Basic awareness practice,
Emotions and emotional regulation.
Start by taking a moment to settle and relax before you begin.
Find a comfortable sitting position and listen to what the body needs,
Shifting position to be comfortable and balanced if necessary.
Begin by bringing attention to the body in relation to the space it's in,
Sensing the room and any objects around.
And shift attention to the entire body as it sits here.
Now move the attention to the breathing process in the whole body,
Breathing naturally,
Leaving the breath to find its own rhythm.
And come back to the sensation of the entire body.
And bring to mind your reasons for doing this basic awareness practice on emotions and emotional regulation.
What is motivating and inspiring you to engage with this process of inner development?
And finally,
Wish yourself success in this process.
This practice is to help you notice strong emotions the moment they arise and detect whether you experience these initial instances as thoughts,
Emotions or physical sensations.
This practice is also to help you build basic awareness by practicing awareness of the breath in the body.
It will also encourage you to question your life and to open up to possibilities of change and fulfillment,
Helping you build a picture of what your potential might be,
What may be helping you develop your potential and what may be limiting you at the moment.
Emotions may seem to happen to you.
In other words,
They overwhelm you in strong,
Deeply felt reactions as if you were a passive recipient lacking any control over them.
You might find it difficult to see the impact they have on you or others whilst you're under the influence of these strong emotions,
Such as anger that overwhelms you.
A first step to developing basic awareness of emotions is to notice the actual moment they arise and how they arise,
Whether as thoughts,
Emotions or physical sensations.
For example,
Noticing the first moment of joy as a warm feeling in your heart.
Bringing awareness to difficult emotions can also be a very effective strategy for diffusing them and dealing with them.
By bringing basic awareness to your strong emotions,
You're already exercising some active intervention in the way you experience your life moment to moment,
Rather than being passively led by habitual emotional reactions.
This opens up the possibility of intervening skilfully when you need to and offering you more choices on how you experience and manage powerful emotions.
And basic awareness of positive emotions enables you to savour them fully once they have been recognised.
So taking some time to find a comfortable sitting position with the back straight and not too tense.
Letting the head tilt slightly forward and resting it comfortably at the top of the spine.
Keeping the eyes either open or closed and changing that during the practice depending on what feels right.
If you have your eyes open,
Resting the gaze in front without focusing on anything in particular.
And relaxing the muscles around the eyes and the jaw,
Tucking the chin in slightly.
And adjusting to what the body needs during the practice,
Shifting that position to be comfortable.
And now take some time to take three deep breaths.
And ask yourself why you are doing this practice,
The benefits of doing it and the disadvantages of not doing it.
And who might benefit from you doing this practice?
And keep in mind this practice is to help you become aware of when and how strong emotions arise.
So now bring the attention to the natural breath in the body.
Taking a moment to realise that before you started this practice the body was breathing automatically without you being aware of that.
And now focus your attention on this natural breathing of the body as it breathes automatically without changing it in any way.
And be aware that the breath is noticeable at the navel area through the movement of the diaphragm.
Holding your attention on the body as it breathes,
As it breathes in and as it breathes out.
Noticing the quality of the breath,
Whether it's fast or slow,
Shallow or deep,
Whatever it might be.
And become aware of the length of the breath as it enters and leaves the body.
Not trying to change the length of the breath,
But just being aware of how short or long the breath is.
Simply observing the breath in the body and the sensations of the breath as it goes in and out of the body.
And if you become aware of any emotions,
Try to notice how you first experience the emotion as a thought,
An emotion or a bodily sensation.
Now,
Keeping this gentle breathing of the body in the background,
Bring your attention to the sensations of the air at the nostrils or the upper lip,
Making this your main focus of attention.
Keeping the sensations of the air at the nostrils or the upper lip in the foreground and still holding the body breathing in the background.
Noticing how the sensation of the air at the nostrils or the upper lip feels on the in and out breath.
Not trying to change anything,
Just focusing on the specific sensations at the nostrils or the upper lip and having an awareness of the body breathing in the background.
And again,
If you become aware of any emotions,
Try to notice how you first experience the emotion as a thought,
An emotion or a bodily sensation.
.
.
And now,
Broaden your attention to encompass the natural breathing of the whole body again as it breathes automatically in and out.
.
And finally,
Releasing your attention from the breath and bringing your attention back to the room.
So,
How was the practice for you?
What did you notice?
Did you experience any strong emotions during the practice and were they positive or negative?
If you did,
Were you able to identify them first as a thought,
As an emotion or in the body?
How easy or difficult was that for you?
Do you think this might help you start to regulate your emotions?
And how might this be useful for you in daily life?
And remember,
We're using the image of the spiral to show how certain personal qualities build on and reinforce each other in an upward spiral towards positive potential,
A positive reinforcement spiral.
Likewise,
Certain personal qualities also build on and reinforce each other in a downward spiral,
A negative reinforcement spiral.
So,
Using your learning from the previous practice on emotions and emotional regulation,
Simply note whether this may be helping you develop towards the top of the spiral or if it may be limiting you towards the bottom.
And finally,
Taking a moment to reconnect with your posture,
Rebalancing,
Relaxing and gently releasing any tension if necessary.
And becoming aware of the body breathing.
And taking a moment to recall your motivation for doing this practice.
And now bring to mind what you have experienced and learnt in this practice.
Have you discovered anything about yourself?
Have you begun to cultivate any helpful qualities or overcome or let go of any unhelpful qualities?
And how might this practice be beneficial and meaningful and contribute to the welfare and wellbeing of yourself and others,
Your family,
Friends and those close to you,
Those who inspire and nurture your positive development and all living beings and the environment they rely on?
And as this practice ends,
Try to carry this with you wherever you go by recollecting it occasionally.
