Welcome to this short practice on working with painful emotions and easing bodily tension.
If you feel any kind of difficult emotion,
Like stress,
Anxiety,
Agitation,
Anger or upset,
That emotion will show up in your body.
For example,
Anxiety often manifests as tight muscles,
Stiffness in the neck and shoulders,
A knot or butterflies in your belly.
Anger shows up in the body as tightness in the jaw,
Arms,
Shoulders,
Back and chest.
You may also feel a surge of energy and heat in your chest and throat,
Or a hot,
Churning feeling in your gut and solar plexus.
This practice will help you learn to first notice these somatic sensations,
Then use the breath and a simple imagery technique to soften and soothe places of tightness and tension in your body.
Start by finding a comfortable position,
Either sitting or lying down.
If you're sitting,
Make sure your feet are flat and firmly grounded on the floor.
Gently roll your shoulders back and imagine a golden thread pulling your head,
Neck and spine into alignment.
It's helpful to sit in an upright but relaxed posture.
Close your eyes if that feels comfortable for you,
Or soften and lower your gaze.
Start taking some nice deep breaths,
In through your nose and out through your mouth.
Keep breathing,
Slow,
Deep and steady.
Now,
As you continue breathing deeply,
Check in with your emotions.
How are you feeling right now?
You may be someone who's easily in touch with your emotions,
Or that might be a bit trickier for you.
If you're not feeling great right now,
See if you can detect exactly what those particular emotions or emotional states are.
You may be feeling stressed,
Upset,
Anxious,
Angry,
Hurt,
Lonely,
Sad,
Agitated,
Frustrated,
Irritable,
Bored,
Empty or numb.
We can also feel mixed emotions,
Perhaps a combination of uncomfortable feelings,
Or a mixture of positive and negative emotions,
Like nervous but excited,
Or sad but content.
Take a few seconds to see if you can get a fine-grained sense of what's going on inside,
Emotionally,
Right now.
Now you hopefully have a sense of what you're feeling,
Let's mindfully scan your body to see if there are any places of tightness,
Tension or bracing.
These tight places are the way those emotions are manifesting in your body right now.
So take a moment to scan,
Especially your throat,
Shoulders,
Chest and belly,
And see what you notice.
When you find places of tension inside,
Now imagine that you can send a warm,
Caring,
Compassionate breath into that place in your body.
So on the in-breath,
Feel it travelling in through your nostrils,
Down through your throat and into your lungs.
But then it keeps going,
Into your back,
Chest,
Belly,
Or wherever that tight place may be.
Keep breathing,
Sending that warm,
Friendly breath into those tight places in your body.
Stay with that for 30 seconds.
If you get distracted,
It's fine.
Just bring your attention back into your body,
Back to the breath.
As you breathe like this,
You may notice those places start to soften,
Relax or loosen a little.
This may be quite subtle,
Or may not happen at all,
Which is fine.
But if you do notice any sense of softening,
Focus on that for a few moments and enjoy it.
Now you can let go of directing the breath to any particular place,
But keep breathing deeply.
And I want you to imagine a warm,
Golden light shining down from above the top of your head,
As if you are sitting in a spotlight's beam.
See this soft light shining down,
Bathing your head,
Face and neck,
Then your shoulders,
Arms and hands,
Upper back and chest.
Now it's lighting up your lower back,
Hips and belly.
This stream of light now broadens,
Shining onto your upper thighs,
Knees,
Calves and feet,
Until your whole body is glowing with this warm,
Healing,
Golden light.
Feel your whole body drenched in a warm,
Loving energy.
And know that this energy is both all around and inside you.
It's the love of every person who's ever cared for you,
Every kind family member,
Friend,
Teacher,
Colleague,
Therapist,
Mentor,
Partner,
Child or beloved pet in your life.
Everyone who has ever loved you.
It's also the love you feel for yourself,
Or potentially could feel for yourself,
Even if that can be hard to access or feel right now.
Know that the kind,
Wise,
Loving,
Adult part of you loves you unconditionally.
Keep breathing,
Feeling your whole body soften and relax with your compassionate breath and this warm,
Healing energy lighting up every cell of your being.
Just sit quietly and enjoy that for a while.
Now imagine this light starting to fade.
It's fading,
Fading and then it's gone.
Relax all efforts.
Just sit peacefully and be with whatever you notice inside.
Hopefully you're feeling calmer,
More peaceful and relaxed.
If not,
That's perfectly okay.
It may take a little more practice before you can let go.
But if you are feeling anything good,
Just enjoy that and let it soak in for a few seconds.
Then start shifting your attention to the external world.
Notice the weight of your body resting on the chair,
Your feet on the floor.
Become aware of the sounds all around you.
Then slowly blink open your eyes.
Thank you for meditating with me,
Sending you love and warm thoughts wherever you are in the world and whatever you might be struggling with right now.
I hope you can carry this sense of relaxation and calm into the rest of your day.
