When You're Feeling Sad

This meditation is a soft landing place for the heart when sadness rises. Instead of trying to fix or push your feelings away, you’re guided to breathe, slow down, and make enough space inside yourself to simply be with what’s real. Through mindful presence, grounding breathwork, and gentle body awareness, you learn to sit beside your sadness the way you would with a friend—without judgment, without urgency, just quiet companionship. This practice helps you calm the nervous system, soften resistance, and remember that you are allowed to feel what you feel while still being held, steady, and whole.

Transcript

Hello,

I'm glad you've taken a moment to acknowledge the feelings that are moving inside of you.

It's most likely that you've clicked on this meditation because you're ready to acknowledge this deep feeling of sadness that lives inside of your body.

You're ready to allow this feeling,

This energy of sadness to move through you.

Before we get started,

I just want to take a moment to let you know that it's okay.

It's okay that you're feeling sad.

It's okay to feel sadness.

No matter how the sadness has come to be living and breathing and alive inside of you,

Whether it's loss,

Betrayal,

Abandonment,

Can even be a sadness around an outcome in your life,

Breakup,

Grieving,

And whatever it might be.

Just know first that it's okay that you're sad.

It's okay that you're sad.

And as we move through this meditation,

The goal is not necessarily to make you happy again,

But rather giving you a meditation that can give you some reprieve by sitting with your sadness,

Be a companion,

Be a witness,

Be a spaceholder,

Your greatest confidant for the sadness that is choosing to live within you right now.

So take a moment and set yourself up in a way that will feel deeply comforting to you.

So grab your favorite blanket,

Maybe even a heating pad or a stuffy if you have one.

You can light some incense or a candle.

Really making your space a deeply nourishing and comfortable space for you to relax into.

For you to unfold,

For you to melt into.

Give yourself some time to set the space up.

And as you settle in,

As you settle in and get yourself comfortable,

Let's take a moment to recognize this energy of sadness,

As that as energy.

And perhaps you've heard the phrase before that emotion,

Emotion,

This energy in motion.

And so we're taking a few moments to slow down,

Slow down,

So that we can sit with and be with this energy that's arising.

It's been with us.

Sadness that lives inside,

And slowing down so that we might be able to watch this energy of sadness move through our bodies.

Watch and witness and compassionately hold space for this challenging energy.

So as you continue to settle in,

Take some moments to actively soften your body.

So you might start off by allowing your awareness to come to the very top of your head and slowly allowing your awareness to drift down your body from the crown of your head across your face,

Letting this deep sense of relaxation and ease move over your face.

Loosen all of the muscles in your forehead and around your eyes,

Around your mouth through your jaw,

Even letting your ears relax the back of your head through the throat,

The neck,

Just softening and melting and letting yourself move into a state of ease.

And if you find yourself crying,

It's okay to cry,

You can allow the tears to move through you.

Do your best as you allow your tears to release the energy to settle in to relax deeper.

Even if tears roll.

Even if you're short of breath,

Do your best to sink into the body,

Relaxing the entire spine from the very base of your skull through your neck and down the spine,

Bone by bone.

It's letting ease form around each one of the bones in your spine.

Letting yourself soften.

Letting yourself nestle in.

Letting the heart be at ease and the chest,

The shoulders,

Down the arms,

Upper arms,

Lower arms,

Wrists,

Palms,

Fingers,

Bringing a sense of comfort to your entire body.

Bringing comfort and allowing comfort to surround the heart,

A warmth,

A relaxation,

A softness and ease.

Let it weave through your ribs.

Let it fill your abdomen.

Let it move into the hips,

The pelvis.

With this deep sense of comfort,

Move through your legs,

The upper legs,

Knees,

The lower legs,

The heels and ankles,

Down into the feet,

The soles of your feet and the tips of your toes.

Letting your whole body soften,

Relax.

And as you allow your physical body,

Your flesh and bones to start to relax and be at ease,

Maybe you can allow your mind to start to move with your breath.

Allowing your awareness to notice the rise and the fall of your inhale and exhale.

Give yourself a few moments in the spaces between your inhale and your exhale.

Letting yourself linger in each part of the cycle of your breath,

Filling yourself up.

Even if it shakes to bring in breath,

Letting yourself be filled all the way up and pausing and lingering before you slowly let go of your breath.

