Hi,
My name is Catherine Cook-Kouton.
Let's get started with the healing from trauma and stress,
Positive embodiment with feelings meditation.
Begin this practice by taking a moment and settling yourself into a comfortable position.
Find a position where you can feel both alert and relaxed.
Take time to connect with the ground below you.
Press your feet or your legs,
Your sitting bones,
Into the floor or your chair.
Take time to notice,
Do I feel supported?
Do I feel grounded?
If you feel like you need more support,
More groundedness,
Take a moment to make adjustments.
Maybe you add a cushion,
A pillow,
A blanket for additional support.
Secure what you need for your work to come from a supported and grounded place.
Now,
If it feels right,
Settle your gaze,
Gently allowing your eyes to soften or allow them to close.
As you sit grounded and supported,
Begin to notice your breath,
The flow of your breath in and the flow of your breath out.
There is no need to change your breath,
Simply notice it,
Allowing your attention to focus on the inhale and the exhale of your breath.
Maybe you notice that your mind is active.
Allow it to gently settle.
Maybe the thoughts can fade into the background.
You can come back to them later,
I promise,
Right?
For now,
Just focus on the breath,
The breath in and your breath out.
Feeling the support of the seat you are resting upon,
Feeling your entire body ground and connect as you rest here,
Just breathing.
Perhaps you track your breathing with a thought,
Breathing in,
I know I am breathing in and breathing out,
I know I am breathing out.
And right here,
Notice what's present in this moment.
Let go of the need for it to be a certain way,
Your breath,
Your body,
This moment.
As you breathe,
Consider that your feelings are an important part of your well-being.
Your feelings can be big,
Small,
Overwhelming,
Or hardly noticeable.
They can be messengers telling us something is or isn't okay right here and right now.
Or messengers from the past telling us an old story we may or may not want to hear.
Our feelings tell us about relationships and dreams.
They tell us what we want and do not want in our lives.
They motivate us and sometimes they get in our way.
Just breathe,
Considering these things.
When a person has been through stress or trauma,
Sometimes the experience of feelings can change.
It can feel like they are all there and overwhelming or all absent,
Elusive,
Hard to feel and connect with.
Sometimes we feel like we're feeling too much and sometimes we feel like we can't feel anything at all.
We can lose sense of the typical way feelings can be,
Our messengers of the past,
The future,
The right here and now.
And sometimes the more we shut them out,
The more challenging this aspect,
The emotional aspect of our lives can become.
Consider the word emotion,
The word e-motion,
Like energy and motion.
Emotion is a big part of that word.
Could it be that emotions,
Our feelings,
Are meant to move us,
Move through us,
Like our thoughts do,
Like sensations do?
And just as our thoughts and sensations tell us about our experience,
Most certainly we know they do not determine it.
Perhaps,
Perhaps feelings are this way as well.
They tell us about our experiences.
However,
They need not determine them.
So our emotions move us,
Yes,
But as a partner,
As a partner in our trajectory.
A quote I have loved since the first time I heard it,
I don't even know who said it first,
The way out is through.
I think this might be true about emotions,
That the way out of feeling stuck,
That stuck we can feel when emotions have not moved through us,
The way out is,
Well,
We dig in and feel them on our own terms at a pace we can manage and in this digging into what we are feeling,
We get open to the possibility that we can feel our emotions and maybe,
Just maybe,
As we feel,
We can heal.
Maybe there's something about the emotions moving through us allowing them to move us,
To speak to us,
To sometimes shake us to our core that heals this powerful movement of emotions,
Maybe shifts the scar tissue of our spiritual self so that it can soften,
Maybe even shed away,
Leaving us softened,
Open and ready for something new for what is next for us.
As Rumi,
The great poet says,
They are clearing us out for some new delight,
Or something new,
Maybe a sense of wonder or a bit more love,
A gentle opening that will let some light in.
So right here,
If you'd like,
Invite a feeling in and just breathe with it.
Notice how it moves your heart.
Notice the sensations as they move through your body or stay in one spot.
Just be with them.
Almost like sitting next to a friend who's having a hard time.
Or just there,
Maybe a hand on their back,
Breathing with anything that comes up and knowing that we've got this.
Yeah.
And take as much time as you need to be with this emotion.
If it's really moving,
Right,
And it feels like a lot,
Maybe grab a journal and a pen and let that emotion run onto the paper.
Maybe you're an artist and it runs onto the paper with many colors.
There are lots of ways to be with these emotions.
This beautiful healing process of being with.
If you'd like,
You can pause the meditation here and take some time to be with the emotion.
And if you'd like,
If you notice that the emotion is starting to soften on the other side of its peak,
Your heart is settling,
The sensations slowly dimming,
Lightening.
You can continue on as we close this meditation.
Place a hand on your belly and a hand on your heart and try saying this,
I feel so that I can heal.
Breathe here and notice your breath,
Your body,
Your connection to the seat below you and breathe in again and say,
I feel so that I can heal.
One more time,
A big breath in and then say,
I feel so that I can heal.
Noticing your belly under your hand,
Your breath and your heartbeat under your other hand and one more time,
Breathe in,
I feel so that I can heal.
Good work.
Breathe in,
Bring your awareness back to only your breath,
Having a sense of your entire body as you rest here,
Breathing and then maybe we track our breath,
Breathing in,
I know I am breathing in and breathing out,
I know I am breathing out.
Notice what is present in this moment,
Letting go of a need for your body,
Your beautiful and powerful emotions,
Your thoughts or this moment to be any certain way.
Now,
Let's complete this meditation with three gentle breaths.
Allow your eyes to gently open if they are closed,
Reorient yourself to your surroundings,
Maybe choose one thing upon which you can anchor your gaze.
Breathing in,
I know I am breathing in,
Breathing out,
I know I am breathing out.
Now,
Take a moment to thank yourself for taking the time for self-care,
Taking the time to heal.
Maybe consider what this meditation might mean to you or for you and if you're moved to do so,
Maybe take a moment at the end of this meditation and write in your journal or draw.
And I thank you for practicing.
Remember,
When working with our wounds,
It's helpful to move at the speed of trust within this work.
So when you're ready at the speed of your trust,
Perhaps I will share this time with you again.
A big breath in and a big breath out.
