IRest Within The Felt Sense Of Emotions

This iRest® practice offers a spacious guide toward experiencing emotion as a felt sense in the body. Throughout this practice, there are long pauses to allow time to fully be with what is present. There are also opportunities to explore what the felt sense of an opponent might be. A felt sense of peace and ease is interwoven throughout the practice to invite attention to explore emotion from a felt sense of well-being.

Transcript

So as we settle in for practice,

This I rest practice,

We're going to have an option here to welcome an emotion,

A thought or a belief that might be something that's really been coming to the surface lately or something that you're wanting to work with.

So just note first before we dive in,

Is there some particular feeling,

Heart feeling,

Or some particular thought or belief that you've been spending a lot of time with?

And if there is just kind of making a note for yourself that this might be something that you want to visit in the practice.

It's almost like we're kind of setting an intention here to come to visit with this messenger.

So continue settling in.

Are there any last movements that you'd like to make?

Is your body comfortable?

And maybe could the body be more comfortable?

You know,

Adjusting a blanket or a pillow,

Something else,

Just starting to find a restful position for the body.

And you might notice how the breath is coming and going,

The sensation of the surfaces beneath that are holding the body.

And senses might be a bit open here,

Noticing and welcoming the sound of my voice as it arrives to your ears.

You might also be noticing other sounds in your environment,

Or far off in the distance,

The temperature of the room where you are.

There might be a taste or smell that you notice.

And whether eyes are open or closed,

There may be even specks of light or shadow,

Color,

Even behind the eyelids.

And if eyes are open,

You may be kind of welcoming sight without looking at anything,

Just taking in the environment around you.

And then turning attention inward.

What's present?

What wants to be noticed?

Is there a heartfelt feeling?

Is there an intention as you welcome these elements of yourself?

Can you also tap in momentarily,

Just touching in to a feeling of ease,

The gentle flow of breath,

A sense of calm,

And without directing attention towards anything in particular just yet,

Simply taking in this landscape of inside.

The sense of inner resource,

Peace,

Calm,

Ease may be present.

The heartfelt desire of purpose and meaning,

Living with connection,

Love,

A sense of joy.

There may also already be present if you're wanting to work with an emotion or a thought.

There may be something there lingering.

We're taking all of this in,

This whole landscape,

This whole body,

This whole being,

And then turning attention to sensation of the mouth,

The inside of the mouth,

Alive with sensations,

The teeth and gum and leading to the hinge of the jaw,

Alive with sensations.

Feeling your way,

Nothing to name or decipher,

Just sensing the inside of the mouth,

And the teeth and gums that lead to sensation of the jaw,

And feeling the muscles of the face around the mouth,

Around the eyes,

Around the ears.

Nothing that needs to be decided on or discovered or figured out,

Just observing and noting sensations of facial muscles,

Noticing the skin on the forehead,

The eyes resting in their sockets,

Noting sensation that spreads across the cheeks,

Out to the ears,

Throughout the scalp,

And noting the whole head as sensation,

The skull and the facial muscles and deep inside,

Dropping attention down through the walls of the throat,

Spreading across shoulders,

Noticing the fronts of the shoulders,

The backs of the shoulders,

And feeling deep inside in the joint of the shoulder,

One and the other,

Shoulder sensation,

Giving way to arms as you sense moment to moment down the bones of the arms,

Tissues and muscles,

The skin,

Down the arms,

Into hands,

Fingers,

Noticing a vast number of sensations or a field of sensation of hands and fingers.

There may be places that feel warm,

Places that feel cool,

Noticing the tops of the hands and the bottoms.

Is there a sense of quietude and ease somewhere in the hands,

A softness,

And might that naturally lead to feeling its opposite,

A vastness or an aliveness,

Humming and buzzing.

