that there’s substance to it?
    2. Is it easy to dive into the details of the event? (what you were wearing, what the room looked like, how you felt, etc) Or do the details feel more distant / blurry / fuzzy? Or is there resistance to even trying to grab the details in the first place?
    3. Does the event seem solidly in the past, like it’s behind you? Or does calling it “in the past” seem arbitrary?
  • Does the present moment, the here and now, feel really solid and tangible, like it’s really happening? Or does it feel more slippery or squishy? Or maybe that it doesn’t even make sense to call it a “present moment,” or that there is a void or emptiness where the present moment used to be?
• Mental Activity
  • Do you notice any increase or decrease in mental activity? Or no change?
  • If you notice thoughts, do they seem fully formed? Or do they feel more like half-thoughts, or movements of energy?
  • Does the mind reflexively label the things it’s looking at or experiencing?
• Emotions / Valence
  • Do you notice any emotional qualities or experiences? Or maybe a subtle pleasantness to the experience? Or does it feel pretty neutral?
  • Are you able to generate or conjure up any positive feelings or emotions to experience it in this moment? For example, if you try to express gratitude for this experience, can you actually feel the gratitude?
• Perception
  • Do the visuals show up differently in any way?
    • Do you notice more details?
    • Do objects / the room seem brighter or more intense?
    • Does the visual field flatten, almost like it’s 2-dimensional instead of 3-dimensional? Or that objects don’t seem visually distinct / separate from each other?
    • Do you feel a greater mental clarity?
  • Does the act of looking feel any different? Does it feel like there is an observer looking out at objects, or has that changed?

Between Sessions

• Do you notice any decrease in reactivity to life situations?
• Do you have greater access to peace, stillness, or ease?
• Do you notice any decrease in self-referential thoughts? (self-doubt, inner critic, etc)
• Do you notice any change in your relationship with fiction, stories, or narratives?
• Do you notice any changes in interests, preferences, or motivation?
• Have your habits, routines, or practices related to this process changed or fallen away? (meditation, going to church, etc)
• Do you notice any change in your executive functioning? (ability to prioritize, make decisions, plan for the future, remember appointments, etc)
• Does it feel like there is clear cause and effect to events in your life (y happened because first x happened), or do things feel like they’re just arising and unfolding?