Being With Emotions And Body Scan

This practice is adapted from my book, "Embodiment and The Treatment of Eating Disorders: The Body as A Resource in Recovery" (Cook-Cottone, WW Norton, 2020). Use this practice when you are feeling an emotion. I will guide you through each layer of the emotion as it resides in your- body, breath, and thoughts. You might consider journaling after this meditation using colored pencils to record what you noticed across the layers of your embodied experience of emotions.

Transcript

Hi, This is Catherine Cook-Atone, Author of Embodiment and the Treatment of Eating Disorders. The body is a resource in recovery. I'll be reading from script 9. 10, Being with Emotions Body Scan. Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down. Bring your journal and pen or pencil with you so that you can jot down your experience after the meditation. If you want, Simply press pause here while you go get them. While lying or sitting in a comfortable position, Take a few moments to simply breathe and notice your breath. Allow your body to settle. If it feels right for you, You can close or soften your eyes. Notice with a sense of welcome the sounds around you, The sensations of your body on the chair or couch or in your bed, The feeling of your clothes on your body, And the smell of the air. Here, Bring to mind an emotion that you would like to work with. Breathe and relax as you invite the emotion into your awareness, Remembering that you are working hard toward befriending your emotions and your emotional experience. Experience the emotion considering your whole body, Your breath, Even what's going on in your mind and thoughts. Then bring your attention to just your body. We will begin by simply being with the emotion as it's experienced by your body. Where is the feeling present in your body? Do you notice any sensations in your feet, Your legs, Your core, Your chest, Your shoulders, Your arms, Your hands, Your neck, Your scalp, Your face? Can you describe the feeling that you're noticing? Does it have form, Shape? Does it seem to have firm boundaries? Or is it widespread with no edges or endpoints? Is it a big feeling or a small feeling? Is it a comfortable or uncomfortable feeling? Is there tension or relaxation with this feeling? Do you have a sense of wanting it to go away or a sense of wanting it to stay or neither? Just notice these things. Now we will be with this emotion as it is experienced by your breath. How is your breathing as you experience this emotion? Is it fast, Slow, Deep, Shallow? Is it smooth or filled with pauses and stops? Does your breath come from your chest or does it come from your belly? Where do you notice it most? We will now be with the emotion as it resides in your thoughts. Bring your awareness to your thinking self. Do you notice a thought pattern that goes with this feeling? Are there memories or a story that kicks in? Are there judgments, Doubts? Do you notice your brain trying to solve or fix something or change the feeling in some way? What do you notice about your thoughts? Breathe here and just notice. If you'd like, Before we end this practice, Travel back through the layers, The feeling. How is it in your body? Yeah, That first layer of the body and then the breath layer and your thoughts. Learning again how the emotion resides in each layer of you and just being with, Being with each of those layers and the sense of whole with this emotion. Nothing to fix, Nothing to change, And everything just to notice. When you are ready, Begin to bring your awareness back to the room, The chair, The couch, Your bed. You might wiggle your toes and fingers and roll your ankles and wrists. Slowly open your eyes if they were closed and then find an object in the room upon which you can anchor your eyes, Your gaze. Slowly bring your awareness back to the room. If you'd like, Pick up your journal and write down what you noticed across each layer of you, Your body, Breath, And mind. Thank you so much for practicing.