Really slow down the exhale pausing for a few moments before you take in your next big deep breath and just slowing down the breath.

Slowing down the breath and letting your mind be fully engaged with the breath and the deep sense of ease that moves through your body.

Letting the heart soften and relax.

As things start to come up and perhaps become overwhelming again,

Just return to this body and ease and relaxation and a deep sense of comfort.

Actively choosing to release the grip of your muscles around the bones,

Letting the bones be heavy.

If the mind starts to wander and it starts to get whirled up by the emotion that's been running through you,

Come back to the breath.

Come back to the body.

Come back to ease.

You might be able to relax deep enough to feel the gentle rhythm of your heart beating inside of your body.

Maybe you can take just a few moments to yourself being with this with the breath,

The body,

The heartbeat,

Relaxing a little bit more.

Just giving yourself the sense of comfort and warmth.

Breathing and being breath,

Heartbeat,

Body.

And as you continue to be with this self provided sense of comfort,

Know that you don't need to push your sadness aside,

But rather your sadness and what is bringing and boiling and bubbling up the sadness within you can simultaneously be here with you as you relax and as you find yourself at ease.

So you might take a few moments to acknowledge and become aware of the sadness again,

While simultaneously holding this deep focus on the breath,

The body and the heartbeat.

You might even imagine sadness as a dear friend,

Not disassociating with it,

But rather quite the opposite,

Giving yourself some space from it,

Where you're not grasping and sinking your nails into what's occurred in the sadness that's here,

But rather loosening your grip and embracing it,

Holding it gently.

Like you would a dear friend's hand who is telling you of their upset.

Take a moment to shift yourself into this,

This ability to hold calm,

Hold comfort,

Hold warmth,

Ease,

Peace for yourself,

While also acknowledging and recognizing the sadness that's here visiting you.

And as you hold space for the sadness,

And you stay deeply tuned into your body,

You might be able to identify some subtle sensations in your body where this energy is living.

Take a moment to tune in.

Wherever you feel this energy living,

Give yourself a few moments to either place your hands on your body,

Where this energy is living as a symbol of deep with ness,

Deep compassion,

Deep understanding,

And a holding of yourself.

You might notice as you place your palms there.

Some sensations,

Maybe naming the sensation of this energy that's in your body.

Is it a buzzing?

Is it sharp?

Is it pulsing?

What's here?

Maybe a color comes to mind.

And what you're doing here is you're understanding sadness on an energetic level.

As you're feeling into the sadness that you're experiencing right now,

Might simply be the occurrence,

But it's likely that it has roots to something deeper.

That may or may not be important for you to let rise now.

But maybe you can just hold yourself in this energy and recognizing and noticing it as energy and holding space for the energy to exist inside of you without judgment,

Without trying to push anything away.

But rather holding sadness sweetly,

Compassionately,

And tenderly as you breathe in witness.

It might be important for you to understand where the roots are if memories come up or visions or wisdom appear in the mind.

Let it release.

Let it arise and let it pass.

As you allow yourself to experience the emotion that moves through relax your face and space between your eyebrows.

And if tears are forming,

Let them form and let them fall and roll down your cheeks.

For this is the holy water of your heart.

Allow your tears to cleanse and purify you releasing and making space.

As you sit with your sadness,

Do your best not to rush it out to try to change it or move it to the side.

Don't abandon any part of yourself but rather choose to be here fully and completely in this moment with your sadness in the privacy of your own practice your meditation,

Let your sadness show itself fully.

Don't turn a blind eye to it but hold a steady,

Holy gaze.

Loving with arms open and embrace for all that arises within you.

Reminding yourself that you are always deserving.

You are always deserving of more love.

Nevertheless,

No matter what energy moves through you,

Whether it's sadness,

Elated bliss,

Rage,

Peace,

Whatever it is,

You are always deserving.

You are always deserving of more love.

Hold yourself in this that you are always,

Always deserving of more love.

Nevertheless,

Being your own greatest confidant in this moment.

Letting yourself release.

Letting yourself sit with.

Letting yourself be with what is here for you.

In any energy that arises,

Any emotion that comes in,

Treat it like a guest.

Treat it like a guest that has entered into your house.

Being a loving host for your friend,

Sadness,

Who would like to spend some time with you and letting yourself be with sadness.

