You can practice the following meditation while in the throes of strong emotions.
Or you can bring to your awareness a difficult life experience that's alive and fresh,
One in which you experienced discomfort.
When you have emotional pain,
Go into your bodily experience and just breathe and let it be.
There's a tendency to reject or resist our pain.
This practice of self-compassion is a radical shift and departure from rejection,
From resistance.
So notice if you have any judgmental thoughts or stories associated with the contracting pain that you're experiencing.
Notice if there is any part of you that wants this pain to go away,
Wants to fix it,
Wants something other than complete and unconditional acceptance of what is within you at this moment.
So we recognize that,
We acknowledge it.
Sit with the feelings.
Just wait and be here with it patiently.
Let it be.
Not rushing or waiting for an outcome.
Just be with the feeling.
Simply be with the constriction without trying to work through it.
That creates openness,
Spaciousness.
Allow the feeling to come to you.
Treat it as if it mattered,
With respect,
With curiosity,
With openness.
Simply be with the constriction without trying to work through it.
That not in our experience that we are trying to work through wants spaciousness more than anything.
It wants to be.
It wants to open.
It wants to flow.
It doesn't want to be manipulated or worked through or fixed.
It doesn't want to be empathized with so that it can change into something else.
See if you can respect that feeling.
Shift your focus from what the mind is telling you about the feeling or the experience and focus on the sensations in the body.
Let it be completely alright because you offer no fight or resistance.
Relax and open completely to this life feeling.
This is the way it is.
This is the way it is.
This is the way it is.
Breathe and accept all of the inner feelings and sensations.
See if you can experience the sensations without the storylines.
Tingling,
Throbbing,
Tightness,
Tension.
Maybe the breath is short,
Shallow.
Heart is accelerated.
If your eyes are closed,
Maybe they're moving back and forth very quickly.
Whatever the sensation,
Just notice it.
Be with it.
Go deeply into the flow of it.
Let it be completely alright because you offer no fight or resistance.
See if you can respect the feeling or the experience in the body.
Breathe and accept all of the inner feelings and sensations.
Let it be completely alright because you offer no fight or resistance.
Go deeper into this open and undefended space.
Feel the energies without words,
Without labels,
Without judgments.
Feeling sensations,
Feeling the energy moving throughout the body.
At the very core of this feeling may be a longing.
A longing for connection,
For love,
For safety.
For some noble virtue.
Open to the longing.
Feel the energy of it.
Let it be completely alright because you offer no fight or resistance.
Self-compassion is the opening,
Welcoming,
Non-judgmental awareness of the heart.
When we feel truly accepting and loved for who we are,
Exactly as we are,
There is a natural unfolding in growth.
Unconditional self-acceptance allows a natural outflowing of this energy,
This living energy.
This practice is not about transcending strong emotions or transforming them,
But accepting them,
Allowing them to flow.
Opening to the experience with the energy of mindfulness and self-compassion.
We seek to integrate the hurting parts,
The exiled parts,
The parts we tend to reject,
Fight,
Repress,
Or criticize as bad or judge as weak,
Unacceptable.
By simply observing and allowing,
You may find the emotions and sensations flow more easily.
This practice is not a fix.
It is more of a shift,
A different way of relating to strong emotions.
May your efforts be of benefit to you and to others.
