Hello and welcome to this 10-minute meditation on feeling emotions in the body.
Let's start with a broad awareness of the body.
So just tuning in and feeling the sensations of the body,
Feeling the whole of the body or as much of it as you can,
Just noticing how it feels right now.
And you might already have some sense of how your emotional state is showing up in the body.
It might feel agitated or peaceful,
Tense or relaxed or something else.
And now starting to focus attention in the chest area,
Inside the chest where the heart is.
And you might find it helpful to feel the breath here as a way of guiding your attention into this area of the body.
I feel the breath flowing in and out of the chest.
Or if there's some other part of the body where you're likely to feel your emotions,
Then you can focus there.
But focusing attention on the area of the body where emotions might show up,
Which is most likely to be inside the chest.
And just noticing what you can feel there.
Exploring the sensations in this area of the body with a curious attitude,
With a receptive attitude.
I'm not trying to make anything happen.
I'm just trying to notice what's here,
What it feels like inside the chest or any other part of the body that you're focusing on.
And probably you don't feel much of anything.
That's completely fine.
This is a practice that bears fruit with consistent repetition.
So we're just feeling this area of the body,
Just noticing how it feels.
And in particular,
We're looking to notice if there are any emotional sensations here in the body.
Any sensations that are associated with your mood right now,
With your emotional state.
It could be sensations of tightness,
If you're scared,
If you're angry,
A kind of spreading warmth if you're happy,
Or any number of other kinds of sensations.
Just exploring with that curious receptive attitude,
Listening to the body,
As it were.
Listening out for the notes of emotional tones in the body.
And again,
It's fine if you can't feel anything much.
That's probably the case.
If we keep listening to the body,
Doing the practice again,
And again,
We might find we become more attuned to it,
More able to pick out the notes or the flavors of emotion as they show up here.
So we're just feeling that part of the body where emotions might show up,
Most likely inside the chest,
But not always.
We might be breathing into this area,
Just to help us focus our attention there.
And we're listening out for these sensations that have to do with our mood or emotion.
And if you can feel emotional sensations here in the body,
Just exploring them gently,
Staying curious,
Staying receptive,
Just noticing what they feel like as sensations.
We don't need to get caught up in any stories that are attached to them,
That are attached to our mood.
We don't need to think about what's making us feel this way or what it means.
We're just exploring the sensations themselves,
With curiosity and also gentleness,
Holding them gently in our awareness,
Exploring them gently with our attention.
And if there's nothing much to be felt,
That's fine.
Just holding this area of the body with that gentle curious awareness,
Just listening out for any notes of emotion among the sensations of the body.
Continuing to feel the body,
Receptive to any emotional sensations in the body,
Exploring them gently when you notice them.
I'll leave you in silence for the final minute of the meditation to carry on practicing in this way.
And now we can bring this meditation to an end.
