Hi,
I'm Cheryl.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
We often struggle against what is,
What is actually happening.
We often wish it weren't so.
And when we resist,
We often make this experience more difficult.
A diagnosis.
An unkind person in your life.
An unpleasant situation at work.
These can all be painful,
Frustrating,
Challenging,
Or upsetting.
And that's okay.
We can't make our feelings go away.
But when we resist it,
Or deny it,
Or wish it wasn't so,
We can actually make our own experience that much more difficult.
This meditation is designed to help you surrender to what is.
By looking more directly at your own resistance,
We can learn to simply let go of that resistance.
Let's begin by finding a comfortable position.
I invite you to close your eyes if that's comfortable.
And begin to just simply connect to your body.
Ground your attention downward,
Away from the busyness of your mind,
And into the felt senses of your body.
Feel your feet on the ground.
Notice the points of contact that your body is making with the chair.
Begin to notice a sense of weight or gravity gently connecting you to the earth below.
Take a moment to relax.
Relax your shoulders.
Soften your face.
Relax your jaw.
Then begin to connect for a moment to your breath.
Simply noticing or tuning in to the gentle movement of each inhale and each exhale.
Then simply take a nice deep breath in and a long full exhale.
Now I'm going to ask you to bring to mind something that's happening that you find challenging.
Something that you feel is getting in your way of your own peace or happiness.
Something that you say to yourself,
If only this wasn't in my life.
If only this weren't here.
As you bring this to mind,
Notice what's happening in your body.
Notice any shifts in physical sensation.
Notice any thoughts or perhaps any resistance.
Perhaps there's the thought,
I don't want to think about this.
Does your mind want to push it away?
Does your body feel closed or tightened a bit?
Whatever's there,
Simply notice it.
Now let's explore this resistance a bit more.
Again paying attention to your body,
Begin to actually relax.
Consciously soften.
Take a nice deep breath and as you exhale,
Feel a bit of softening.
Relaxing your shoulders,
Relaxing your jaw.
And notice that as you hold this thing in your attention,
You can also allow your body to soften and relax.
And begin to hold it in your attention without trying to get rid of it.
Without resisting it.
Take a nice deep breath and a nice exhale.
As you hold this in your mind,
Simply notice how it feels to not push it away,
But instead simply let it be.
You can ask yourself,
How is my resistance serving me?
How is it serving me to push it away?
How is it serving me to deny it or suppress it?
Ask yourself if your resistance to what is,
Is actually creating more tension,
More frustration,
More anger in your life.
Or is it serving you in some way?
You might find that it does serve you to resist it and that's okay.
You might also find that it does not serve you and if that's the case,
You might want to simply imagine how it would feel to simply let it be.
Letting go of the resistance to what is and simply let it be just as it is.
Now let's take one more nice deep breath in,
Inhaling space and openness and one more nice long exhale.
Using your exhale as an opportunity to let go,
To release tension,
To relax and soften your body.
Take a moment to simply feel your body and to recognize the okayness of this moment and to just be with what is.
