So starting out,
It's always helpful to check in with the posture.
Find a position that is a balance between uprightness and relaxation.
So it's fine to lean against the chair.
We just don't want to be too slouched or slumped over.
I'm checking in to see if there's any unnecessary muscle tension.
Loosening the face,
The brow,
The jaw,
The neck and shoulders.
Relaxing the arms,
The hands.
Noticing how the breath moves naturally in and out of the chest and belly.
No need to control it.
Feeling the weight of gravity.
And for a few breaths,
Spreading attention over the whole body.
Just feeling whatever sensations arise.
And lemme see.
.
.
So we're going to start out,
As I mentioned,
By finding a place to anchor attention that is neutral or relatively pleasant.
And this will be like our safe space in the present moment,
So that we can explore emotion and know that there's somewhere else to turn attention if emotional sensations get too unpleasant to be productive.
There are several different places we might go.
You might be aware of certain parts of the body that are neutral and don't seem to reflect emotional sensations.
Commonly the hands,
The feet.
So for a moment just feeling the sensations in the hands and feet.
Maybe a subtle vibration.
Maybe just rapid fire signals one to the next to the next.
Noticing that even if distractions are present,
Even if other sensations are more prominent,
You can hold your attention here.
Another option,
You might be aware of a sense of space around the body.
Almost as if you could feel beyond the edges of the body.
For some people this is prominent,
For other people it's not there at all.
So just seeing what's present,
Feeling what's present.
And checking in,
Is this a peaceful place to be?
Is this a useful resource for you?
Or do you just want support?
Feeling the space around the body doesn't imply that you won't feel body sensations.
They're just kind of happening in the background.
They're happening inside of a space.
The third option would be to anchor attention in the space of sound.
So moving attention out of physical sensation and into hearing.
Noticing sound and the space in which it arises.
Listening into that space.
The third option would be to anchor attention in the space of sound.
The fourth option would be to anchor attention in the space of sound.
And again noticing is this soothing?
Paying attention to any quality of peace,
Relaxation,
Nourishment that comes from this direction of attention.
The fourth option would be to anchor attention in the space of sound.
So we have the attention in the space of sound.
So we have these three resources.
And you're welcome to use any one of them,
All of them,
Even combinations.
Whatever works for you.
Hearing into the space of sound.
Feeling the space around the body.
Feeling the hands,
The feet.
And in any of these cases knowing that whichever place your attention is anchored,
What you are sensing is happening right now.
This sensation,
This sound.
Without history.
Without meaning.
Without meaning.
Without meaning.
So knowing that at any moment you can take all of your attention and just rest in any of these resources.
We'll now invite some awareness of emotion in the body.
So it tends to be that emotion plays out over the surface of the body,
The front of the torso,
The front of the throat,
The face.
It tends to come and go in waves,
Tends to be subtle,
Vibratory,
Almost like a wind or flowing sand.
Tingling.
And once in a while you might be aware of emotional centers deeper in the body.
These tend to feel like knots or tight muscles,
But you know them to be emotional.
So any of this is fair game.
But we want this exploration to be gentle.
We're practicing a looser,
More accepting way of relating to these sensations.
So you might notice your mind revs up the minute you start to feel that there's nothing you need to do right now.
Just gently exploring the texture,
The size,
The shape,
Any sense of movement.
And if no emotion arises in a given moment,
Then with equal curiosity explore that restful state.
Explore the absence of emotion,
Feeling the texture,
The spaciousness,
Apparent size and shape,
Any sense of movement.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
There are several ways of working with these sensations that can make them less problematic.
One way is by noticing the change over time.
So you might notice there are moments of increasing and decreasing intensity.
Or waves of sensation that have endings and rest in between them.
And if you're finding it difficult to stay focused,
You can use mental labels to keep track of this change over time.
Labels like more,
Less,
Same and rest to track increasing intensity,
Decreasing intensity,
The same intensity or rest.
There's no emotion present.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Another way to work with emotional sensations is to focus on the response,
Focusing on the quality of acceptance.
So in the body,
This translates to staying loose,
Relaxing any muscles that have habitually tightened.
And in the mind,
Just cultivating an attitude of,
It's okay,
This is okay.
If things feel good,
That might be quite easy.
If things feel unpleasant,
Maybe it takes a little more effort.
If there's very little going on emotionally,
That might be particularly challenging.
But again,
That's just how it is right now.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
One more way of exploring is to spread attention between noticing emotion and whatever resource you were enjoying.
The sensations in the hands and feet,
The space around the body,
The space of sound.
So attention gets really wide,
Wide and thin.
Room for everything,
But you can't get really clear about anything.
You don't need to.
Okay.
Okay.
See what happens when you apply less effort.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Nothing to do.
Okay.
Okay.
