Being With Emotions

This meditation is designed to help you practice observing your feelings and their associated physical sensations. You can use it if you wish to work on a particular emotion, or if you would like to practise emotional awareness. Please remember that some very painful or traumatic emotions are not suitable for this sort of meditation practice unless you have a professional to support you.

Transcript

I'm Amanda from Human Evolution welcome to this mindfulness practice on being with and observing our emotions so let's first take a few moments to get into a comfortable meditation posture if you're seated you might want to place your feet on the floor and have your back supported or erect but not rigid with your chin parallel to the floor and your hands supported on your lap or on a cushion if you're lying down maybe place a pillow under the head maybe under your knees have your arms supported on your belly or lying by your sides maybe you'd like a blanket or a light covering if you're standing or if you're in a public place on a plane or a train see if you can find a position in which you'll be comfortable where you won't be disturbed this practice is about being with our experience with an attitude of kindness towards ourselves so finding a posture that supports us in the practice is also an act of kindness in a small way so make a few last adjustments and when you're ready you can close your eyes and we'll start by just experiencing the sensations that we're feeling in the body right now so turn your awareness to the physical feelings in the body these might be where you feel in contact with the chair or with the floor or perhaps where your clothes are touching you,

Your shoes or the feeling of the air or the temperature on your skin feel into those sensations allow yourself to really feel them see if you can get a sensation of the whole body being here without judgement just being here and observe how the body is moving under the influence of the breath we don't need to change anything there just allow the breath to come and go allow the natural transition between in and out breath allow the body to receive and release the breath as it feels it wishes to do see where you feel the breath is it in the chest or the belly?

Is it in the back?

In the throat?

Perhaps you can get a sense of the whole body breathing and as we breathe out let's use this opportunity to soften a little feel in the out breath,

Soften the forehead,

The temples soften the jaw relax the shoulders soften the palms of the hands release a little into the lower back soften the hips,

The pelvis big muscles of the legs soften the soles of the feet let's allow ourselves to sink a little bit more into gravity and to feel the ground supporting us whether that's directly or indirectly through the chair whatever we're on,

Feel the support of that and it contacts our body allowing us to be in this position let's turn our awareness now to our emotions what is it like for you today in this moment in your emotions?

What we're doing here is observing so although it's difficult,

Just notice if there's any judgement trying to creep in and we can allow that to be there too we're not here to force anything just to allow,

To acknowledge what emotions,

What emotional state is going on for you right now?

What's that like?

Sometimes it's difficult to name or identify emotions it's hard to put a name on our feelings we don't have to name them here we just want to know more,

What's the experience like for you right now having this emotion we might find that our feelings want to suck us in and get us carried away on a train of thought so if you notice that happening bring your awareness back to the physical sensations of the body and the breath and allow yourself to ground there for a few moments before turning again to observe your emotions there's no right or wrong here whatever your experience is,

Is what is happening for you notice any judgement or any resistance sometimes there's a sense of wanting to push away emotions or not wanting to turn towards them and sometimes there are good reasons for that so we're not here to get rid of resistance but again to acknowledge and allow that if that is part of our experience there's room for everything here so noticing your feelings noticing any judgements noticing any wish to be rid or change these feelings you can ask yourself if you like,

How am I relating to my feelings right now what's the impact of them on me right now you might want to notice the quality of any feelings are they stuck do they feel like they're going round and round on a spin cycle perhaps they're quite changeable or perhaps there's a numbness and a lack of feeling what's the quality of your feelings we don't want to change anything we're here to observe and to accept whatever is going on for us notice where the feelings and emotions that we have in our mind take us to in our body what's the corresponding physical sensation perhaps there's a sense of tightness or tension somewhere in the body perhaps there's a sense of agitation in the whole body perhaps there are more pleasant feelings like excitement or expansiveness in the body physical sensations are arising in your body associated with your emotions where are you feeling it in your body have a little explore and when you notice where you're feeling your emotions in your body see if you can breathe into that area focus the breath into that part of the body where you're feeling it most strongly associated with your emotions if you can't find a specific part of the body perhaps breathe into the whole body on top of the head to the tips of the toes and out again as we breathe in,

Imagine a feeling of acceptance allowing whatever is there to be there no matter how much we would like it to be different just accepting what is there that acceptance is again a small kindness to ourselves relieving ourselves of part of our burden it can be difficult to be kind to ourselves and sometimes just the willingness to be kind is enough to start with so breathing in a sense of acceptance and allowing and as we breathe out a sense of soothing or releasing just notice if your mind has got carried away if you feel that you're being drawn into certain feelings or memories bring yourself back again to the physical sensations of the breath or in the body that returning yourself to the present moment is the art of mindfulness in that moment you have choice about where you'd like to direct your attention and then when you're ready,

Turn your awareness back to noticing your feelings in the mind and in the body if there's any judgement,

Allow that to be there too because for now that is also part of our experience and now take a moment to notice whether the feelings are different in any way to when we started this practice perhaps they are more intense having focused on them or perhaps they've changed in some way or perhaps how you relate to them has changed again there is no right or wrong answer here we're just observing how our feelings might change from moment to moment and now let's bring the attention back to the physical sensations of the body and of the breath moving the body feel a sense of the whole body being here occupying this space just as it is supposed to with no judgement,

Just being here I'm going to read a short poem by Rumi and then I'll ring the bell to end the practice this being human is a guest house every morning a new arrival a joy,

A depression,

A meanness some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor welcome and entertain them all even if they're a crowd of sorrows who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture still treat each guest honourably he may be clearing you out for some new delight the dark thought,

The shame,

The malice meet them at the door laughing and invite them in be grateful for whoever comes because each has been sent as a guide from beyond bell

Reviews

That was so gentle and useful. Thank you, I am bookmarking this.

Amazing. Excellent guidance. Thank you so much for this experience 💕

Thank you!

"we're not trying to get rid of resistance" thanks for this 🙏

Perfect. Trying to learn to recognize and accept emotions. Very helpful Thank you 🙏🏼

The longer meditation gave me plenty of time to connect with the emotion and keep coming back to it. This was a really nice mix of space and talking so that I could be in the emotion but remember to observe, not get swept away. I really - not enjoyed, because it was hard!! - I guess appreciated this meditation. It’s important work and this made it accessible.

Lovely. Perfect Rumi quote at the end as well. Thank you

Loved the poem at the end! Thank you ☺️

terrific! Thank you! I found myself so calm and grounded - a blessing

This was really helpful. The length was really useful to give me time to really bring myself present and to be with my emotions. Thank you!

Lifted the heaviness that resides deep within the gut & weighing down the shoulders!
A smile broadens across my lips & joy feeds my heart ❤️
Namaste 🙏🏻

Was good. Will practice again.

Thank you. Was able to go deeply into my emotions and release.

Relaxing, Blissful... the poem at the end closed things up beautifully 💕💫

This was exactly what I needed today. Lots of emotions swirling for me and I wanted to sit with them and work through them. I will do this one again!

A good practice, it really helps teach to be okay with emotions and even be okay with judgement about them, which is a really good thing to teach.

This is wonderful! Clear and very helpful. Thank you.

Clear and kindly guidance, thank you 😊

Amazing!!!! 💙💙💙

Just what I was looking for on a difficult day.