The Buddhist teaching of “Shenpa” is a Tibetan term literally meaning attachment, however, its meaning runs deeper- inclusive of an operation rather than a single mechanism. The heart of its meaning encompasses the “charge”– the energetic force behind our likes and dislikes- our fears and our addictions- our urge to escape our emotional discomforts. It is the charge behind our emotions, opinions, and views. It is this involuntary (reflexive) impulse that triggers our urge and drive to react out of force of habit. It is sometimes referred to as the “hook”. For example, someone says something mean to you, and you sense yourself tightening or closing down- this is reactionary force or shenpa. This underlying charge or force of habit may occur even at the subtlest of levels in the mind and body. The trick here is to bring attention to the spark before inertia- once in motion remains in motion- carries enough fuel to energize a wildfire in the mind of discursive thoughts and feelings toward the experience.

Reactionary force flows and resonates continuously in our subconscious- and sends periodic waves of energy into conscious awareness throughout our day- some of these waves are very subtle and almost imperceptible without our acute attention. This force itself operates energetically drawing us into its operation (involuntarily). It is this early impulse- this familiar sensation that we need to recognize and acknowledge as the “trigger” to our habitual drive, and to our addictive nature. If we can sit with this energy of reactionary force without falling into the reactionary cycle, it can then be transformed. Our free attention serves as a transformer converting this habit energy into empty current for open awareness.

Reactionary force thrives on our underlying insecurity of living in a world that is always changing. We experience this insecurity as a background of slight unease or restlessness. We all want some kind of relief from that unease, so we turn to some habitual form of enjoyable distraction such as food, alcohol, drugs, sex, work, or shopping. In moderation what we enjoy might be very pleasant. We can appreciate its taste and its presence in our life. But when we empower it with the idea that it will bring us comfort, that it will remove our unease- we get hooked.

The best place to work with our reactionary force is through our meditation practice. In sitting and abiding, we learn to experience the uneasiness and the urge fully, and to interrupt the momentum that usually flows from reactionary force. We do this by not following after the discursive thoughts and feelings that often trail the momentum of habitual impulse.  We learn to stay with the uneasiness, the tightening, the itch of shenpa. We train in sitting still with our desire to scratch. This is how we learn to stop the chain reaction of habitual patterns that otherwise consume us. This is how we weaken the patterns that keep us hooked into discomfort that we mistake as comfort~ Pema Chodron.

It is through our uneasiness in practice that we begin to touch the root of our habitual actions. The root is experiencing the itch as well as the urge to scratch, and then not acting it out. It’s seeing and knowing the whole of the cycle as it operates within us.

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