Emotions As Object

This meditation uses the emotions as the object of meditation, guiding the listener into deep focus on their experience of emotion, beyond intellectual understanding and into somatic experience. By using emotion as the object of meditation, the listener can develop insight into the feelings that they experience.

Transcript

Take a seat in a quiet place where you feel particularly safe. Sit tall with your long spine, Your relaxed shoulders, Your soft belly. Close your eyes or gaze low at the floor. Find a chin level that gives you a neutral spine. Breathe gently in and out through your nose and turn your awareness towards the breath and the movement of the breath through the body itself. Let this help you get grounded and settle further into your seat. As the mind gets quieter, Notice if there are any emotions present. For today's meditation, We choose to work with one, Just one emotion. It could be anger, Sadness, Frustration, Resentment, Or disappointment. Or you could choose something positive, Like love, Kindness, Gratitude, Joy, But just choose one for today and silently to yourself, Create an intention. Your intention is to use your chosen emotion as the object of your focus for this meditation. Let's turn towards that emotion and see if you can locate it within your body. Wherever it is that you notice that emotion, Hold your attention in that space. If the emotion moves, Your attention follows. Present now with the emotion. Notice all you can about the detail, The emotion size, Its color, Its temperature, Its shape. As you explore the characteristics of this particular emotion, Be careful not to chase the object of the emotion or the story. Don't go looking for a reason or a source. Simply stay present with the emotion itself. It's felt sense out of your head and present in the body. Become present with the emotion itself, Your object of focus. Anytime you notice that the mind has gone off chasing stories or anywhere else, Come back to the felt sense of the object of focus and repeat this process of returning as many times as you need. Notice perhaps that the more you move towards the emotion, The more difficult it is to find. It's changing or moving, Becomes slippery. Like all things, This emotion is energy. It's always in motion, Always a part of a grand flow, But by watching and observing it versus grasping to it or identifying with it, The emotion itself is given the freedom to move and to change. It's even given the freedom to disappear. The emotion is not you. It is energy in your body. You are the witness, The watcher, The noticer. You are the ever present awareness, The blank canvas across which emotions are painted sky across which emotions are the clouds. You experience emotion, But you are not your emotions. Perhaps your object is wander Wayne. Perhaps the emotion is still felt strongly. Either way, Turn your attention now away from motion and back towards the self. That's the witness. Notice the space that's between the two, The emotion itself, Awareness of the emotion. Remember that you are awareness, Infinite, Spacious, Free. Identify with that limitless awareness and slowly when you're ready, Open your eyes.