Exploring Our Emotions

Hi,

Hello and welcome to Take 20.

My name is Julie and I'll be taking you through a relaxation exercise in just a moment.

Today's exercise is a meditation on our emotions.

So often in life and in meditation practice we can be a little bit dismissive towards our emotions.

We can push them away to try to achieve that perfect clarity of mind or in order to do our jobs or just be people in the world.

And sometimes when we do that the backlash of those emotions can be ever so strong and cause us to drown in them later on.

I've recently finished reading a book that wasn't wholly focused on emotions but it had some interesting things to say about them.

I would like to quote from it for you now.

Instead of experiencing emotions as being separate from you,

You're rather unruly employees so to speak,

You must actually feel the texture and real living quality of the emotions.

That's by Chogyam Drungpa,

A Buddhist teacher and scholar from Tibet in his book Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism.

He continues,

We have to be brave enough to actually encounter our emotions,

Work with them in a real sense,

Feel their texture,

The real quality of the emotions as they are.

We would discover that emotion actually does not exist as it appears but it contains much wisdom and open space.

End quote.

A wonderful book and all and I can definitely recommend it.

Following these wise words we are going to try to stop fighting our emotions today and to try to experience their texture and qualities.

If we aren't feeling peaceful today we won't try to change the emotions that we feel to try to be good.

We won't force ourselves to achieve peace or to achieve goodness because the problem is not that we are bad.

Today's relaxation will take around 25 minutes and during the exercise we'll try to feel several emotions and notice the effect of these emotions on our bodies.

We'll spend around 30 seconds with each emotion.

You can do this exercise both sitting or lying down but I do recommend you find the place where you won't be bothered for a while.

To begin we'll try to make ourselves comfortable.

Adjust your clothing,

Your position and your blanket so you can stay comfortable during the relaxation.

By breathing slowly we'll begin to relax our bodies for the next few moments.

Take a slow breath in and breathe out.

Breathe in and breathe out.

In and out.

Breathe in again and while you breathe out let go of the tension in your body.

Breathe in,

Breathe out and relax.

Continue breathing slowly and comfortably and let your breaths do the work for you.

Let them relax you.

Relax your toes,

Relax your feet and your legs,

Relax your buttocks and your belly,

Your chest and your shoulders.

Let your shoulders sink a bit.

Relax your throat,

Your chin and your jaw and let go of the tension in your forehead.

Then when you're ready begin to make a picture in your head of a safe place.

Imagine a place where you felt safe when you were younger or a place that makes you feel safe now.

Where would you go if you needed a little break?

Do you have a favorite room or a favorite chair?

A spot outside?

Think about a place where you felt safe before and make an image of that space in your mind.

Imagine the details of this place.

Now that we have a comfortable place in our minds,

Keep this image with you during the relaxation as a safe space.

Notice how you feel in this moment.

Feel the feeling of safety,

Of being totally comfortable.

How does it feel to feel safe?

How does your belly feel,

Your muscles,

Your face?

Where in the body can you feel this safety?

If at any point during the exercise you need a break,

You can return here by imagining your safe space.

Do this whenever you need to.

An emotion can be experienced in one spot in the body or in multiple locations.

When you experience an emotion,

Try to notice in your body where you experience this feeling.

Try to notice what you feel.

If there's any heaviness,

Any tension or tingling sensations,

Any comfort,

Warmth,

Lightness or butterflies,

Notice the parts of your body and notice your body as a whole.

With each emotion I mention,

I'll accompany you so you can feel the physical aspects of every emotion.

Remember that if you need a little break,

You can return to your safe space.

Now let us begin with the experience and attempt to come a little closer to our feelings.

Start the emotional awareness.

Imagine a feeling of bliss.

Think of a time where you were very glad and happy and let yourself experience a bit of this emotion again.

How does this happy feel in your body?

Create these sensations in your body.

Where in your body can you feel this happiness?

Experience the physical aspects of happiness for a few moments.

Continue the exercise and continue your emotional awareness.

Now imagine a feeling of anger.

Think back to a moment where you felt angry and allow yourself to experience a bit of this anger again.

How does this anger feel in your body?

Where in your body is this feeling of anger?

Feel the physical sensations of anger for a few moments.

Continue the exercise and continue your emotional awareness.

Now imagine the feeling of pride.

Think of a moment where you felt proud and let yourself experience that emotion again in this moment.

How does pride feel in your body?

Where in yourself can you experience this pride?

Feel the physical sensations of pride for a few moments.

Continue the relaxation and continue your emotional awareness.

Now imagine the feeling of sadness.

Think back to a time where you felt sad and allow yourself to experience this emotion again.

How does sadness feel in your body?

Where in the body can you find this feeling of sadness?

Experience the physical sensations of sadness for a few moments.

Continue the relaxation and continue your emotional awareness.

Imagine the feeling of enthusiasm.

Think of a moment in time where you felt enthusiastic and let yourself experience this emotion once more.

How does this enthusiasm feel in your body?

Where can you feel this emotion?

Experience the physical sensations of your enthusiasm for a few moments.

Continue the relaxation and continue your emotional awareness.

Now experience the feeling of embarrassment.

Think about a time where you felt shy or embarrassed and allow yourself to experience a bit of that emotion again.

How does this embarrassment actually feel in your body?

Where in your body can you discover the feelings of shyness?

Experience the physical aspects of embarrassment for a few moments.

Now experience the feeling of joy.

Think of a moment where you feel joyful and let yourself experience a bit of that joyful feeling again.

How does joy feel in your body?

Where in your body can you experience these feelings of joy?

Experience the physical sensations of joy for a few moments.

We've experienced several emotions together and for now let yourself just relax and let those feelings we evoked just be present.

Notice how you feel in this moment without trying to provoke specific emotions.

Let's just be for a few moments.

Let yourself feel whatever it is that comes floating to the surface in this moment.

Notice how your body feels.

Where in the body can you notice these things?

What does this tell you about the emotions you're now experiencing?

Can you name an emotion you're experiencing now?

Is there a name for a couple of the feelings you're having in this moment?

Just notice.

Notice your body and let your body tell you how it feels.

Let's conjure up the feeling of happiness again.

Where in your body is this happiness?

You can experience this feeling in this moment.

Feel the sensations in your body that belong to this feeling.

Let this feeling grow.

Feel this feeling of bliss and stay with it for a few moments and then when you're ready slowly come back to the here and now with your awareness.

Without opening your eyes notice your environment.

See the room you're in.

See the walls,

The ceiling and the floor.

See your body in this room and if you want you can begin to wake your body by making small movements with the fingers and toes and and whenever you're ready open your eyes.

Voila.

That was it for this week.

I hope you enjoyed the exercise and maybe you learned something from it.

When we're connected to our bodies they're capable of telling us all sorts of things.

As ever thank you very much for listening and hopefully until next time.

If you'd like to support my work and gain access to more relaxations like this one you can go to patreon.

Com slash Julie Albrecht or follow the link in the description.