Welcome to this meditation where we'll open up to emotions that may surface after grounding ourselves by focusing on our breath and body sensations.
If at any point during the meditation you feel overwhelmed or agitated by a strong emotion,
You may want to shift your attention to something that grounds you.
For instance,
You might open your eyes,
Reminding yourself of where you are,
Or place your hand onto your chest and guide yourself back to a sense of safety.
Now feel free to shift your position or make any movement that allows you to be comfortable.
You may roll your shoulders back or turn your head to invite some softness into your neck.
If it feels safe,
You may close your eyes or simply cast your gaze down.
Let's take a few full breaths.
With each inhale,
Notice the expansion of your body.
And with each exhale,
Become aware of an opportunity to soften and release.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
You may notice the natural rhythm of the breath.
Perhaps gently scanning the body and noticing if there is any obvious tension that you could release easily.
Maybe letting the eyes and face be soft.
If it helps to soften your facial muscles,
Feel free to blow some air into your cheeks or open and close the mouth a few times to relax the jaw.
Relaxing the shoulders and letting the arms and hands rest easily.
Letting the belly be soft and unguarded and the breath natural.
I invite you to let the heart be soft as well,
To receive whatever arises with kindness and compassion.
It may help to soften the heart if you envision a faint smile spreading across the chest.
Not to mask or push away any unpleasant sensation,
But rather to make space for whatever shows up.
Not to mask or push away any unpleasant sensation,
But rather to make space for whatever shows up.
Now bringing a kind and gentle awareness to the breath.
Feeling each breath and inviting a sense of calm and ease to grow.
Inhaling.
Exhaling.
If you notice that your mind has wandered off,
Return to the next breath.
Try to do this without judgment and instead with kind attention.
Now you may become mindful of any emotions that call your attention.
And you can bring the same loving awareness to them as you have to the breath.
When an emotion arises,
Let go of attention to the breath and let the emotion come to the foreground,
Receiving it kindly.
You may imagine these emotions as if they were beads on a string.
You can look at each bead with curiosity and care,
Noticing their uniqueness and even noting the space in between them.
It can be helpful to name the emotion softly and continuing to observe as they rise and fall.
And continuing to observe as they rise and fall.
You may also notice the space in between the emotions like the space between the beads on a string.
For example,
Noting to yourself curious,
Sad,
Sad,
Joy,
Joy,
Numbness,
Or bored,
Bored,
Anxious,
Excited,
Peaceful.
As you attend to the emotion,
You may notice where you feel it in your body.
Also notice what happens if you bring a kind awareness to it.
Does it dissolve or get stronger?
Does it change into another emotion?
Notice that too.
If you feel resistance to contacting the emotion or it feels very strong,
You can use your resources to find calmness.
Perhaps with a hand on the heart,
Direct your attention to an emotion that is less charged.
You can then allow the stronger emotion to return later without immersing yourself right into its center.
It is wise to befriend your emotions gradually.
Now bringing your attention back to the breath,
Let's take three more full breaths.
Perhaps breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth if you like.
Now you may want to bring your hands together in front of your chest and first feel into this human touch,
Palm to palm,
Fingers to fingers.
Then rubbing your hands together,
Noticing the different sensations arising,
Sound,
Warmth,
Humidity or dryness,
And then bringing that to a halt.
Now you may like to bring each hand onto the opposite shoulder,
Holding yourself in an embrace,
Relaxing the shoulders.
Feel free to remain in this loving container for a moment,
Making space for everything that is.
Now you may relax your arms and open your eyes whenever you are ready.
