Staying With The Feeling

This practice invites you to stay present with a difficult feeling rather than trying to fix or push it away. I’ll walk alongside you as you bring gentle awareness to what’s here, noticing the emotion with kindness and curiosity. You’ll learn how to hold space for the feeling, allowing it to move through you naturally.

Over time, this helps you build the ability to stay with your own experience with more calm and attention, even when emotions feel overwhelming. You can return to this practice whenever you want to strengthen that inner companionship with yourself.

Transcript

Hello and welcome. If you're here, The chances are you're struggling with a strong emotion. A feeling or a problem. And for the next little while we're going to work with it together. Not by trying to fix it. Not by trying to make it go away. And not by trying to convince yourself that you should feel differently. We're going to stay with it. Because most of us have become very good at moving away from what feels uncomfortable. The moment something hurts, Worries us, Frightens us, Or makes us feel uneasy, There is often an instinct to get away from it. We distract ourselves. We push it down. We try and solve it. We explain it to ourselves. We wish it wasn't happening. And there's nothing particularly strange or wrong about this. It's a habit many of us have learned. But when we resist a feeling. . . We don't necessarily get rid of it. Often, We add something to it. There's the original feeling, And then there's our resistance to the feeling, The wish for it to be different, The thought that it shouldn't be happening. The struggle against the fact that it's here. So we have the original uncomfortable feeling. And now we're adding resistance to it. And this creates a sense of conflict within us. So we're going to see what happens when we don't add that second layer, When we don't resist. And you don't have to like whatever you're feeling. You don't have to understand it. You don't have to make it disappear. We're simply going to give it our attention and see what happens. To begin, Let's just get settled. And comfortable however that looks for you right now. Eyes closed or open, Sitting or lying down. Just be comfortable and arrive wherever you are. And now bring with you. . . Whatever is already here. If there's something uncomfortable sitting in you, A worry, A heaviness, A feeling, Don't set it aside for this. Bring it with you. That's what we're going to work with. So let's find it, Not think about it, But feel where it actually is. Somewhere in the bodhi, The chest, Maybe. The stomach. The throat. Somewhere else entirely. Just take a moment, Take your time. And locate it. Like you're holding a flashlight in the dark and you're looking for something on the floor. Now keep the light on it. Just feel what's there. Don't do anything with it. Notice its shape. It's weight. Whether it's tight or heavy or hot or cold. Whether it's moving. Or completely still. You don't need to describe it perfectly. Just stay close enough to feel it. And then notice what's happening around it. Thoughts will inevitably be there too. Your mind might start explaining what's happening. Labeling it. Telling you why you feel this way. Telling you what happened. Telling you what might happen next. You don't need to get rid of any of this. Just follow it. There's a thought. There's another one. And another one. See where they go. Be curious about them. And then come back to what you can actually feel, What's real in your body. And at some point. . . You may notice that you don't want to be doing this anymore. Maybe the feeling has become stronger. Maybe there's the urge to distract yourself. Or for this to be over. And if that happens, Don't make another problem out of it. Just notice her. Stay with that, Too. There may also be a part of you saying, I don't want to feel this. I can't deal with this. I need this to stop. And you don't have to argue with these thoughts. You don't have to push them away, And you don't have to agree with them either. Just see them. And then come back to the feeling in your body. See what it's like to stop trying to change what's happening. To stop resisting reality. Not because you approve of it. Not because you want it to stay. Simply because right now. . . This is what's happening. It's true. The way a rainy day is true. You don't have to want the rain. You don't have to enjoy it. You just stop arguing with the fact that it's raining. Keep staying with it. And notice whether anything changes when you stop trying to make a change. Maybe it becomes stronger. Maybe it becomes weaker. Maybe it moves somewhere else. Perhaps you noticed something you hadn't noticed before. Don't force anything. Just keep looking. Stay here a little while longer. Just you and the feeling. Nothing added. Nothing fought. And when you're ready, Notice what's different. Maybe something has changed. Maybe nothing dramatic has happened. Maybe there's simply a little more room around the feeling. Than there was before. A little more space for it to breathe and unfold. And perhaps that room came from nowhere except the fact that you stopped resisting and let it be real. Every time you meet something this way. Instead of immediately running from it. Staying may become a little less brightening. A little more familiar. Until one day, It isn't courage anymore. It's simply what you do. Let's rest here for just a moment longer before we finish. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you found this useful. Until next time, Stay present.