EMOTIONAL HEALING
The Noting, And, Healing Practice
1. Noting: “There is…”
Recognize the experience impersonally and without judgment:
“There is anger.”
This differs gently from “I am angry.” The anger is acknowledged as a present experience, not made into a permanent identity.
Repeat the phrase softly, without requiring the experience to disappear. “Calm” need not mean that the emotion is gone—only that there is enough bodily safety and steadiness to continue.
2. The bridge: “And…”
Introduce the word slowly:
“And.”
“And” is the heart of the practice. It does not contradict, replace or suppress the original experience. It opens a larger inner space in which suffering and a healing quality can coexist.
3. Healing or purification
Introduce an appropriate wholesome quality:
“Forgiveness.”
Eventually, the complete phrase can be held:
“There is anger, and forgiveness.”
The healing quality is not forced upon the difficult experience. It is offered as warmth, medicine and wise companionship.
The basic sequence
For example:
There is aging.
And.
Love.
There is aging, and love.
The practitioner may remain with each stage for several breaths—or much longer. The timing should come from the body rather than from a demand to finish the exercise.
Why the structure is meaningful
Each part performs a distinct function:
| Element | Function |
|---|---|
| There is… | Recognition, mindfulness and gentle de-identification |
| And… | Spaciousness, inclusion and the possibility of transformation |
| Healing quality | Purification, wisdom and cultivation of the wholesome |
| Complete phrase | Integration: suffering is held within a larger field |
The crucial word is and:
- “There is anger, but forgiveness” may reject the anger.
- “There is anger, and forgiveness” allows both to be known.
- “There is loneliness, and loving-kindness” does not deny loneliness; loving-kindness comes to sit beside it.
Foundational examples
- There is anger, and forgiveness.
- There is loneliness, and loving-kindness.
- There is grief, and compassion.
- There is envy, and appreciative joy.
- There is agitation, and equanimity.
- There is fear, and protection.
- There is uncertainty, and trust.
- There is aging, and love.
The healing word need not always be the direct opposite of the suffering. It should be the quality that the experience most needs.
Anger might need forgiveness, but it might first need safety, patience, understanding or non-harming.
One important principle is:
The second quality does not purify the first by driving it away.
It purifies the relationship in which the first experience is held.
This makes the practice a contemporary synthesis: mindful noting followed by the intentional cultivation of a wholesome quality.
It is gentle because nothing is condemned, and wise because suffering is neither indulged nor denied.
“There is LOVE”