Difficult Emotions MBSR style

One of a set of "being with difficult emotions" that I have prepared is inspired by different teachers and traditions. This one is from week 4 of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Can be practiced with a naturally occurring difficult emotion or by deliberately bringing to mind a mild to moderately difficult situation (no more than 6/10)

Transcript

Finding yourself a comfortable position sitting or perhaps lying Noticing the contact with your seat or with the floor Perhaps allowing yourself to feel supported Taking your attention to an anchor This might be the soles of your feet Or the contact with the surface you're sitting in or lying on a sense of gravity perhaps the sensations in your hands Or perhaps the breath None of these feel right you can also try Sounds as an anchor now expanding the awareness to body sensations in the whole body Body sensations coming and going constant change and flux And if you notice you're being pulled by unpleasant thoughts or emotions Instead of returning to the anchor or the body sensations of the whole body Perhaps you might have the energy to to stay with these unpleasant thoughts or emotions unpleasant thoughts or emotions choosing to lean into them Or if nothing's coming up again if you have the energy you could deliberately choose a small problem from the present or the recent past That you're happy to stay with for a while Notice how you do this imagining visualizing remembering as you hold this Problem in mind can you notice what kind of emotion arises? Making a space for the response Naming it if you can in a gentle understanding way Oh Sadness Wow so scared This is confusion Frustration if there's lots of emotions Let's choose the most obvious one right now as you let yourself do this Expanding your awareness to your body as a whole You may need to bring back the situation if it's slipped away Scanning your body to see where you feel the emotion most vividly Stopping where you sense any little tension or discomfort Noticing what is feelable nothing more Now perhaps choosing just one location in the body where the feeling expresses itself most strongly Perhaps a lump in the throat an ache or a throb or a hollow in the heart Clench in the belly allowing yourself to feel this in the body Getting to know the bodily part of the emotion And of course you might notice the thinking that goes along with it but perhaps Leaving the thinking there and just returning to the body It's easier to be present with the bodily part of the emotion because it's right here in the present thinking often takes us into the past or the future No need to push away these body sensations Just touching them with your mind and heart Seeing if it's possible to allow it to be there just as it is If only for a few moments resting into the sensations Perhaps breathing through them or around them Softening to what is here Softening through and around not trying to get rid of the feeling Just softening around it or perhaps Having a sense of space around it gently cradling In awareness Knowing that at any point You have the choice to go back to your anchor and let the practice go Perhaps you might notice some Reactions that come up some resistance Can you hold that feeling? Reactions that come up some resistance. Can you hold these with the same kind awareness? Noticing what it's like to spend this much time with something without running away or going to battle Perhaps noticing how it is to honor what is here This humanness of feeling difficult emotions Perhaps soothing with mental kind words That you might use to a distressed child or puppy Perhaps even placing your hand On your heart or on the part of your body That you're feeling the emotional pain Letting the practice go now Making a shift back to your anchor And as the meditation comes to an end You may even be able to give yourself a little self-appreciation For being with this emotion this difficult emotion in a mindful kind way

Reviews

Facing the emotion; then giving it (& myself) some space, then finally returning to my anchor. My anchor took me to the depths of the ocean where I find Beauty & Silence!! Thank you for this short journey of facing my emotions; then being able to move on in a healthier fashion. 🥰