This meditation is called trusting the flow of feelings.
So I'm just going to be guiding you through some steps to support you in being with your feelings,
Welcoming them in versus resisting them,
Avoiding them or ignoring them.
So to start with,
I invite you to choose a position that you want to stay in for the duration of this meditation.
So you can either be seated,
You can lie down if you want,
You can even be standing up or walking is another option.
Just take a moment to choose and see which position would serve you in this moment.
And now I invite you to experiment with what are called the anchor points.
That's something that's going to support you in staying grounded through this meditation.
So it could be focusing your attention on the feet and you're sitting just feeling the way the feet are touching the ground or the floor.
Could be placing your attention on the hands.
You can even be touching your hands,
Holding them together.
Another anchor could be the breath.
That's the most common one.
Just choosing where you feel the breath strongest.
It could be through the nose,
It could be through the chest or your abdomen.
And another anchor point could be the music that will be playing in the background.
It's possible that you might choose more than one anchor point,
So you could have two.
And spend a few moments anchoring your attention there.
Whenever you get distracted or your mind wanders off,
Just gently bring your attention back to your anchor point.
And gradually settling in within yourself,
Coming into your own presence.
And from here I invite you to choose what it is that you'd like to work with in this meditation.
It could be something that happened recently that stirred up some feelings for you.
It could be something that happened in the past.
And I invite you to choose something that on a scale from 0 to 10 is below a 6.
And remember that if at any point during meditation practice you feel overwhelmed,
You can do several things.
For example,
If you have your eyes closed,
You can open your eyes,
You can shift your position,
You can give yourself a hug,
You can just stop the meditation.
Just remembering that you can always back off if something becomes too intense for you.
Once you choose something to work with,
I invite you to start to notice what are the layers that surround this particular feeling that got maybe stirred up by a particular experience that you had.
I'll give you an example.
If there is anger arising,
For some of us anger is kept in a structure,
Kept in place by certain thoughts and beliefs we took on as to how we need to be relating to that anger.
If as a child you weren't allowed to feel your anger,
To express your anger,
Most likely it's surrounded by some resistance,
Some sense of that it is not safe for you to feel angry.
Or there is no space for my anger,
Or it's better to just bottle it up inside.
So just noticing if you're working with a particular feeling,
With thoughts,
Resistances,
Maybe feelings on top of that feeling that are present.
Once again remembering to be curious,
Friendly with yourself,
Letting go of any judgment that might be also surfacing.
Once you start to identify those layers,
I invite you to simply respect them and simply to be here,
Just practicing giving space to what is arising and not having a preference.
Now I invite you to locate the feeling in your body.
Just noticing where does that feeling reside in the body.
Is it in the throat,
Chest,
Gut,
Abdomen,
Lower back,
Maybe the hips?
And once you locate the feeling in your body,
See if you can start to pay attention to the sensations that are also here.
So for example,
If the feeling resides in your chest,
You might notice a sense of numbness there or a sense of tightness,
Gripping.
You might notice this part of your body feels warm or cool.
Just paying attention and silently naming to yourself what it is that you are noticing.
And now I invite you to be here.
I invite you to see if you can identify and name the feeling.
Is it fear,
Sadness,
Grief,
Frustration,
Joy,
Excitement,
Peace?
Just take a few moments to see if you can identify this feeling that is connected to the physical sensations in your body.
And if you can't in this moment,
Just respect that.
There's nothing wrong with not being able to name the feeling quite yet.
And remember if you feel that you need a little bit more distance from the feeling,
You can go back to your painful point and keeping your attention there for a few breaths.
And when you feel more settled,
You can return back to the feeling.
And now I invite you to start to gently welcome the feeling in.
So instead of resisting it,
Pushing it away,
Can you just gently and gradually start inviting it in?
As if you are just saying yes to this feeling.
Giving it permission to arise,
To surface,
Giving it permission to be here.
As if you are saying to this feeling,
You have permission to be here.
Just continue to make space for this feeling.
Allowing it to expand to the extent that feels manageable to you.
Being careful with not overwhelming yourself and at the same time coming to your edge.
And if you can just breathe into this feeling,
Opening up to it.
And you might just experience this for 4 seconds,
Touching that feeling,
Might be 3 minutes,
Whatever feels right to you in this very moment.
Beautiful.
And I invite you to start to gradually bring this practice to completion.
I invite you to return to your anchor point,
The one that you chose in the beginning of this meditation.
And just stay with your anchor point for a minute.
So take care.
And if it feels comforting to you,
You can also place one of your hands on your chest,
Another one on your belly.
This is a way of grounding yourself a little bit deeper into your body.
If another combination of hands feels more comforting to you,
For example,
Placing both hands on the chest,
Both hands on the belly,
Just experiment and see what feels good to you.
And just stay with that for a few breaths.
And if you want to stretch or move in any way,
Allow yourself to do that.
Just remember you can come back to this meditation whenever you want to.
And my invitation to you is to simply trust the flow of your feelings.
Your feelings are not going to hurt you in any way.
We just have so many pulled up resistances to them and gradually you can start to peel the layers of these feelings and give yourself permission to be more fully alive.
Take care for now.
Bye bye.
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