| Sumario: | A young woman who retreats from relationships with men is treated with mindfulness psychotherapy. The patient describes the negative feelings she had when a grocery clerk was rude to her, feeling “a strong tightness” that made her want to flee. The patient explores how she learned to examine her body feelings and realize her emotions informed her that she was rejecting the situation, but then as she had practiced, she stepped back and examined how “her emotional mind” told her about the danger of the situation, and how “her reasonable mind” told her she only had to be in that situation for a short amount of time. She elaborates how the two ways of experience make her “wise mind,” allowing her to perform her breathing exercises while saying, “wise mind” to herself. She reports this helped her to quiet, calm – be very present and accepting in the moment, accepting her thoughts and emotions and situation. She reports the exercise made her feel grounded instead of detached as she used to feel in past stressful situations. She reports that her “wise mind” instructed her that the situation was not as much about her as it was about the clerk and his life, and that her first thoughts were not true. This led her to think more about the clerk and compliment him and accept her attraction for the clerk, much more living in the present, not reacting with her first thoughts and emotions and flee.
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