Welcome,
I'm Hayley and I'm grateful that you're here joining me today.
This meditation is about being with physical discomfort.
Discomfort is an inevitable part of life.
We do everything that we can to resist it,
Remove it and avoid it but usually in doing so we create even more discomfort There is a famous Buddhist concept about two arrows.
Sometimes life happens and shoots an arrow into our side but the second arrow is shot by ourselves We can't always remove the first,
But we can always remove the second,
Because it represents the way in which we respond to life.
Even though the second arrow creates much more pain and discomfort than the first arrow.
We find ourselves trapped within an invisible container of our own perceptions and stories allowing this comfort to exist within you is one of the most powerful things that you can do if you want to feel more content and at peace within the chaos,
In the center of the storm So close your eyes and start to descend from the mind into the body.
Imagine a feather in front of you gently floating.
Almost dancing.
As it descends from the sky all the way down to the ground.
Now we'll take a few deep breaths together.
Inhaling through the nose all the way down to your toes and exhaling until your lungs are empty,
Refreshing the oxygen in your body As you inhale again you may like to bring your shoulders up to the ears.
And allow them to drop as you exhale And one more round,
Inhaling and exhaling.
Now resume your natural breathing rhythm and notice a place in the body where you are experiencing pain or discomfort of some sort If there is significant pain or discomfort that might be too intense,
So please use your intuition to guide you.
You might want to be with something that's somewhat uncomfortable.
If nothing obvious comes up,
See whether there's tension and be with that.
Or it could be hunger or needing the lube.
Once you've settled on something.
You don't need to change it.
All you need to do at the moment is to be with the sensation.
Notice whatever you can about the sensation.
Notice how it changes or whether there are multiple sensations at once.
Now notice any emotions or feelings that are connected Is there a sense of liking or disliking?
Is there an aversion?
Can you recognize a desire to move away from it or to stop it?
Now pay attention to the thoughts surrounding it Is there a story that's connected to it?
Such as it mustn't be there or there's something wrong with you for having this discomfort or it should have stopped being uncomfortable by now Often the more curious we can be with physical discomfort,
The less uncomfortable it becomes.
As you start to dismantle it to separate out the sensations from the thoughts and the feelings.
It can start to feel more neutral because you can experience it for what it is rather than for what your mind is overlaying over the top now keeping your attention on that place in the body Imagine a ring of light beginning to form around it.
Tracing the outline of the sensation Notice the colour of this light.
It might be gold or amber or a soft white.
Go with your intuition.
This glow carries a quality of safety discomfort and safety can exist in the same body,
At the same time,
In the same place it is okay to be uncomfortable It's okay to experience pain.
They are inevitable parts of life.
You notice that the light feels soothing and warm it's wrapping itself around the sensation like a gentle hug notice whether anything shifts now not necessarily the sensation itself but your relationship to it perhaps there's a little more spaciousness a little more room to breathe around it if your mind starts telling you a story about the discomfort again that it's too much or it shouldn't be here see if you can return to the sense of safety in your body allow the glowing light to soften the discomfort and soften the story Now ask yourself these questions.
What am I avoiding?
What am I ignoring?
What is my body trying to tell me?
There's no need to rush towards an answer sometimes the body knows before the mind catches up And these questions are just an invitation to listen a little more closely to what's already here.
Now begin to let the visualization fade and notice how it feels to have been with discomfort instead of against it even for a few minutes this capacity you've just practiced to stay,
To notice to let something be illuminated rather than pushed away can be practiced outside of this meditation as well.
With small discomforts as well as large ones.
You don't have to be at war with what's uncomfortable.
You can simply be with it and trust that you're safe enough to feel it and when you're ready,
Gently bring your awareness back into the room and open your eyes Thank you.
