Welcome to this short guided meditation on mindfulness of the emotions.
Let's begin by taking a moment to arrive and settle.
Find a comfortable position,
One where your body feels supported,
Relaxed and at the same time alert.
Allowing yourself to settle,
Knowing that there's nothing you need to do and nowhere you need to go for these next few minutes.
If it feels comfortable,
Gently close your eyes and begin by taking a few slow deep breaths.
Allowing the body to arrive into this moment.
Breathing in,
Inviting a sense of ease and as you breathe out,
Letting go of any tension.
Now bring awareness to your face,
Softening your forehead,
Softening your eyes and the space between your eyes.
Releasing any tension in your jaw,
Letting your shoulders drop away from the ears.
Now bring attention to the chest and abdomen,
Allowing the breath to move naturally,
Allowing the belly to soften.
Gently bring your awareness to the upper back,
To the middle back and the lower back.
Noticing any tightness and allowing it to release as much as it can.
Bring awareness down through the hips,
The legs and into the feet.
Let your whole body feel grounded and supported.
Now gently bring your attention to your breath.
There's no need to change it,
Simply noticing the natural rhythm of breathing.
Feeling the breath as it enters the body and as it leaves again.
Now gently turn your attention towards your emotional experience.
Bring awareness to the heart area and quietly ask yourself,
What am I feeling right now?
You might notice a clear emotion or something more subtle.
Or perhaps nothing very distinct at all.
Whatever is present is okay.
If an emotion is there,
See if you can gently name it without judging it or getting caught in the story.
If no strong emotion is present,
That's also completely fine.
Simply rest in openness and curiosity,
Observing what has come in and going in your emotional awareness.
If an emotion does arise,
Notice where you feel it in the body.
Perhaps in the chest,
The throat,
Around the heart,
In the belly or somewhere else.
Now bring a sense of kindness and compassion towards yourself for whatever you're feeling or not feeling.
If a difficult emotion is present,
Remind yourself that it's okay to feel this way.
Emotions are part of being human.
You might reflect that many people right now are feeling something similar to you.
You are not alone in your experience.
And if you don't feel very much,
That's okay too.
That is a very common experience in meditation.
Offer yourself the same understanding,
Patience and kindness that you would offer to a friend.
As you continue to breathe,
Remember that emotions come and go,
Like waves in the ocean or waves in the sea.
Sometimes gentle,
Sometimes strong.
With practice,
We can learn to meet them with more ease by pausing and bringing kind attention to them.
When you're ready,
Gently bring your attention back to the breath.
Take a deeper breath in and a slow breath out.
Take a moment to notice how you feel now.
And when you're ready,
You can begin to move your fingers and toes and gently open your eyes.
Thank you for your practice.