And hand sensation opens back to arms,

Perhaps noting where arms may feel heavy or sinking,

And that may also point to where arms feel light,

Weightless,

Floating,

And the mind may have its likes or dislikes and may want to point or lean towards one or the other,

And simply noting arms as heaviness,

Sinking,

Arms as alightness,

Floating,

Nothing to figure out,

Nothing to change,

Just sensation,

And bringing attention back inward to the core of the body as the torso opens as sensation,

Feeling into the front of the torso,

The back of the torso,

Meandering through the sensations,

One side and the other,

Letting go,

Like peeling back labels,

Letting go of the words that the mind creates about sensation,

Just feeling torso,

Both alive and vibrant and also at ease,

Peaceful,

Calm,

The feeling of the hips,

As hip sensation gives way to legs,

Feeling your way down,

No hurry,

No place to end,

Simply noting the bones of the legs,

The muscles and tissues around the surface of skin,

All of these sensations,

Moment to moment sensing,

Feeling all the way down to feet and toes,

And then opening attention back up the body,

Like opening the lens on the camera,

Feet and toes,

Legs,

Torso,

Head and neck,

Arms and hands,

Feeling all the outermost edges and deep inside,

And feeling the midline of the body,

As if you could imagine just drawing a line down the center of the body,

One side and the other,

As you take your next inhale,

Feeling the air flowing in to one nostril,

Opening to sensation of this side of the body,

And as you exhale,

Let attention rest wherever it lands,

Wherever it is,

As you take the next inhale,

Feel the air flowing in through the other nostril into this side of the body,

And as you exhale,

Letting attention rest where it lands,

In your own pace,

Side to side,

Attention flowing in as sensation through one nostril down into this side of the body,

And then resting there,

Resting there with the exhale,

Taking your time,

There may even be little pauses at the end of the breath,

Before air flows back into the opposite nostril and opens attention to this side,

It may only be a part of the side,

Maybe the side of the head or shoulder or down one arm,

It may open more into the whole half of the body,

Nothing to force,

Just following,

Sensation from side to side,

Breath to breath,

And noting where the thinking mind wants to label or analyze,

Can you give up those words,

Staying with the breath itself as pure sensation,

Flowing in through one nostril into this side,

Pure sensation as this side of the body lights up,

And then the other side,

With the next inhale,

Feeling the air flow into both sides,

Both nostrils into the whole body as sensation,

The whole body lighting up,

And the exhale dissolving out through every pore of skin,

Giving up the doing and the busyness of breathing,

As you wait for the next breath to flow in through every pore of the skin,

And back out,

Observing breath to breath,

This whole body,

Porous,

Spacious,

And momentarily,

Touching back to what feels joyful or meaningful,

What feels peaceful,

And at ease.

And noting,

If there is an emotion or thought that's wanting to be visited,

What's knocking at the door,

As you note this content that's arriving,

How does it arrive,

Where does it felt in the body,

And if it's helpful,

Can always touch back to the feeling of the inner resource,

This place of peace and ease,

This content that's arriving,

May be localized,

Perhaps in some core central place,

Or it may have different feelings throughout the body,

Or even one global sensation,

Having to figure out just being with what is,

What is present,

And at any point,

What's present may shift as attention might come to notice something that is its opposite,

Or you might inquire,

What is the opposite of this that I'm feeling?

Does it have a different temperature?

Does it hold a different space in my body?

How does it arrive?

Does it have movement?

And then shifting attention back and forth in your own time,

Coming back to the original content,

Spending some time,

However much is right with that,

And then shifting attention back to the opposite,

Welcoming and spending and spending time with that.

And at any point,

Weaving in feeling of peace and ease,

As you're moving back and forth,

There may be accompanying sensations or images,

Words,

No right or wrong,

Just welcoming what is as attention moves from one to the other.

At some point,

You might open to both both the original and its opposite,

Both true,

Both felt sensations,

Images,

Words,

All free to be here now.

And this inner resource,

This feeling of ease and peace also present.

And what else is true?

As all of this moving,

Changing content is present?

Is there a vast or spaciousness in the background?

And what wants to be remembered a particular thought or feeling a new understanding or idea holding with you,

Whatever message felt pertinent,

As you touch back to the feeling of the surfaces that are holding the body,

The temperature of the air around you,

What wants to be remembered,

That's living through you,

As you begin to take in the surroundings of the room around you,

The senses opening sounds within the body,

Sounds in the distance,

And in your own time,

Begin to bring attention back into the room,

As movement might begin back and fingers and toes,

As the body begins to reawaken to the spaces around you.

And before the mind comes back to the doingness of the wakeful state,

What wants to be remembered?

What's living through you?

What message has come to visit,

Holding these with you,

And perhaps to jot them down on paper as you return to your wakeful state,

Or even setting an intention to work with this content at a later time?

How does this content want to be worked with?

So take your time rejoining the rest of your day or evening,

Taking your time as you return to your wakeful state.

Reviews

A masterful and powerful iRest practice. Thank you, Jill!