Use code SUMMERPRACTICE for a 25% discount on all On Demand Courses through August 31.

Search Sangha Live

Mindfulness of feeling tone (vedana).

With Martine Batchelor recorded on April 12, 2015.

Found our teachings useful? Help us continue our work and support your teachers with a donation. Here’s how.

During this session Martine practices and explores mindfulness of the feeling tones, which is the second foundation of the practice of mindfulness.

First, she guides a meditation on mindfulness of the feeling tones. Afterwards she tries to define feeling tones and how to be mindful of them in our daily life. The Pali term Vedana refers to the affective tone of experience. When we come into contact through one of our six senses with the environment, we experience a pleasant, unpleasant or neither pleasant nor unpleasant feeling tone.

It is important to see that feeling tones are constructed, they are not a given, they do not reside in the object we come in contact with. It is vital to be aware of feeling tones as they arise extremely fast and have a profound impact on our behaviour.

Listen to the audio version below, or click here to download the mp3.

Discussion

Leave a Reply

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Willa Blythe Baker

    The Wisdom of the Body

    Recorded : March 8, 2020

    If you seek to deepen in your meditation practice, there is no better friend than the body. Like a venerable teacher, the body has the power to draw you into the present moment, show you how to find stillness and even—if you listen closely—wake you up.

    Read More

  •

    Is there compassion for the self? Go deep. Is compassion the end of self?

    Recorded : May 23, 2021

    The Dharma flies with two wings – compassion and wisdom. Compassion emerges from a liberated wisdom. That happens when constructs in the mind lose their significance. The emptiness of self and the emptiness of dependency on feeling tones take priority. This talk also explores the contraction of compassion into self interest. The liberation of compassion…

    Read More

  •

    Mindfulness Approaches to Working with Anxiety

    Recorded : September 16, 2018

    Who is not anxious these days? Whether faced with the daily stresses of finances, jobs, responsibilities, parenting, family, or the ongoing anxiety of political events and ecological crisis, most of us are anxious. In the US, anxiety rates have risen to 18% of the population, and 25% in Europe for those struggling with depression and…

    Read More

  •

    From Dukkha to Freedom: Dharma in Times of War and Crisis

    Recorded : January 28, 2024

    Intense times of war and crisis can and does often lead to intense Dukkha. But a crisis can also serve as a bedrock to spiritual breakthrough, deepening of liberating insights and openness of the heart. The Upanisa Sutta talks about the possibility of stepping out of Samsara: that Dukkha can lead to Sadha, i.e faith and trust,…

    Read More

  •

    Finding Wholeness & Healing Within Heartbreak

    Recorded : March 1, 2026

    Heartbreak is inevitable, yet reconciliation isn’t always possible. Rashid’s session offers a path toward healing when face-to-face forms of reconciliation fall short or aren’t accessible. Through one of Rashid’s new practices, with guided visualization and contemplative work, participants explore how to tend internal wounds, honor grief, and reclaim wholeness—even without external resolution. Within a loving…

    Read More

  • Jill Satterfield

    Of Two Minds: The Mind of the Body, the Mind of the Mind

    Recorded : May 3, 2026

    Awareness opens doors to discovery – the Buddha emphasized it, and science is proving it. We have two minds that work together, yet the body knows before the mind cognizes. The Buddha’s teaching of Nāmarūpa – mind and body as two forms of consciousness – honors the body’s deep wisdom. How the mind elaborates on…

    Read More

  • Yahel Avigur

    Daily Meditation Recordings with Yahel Avigur – Week of September 30, 2024

    This week’s topic is “Samadhi: A Path of Reliable Joy”. One of the central lines in the teachings of the Buddha, the practice of Samadhi is the skill of harmonized, gathered presence. It is based on mindfulness and discernment, leading to deepening wisdom. In this week of practice, we will cultivate a set of meditative skills that lead to such reliable joy.

    Read More