Anytime that you start to sink into sadness and become one with it and claim it as who you are,

Take a few deep breaths.

Sink back into the body,

Back into the breath,

Back into your heartbeat.

You might even imagine what it would be like to sit at a table with sadness and listen.

To pour sadness a glass of water so that sadness might feel taken care of.

That sadness might feel nourished by your presence,

By your steady,

Warm understanding.

You'll just sit here with sadness,

Holding sadness in his hand as sadness speaks truth to you.

Listen.

What does sadness have to teach you here?

What does sadness have to say?

Quieting the mind,

Sinking deeply into the heart and listening to this guest,

This energy of sadness.

Take a few moments.

Tune in.

Feel.

Understand.

Listen deeply in.

As you continue to listen to sadness and what it has to say,

Stay connected to your breath.

Do your best to let the tears roll down your face without wiping them away.

Give yourself permission to be just as you are without trying to change what energy is moving through you.

Let it be here.

Let it inhabit you fully for these moments so that it might have the space and have the freedom to move through your system.

Let sadness know that it doesn't need to rush out,

That you're not wishing it would go away,

But that rather you have the time to hold it.

Notice how the sensations of sadness as energy is changing and moving in the body.

Maybe it hasn't left.

It hasn't transmuted.

And that's not the point.

Just recognizing and noticing the subtle sensations of that energy moving through your body and noticing if there's any change.

Shift.

And as you notice these subtle shifts,

Let it remind you of impermanence and the truth of impermanence.

And with impermanence also holding a deep loyalty to presence.

Knowing that each present moment that passes is a cycle that ends just like your breath.

And that all things change.

Right now,

In this moment,

It's okay to be sad.

And right now,

In this moment,

You can also acknowledge that at some other future moment outside of now,

It will be different.

But honor what's here now.

Sit with it for as long as you'd like.

As long as it insists on being here.

Knowing that it won't be forever.

It's not permanent.

Although it may feel like that in this moment,

Nothing is permanent.

If you need to continue to sit in this comfortable place and be with sadness a little while longer,

You can feel free.

Feel free to put on some very soothing music and continue on sitting with sadness as long as necessary today.

Give yourself permission to have that space.

And if you're feeling like you'd like to move forward with the rest of your day,

Let sadness know that you're here for it.

And that you will be the wise one that holds the truth while sadness arises,

That you will be that strength,

You will be that pillar of clarity to sit with sadness.

And as we gently start to move forward and conclude this meditation,

Take a few deep breaths.

Exhale fully and completely out of your nose and take in a nice big deep breath and fill yourself all the way up to the top.

And slowly let go.

Big deep breath in all the way to the top of your breath.

And slowly and gently letting go and drawing out the exhale.

Let's take another big deep breath in a big deep breath out.

As you gently start to bring your senses back in,

Maybe gently moving through the outer edges of your body and inviting subtle movement through the body.

Noticing sounds that are near and far,

Tastes and smells,

The feeling of your body sunken into your space.

You might notice the light that dances behind your eyelids as you just take a few moments to bring yourself back to your daily life,

Your moment to moment experience.

And as you do allow yourself to continue to stay anchored to the part of you that can hold space.

The part of you that can witness any energy or emotion that arises within you.

The wise one staying there and allowing whatever arises to arise while staying in the seat of the wise one.

Big deep breath in.

Big deep breath out.

Good.

And gently allow your eyes to flutter open.

Take a look around the room.

Gazing at the objects that surround you.

Maybe you're outside noticing what surrounds you and continuing to stay in the seat of the observer of the wise one,

The spaceholder.

As you look around and allowing yourself as you move into life,

Day to day experience as you set your phone aside,

As you exit this meditation,

Bringing yourself back as often as possible to the wise one,

The seat of the wise one,

The seat of the witness,

The seat of the confidant,

The spaceholder,

The most loving presence as you,

No matter what arises simultaneously,

Choosing to hold space and continue to sit in your rightful seat as the wise one.

May the rest of your day be as it is.

And may peace be your foundation.

Reviews

"Tears are the holy water of the heart." You can't get more beautiful than that! From Tears to Tranquility. THANK YOU 🙏🏼

This meditation came along at the perfect time. I was searching for a guided meditation that would allow me to sit with my sadness and accept it, allow it to move through me and that’s exactly what it did. I am so grateful for this beautiful meditation🙏🏼