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Balance in this context is not evenness of mood. It is the gap between a feeling arriving and you doing something about it, and that gap is short in most people and can be lengthened.
What this practice is
The practice is noticing a feeling as a physical event before it becomes a story. Irritation has a location and a texture before it has a reason attached, and attention that reaches it at that stage has something to work with that attention arriving later does not.
What gets trained is not the feeling but the reaction time. A session gives you repeated small experiences of something arising, being noticed, and passing without action, and the repetition is the whole mechanism.
This is not detachment and it is not suppression. Both of those are ways of not having the feeling, and both cost more than they save. The instruction is to have it fully and to not be carried by it, which is harder to describe than to do.
The tradition treats equanimity as something cultivated rather than possessed, and puts it alongside rather than above the feelings it works with. What people commonly report is noticing they are angry slightly earlier than they used to. Whether any of this affects emotional regulation in a measurable way is a clinical question, not claimed here.
When to use it
Practise it as a regular sit rather than reaching for it mid-feeling. It is training, and the moment you are already carried is the moment there is least of it available.
It suits a life that is basically fine and that you react to more strongly than you want to. If a specific feeling dominates, the practices for anger, grief or fear go at those directly and this one does not.
It is also the practice to come back to between the specific ones, and the one worth keeping when nothing in particular is wrong.
The sessions
Emotional Balance, one practice at four lengths, 9 to 24 minutes. One session here is in the free tier and the rest need Premium. The table says which.
| Length | Tier |
|---|---|
| 9 min | Free |
| 12 min | Premium |
| 18 min | Premium |
| 24 min | Premium |
How long to practise for
A short daily sit outperforms a long weekly one here more clearly than almost anywhere else, because what is being trained is a number of repetitions rather than a depth.
Take a longer session when something has been sitting unprocessed for a while and you want room for it to surface rather than a quick pass.
The general version of this, and what a longer session actually adds, is in How Long to Meditate For: Choosing a Session Length.
How to use it
Sit upright with your eyes closed if that is comfortable. This is the most conventional sitting practice in the library and it does not need adjusting for.
When a feeling arrives, go to where it is in the body before you go to what it is about. The reasons are always available and they are what carries you off.
Let it pass on its own rather than dismissing it. A feeling released deliberately is still a feeling you did something to.
Expect nothing dramatic during the session. What changes shows up in an argument three weeks later, and by then it does not feel like the practice.
What usually goes wrong
Mistaking balance for calm. You can be balanced and furious. The practice is about not being moved by the feeling, not about the feeling being mild.
Using it to stop feeling things. That is suppression with better branding, and it tends to arrive later as something worse. The instruction is to feel it more clearly, not less.
Going to the story first. Every feeling comes with an explanation ready. Going there is how you get carried, and going to the body instead is the whole adjustment.
Judging a session by how you felt in it. The measure is the gap, and the gap is only visible outside the session.
The gap before you act
PanchPrana keeps this at several lengths so it can be a short daily sit rather than an occasional long one, which is the way round that suits what it trains.
Who should take care
This is a conventional sitting practice and the cautions are the general ones for sustained attention rather than anything specific to it.
If you live with PTSD, complex trauma or a dissociative condition, turning attention deliberately toward feeling in the body can surface more than you expect. Take care, keep sessions short, and practise with a therapist or teacher who knows your history rather than alone.
If you live with panic disorder, ease off on attention to the breath specifically, which can read as monitoring for symptoms. Rest attention on the hands or feet instead.
Stop if a session leaves you more distressed rather than steadier, and come back to the room with your eyes open. Emotions that feel uncontrollable, mood that swings well beyond what the circumstances explain, or feelings that frighten you are worth taking to a doctor rather than practising at.
See our full Health & Safety Disclaimer.
Common questions
Is this about not reacting to things?
It is about the gap before reacting, which is a different thing. Acting on a feeling deliberately is fine; being carried by one is what this works on.
What if I do not feel anything during the session?
That is ordinary and it is not a wasted sit. Most sessions are uneventful, and the training happens across them rather than within one.
Is equanimity the same as being detached?
No, and the difference matters. Detachment is a way of not having the feeling. Equanimity is having it fully and not being moved.
How long before I notice a difference?
Longer than most people are told, and it shows up outside the session first. Usually someone notices they caught themselves rather than noticing the practice working.
Should I use this or the practice for a specific feeling?
Use the specific one when a specific feeling dominates, and this one the rest of the time. This is the general case and they are the particular ones.
