Welcome to Turning Toward Difficulty Meditation with Dr.
Leslie Belzer.
In finding a comfortable position with the feet outstretched or grounded with the feet on the floor,
Allowing the body to rest,
Relaxing the gaze of the eyes,
Allowing the eyes to gently close or gaze forward,
Whatever is comfortable for you,
And focusing first on the sensations of the breath.
And now allowing the awareness to widen,
To take in the body as a whole.
And breathing in and out naturally,
Trusting the body.
Up until now,
With our meditations,
Whenever the mind has been distracted by thoughts or feelings,
The instruction has been to gently bring it back to the body.
But now there's a new possibility.
Instead of bringing the mind back from a thought or feeling,
Now you may allow the thought or feeling to remain in the mind.
For this practice,
We will explore and turn toward these feelings.
As a feeling comes in,
Notice it and gently shift the attention back to the body and open the awareness of where in the body you may be feeling that thought or emotion.
Sensations may be subtle or quite obvious.
And in our practice today,
We will explore allowing the mind to feel feelings,
Think thoughts,
And then connecting them to where we feel it in our bodies.
And if there are no difficulties or concerns coming up for you now,
If you choose,
You may deliberately bring to mind a difficulty that has been going on in your life in this moment,
Something you don't mind staying with for a short while.
It doesn't have to be very important,
But it might be something that you're aware of is unpleasant or unresolved.
As you bring this concern to mind,
Allow it to rest on the workbench of the mind,
Picturing it,
Seeing it vividly if you can.
And then let your attention drop into the body,
Tuning in to any physical sensations that the difficulty is bringing up,
And seeing if you're able to move closer to the feelings that arise in the body,
Zooming in if possible to any physical sensations,
To any region of the body where they are.
And then with intention,
Breathe in to that part of the body on the in-breath and breathing out from it on the out-breath,
Turning toward these feelings and sensations and cradling them in our awareness.
Noticing the intensity may change from moment to moment or may not be there at all,
And that's okay.
And noticing how you react to whatever comes up,
Holding your reactions in spacious and compassionate awareness.
As we remind ourselves,
We're not trying to change our sensations.
We're not trying to change our feelings or thoughts.
We're simply noticing them in the moment and how they may connect with our bodies.
It's okay to feel this.
Whatever it is,
I can be open to it.
I'm breathing in and out.
As you practice this exercise with thoughts or feelings that bring up disturbance,
It's okay to remind yourself,
I don't have to like this feeling in my body or this thought in my mind.
It's okay to not want this.
Whatever it is,
Let's see if I can be open to it just as it is.
Open on each out breath,
Open to the sensation,
And on the in breath,
Take in the space that you need and breathe.
Staying to yourself,
Softening and opening.
And seeing if it's possible to stay with this awareness and our relationship to these thoughts and feelings and just breathe with them for a few moments,
Letting them be just as they are.
And as you notice that the thoughts and feelings and sensations change or fade away,
You may choose to come back to the breath or to bring up another difficulty to bring to mind and practice the exercise again,
Turning toward our difficulties,
Allowing them space to be just as they are.
And as you bring to mind that difficulty,
Dropping into the body again to notice any physical sensations that may arise.
And as you open your awareness to that area,
Breathing in and out from it.
And now as we move away from this practice without trying to push away the difficulties,
But opening up to something that feels okay or good and bringing into awareness a good thought or feeling and holding it in our awareness now,
Picturing it in the mind's eye and breathing it in and out.
And now like panning out with a wide-angle lens,
Open yourself to all the good and all the difficult.
Opening your awareness to all that is and breathing it in and out.
And opening the awareness to the room now,
Blinking the eyes and wiggling the toes and the fingers,
Taking an intentional in-breath and out-breath and coming back to the room now as we finish our practice together.
