Hi,
This is Jonathan.
This session is aimed at helping us work with our emotions,
Both positive and negative.
Let's get started.
Find a comfortable sitting position on a mat or in a chair with your spine straight and long and the top of your head gently reaching toward the ceiling.
If you're in a chair,
Keep your feet flat on the floor.
Rest your hands in your lap or on your knees or thighs.
Take a deep breath through your nose and into your belly.
Exhale and gently close your eyes.
Now bring your awareness to your feet and relax your feet.
Relax the muscles of the shins.
Relax the knees and the muscles of the thighs.
Relax your pelvis.
Relax your stomach,
Your lower back,
And your chest.
Relax the hands,
The lower arms,
The upper arms.
Relax your shoulders.
Relax the neck and relax the muscles of the face.
Breathe naturally and comfortably,
Allowing your breath to find its own natural rhythm.
And for a few moments,
Stay in this state with your awareness on your breath.
If your mind wanders,
Become aware that thinking is happening and bring your awareness gently back to the breath.
Now,
Call to mind a mildly painful memory.
Nothing too traumatic.
Maybe someone cut you off in traffic today or interrupted you while you were speaking.
Or visualize an image of someone or something that provokes you or frustrates you or makes you experience anger.
And for a few moments,
Hold this thought or this image in your mind.
Now,
Recall a pleasant memory.
Something that evokes joy or happiness or delight.
Or visualize an image of someone or something that brings you happiness.
And for a few moments,
Hold this thought or this image in your mind.
With this painful emotion and this pleasant memory,
Gently shift your awareness and focus to your breath,
Wherever you feel most the sensations of breathing.
At the rising and falling of the belly or at the movement of air at the nostrils,
Breathe naturally and become aware of your mind has wandered off and gently bring your awareness back to and for the next minute of silence,
Stay in this state of gentle breath awareness.
When the mind wanders away,
Or you're distracted by physical sensations or sounds,
Allow them to be without judgment and gently bring the mind back to the breath.
Do this as often as it happens.
One minute of silence begins now.
Now,
Remembering that anything can rise in our awareness at any time and be support for meditation,
Recall again the painful memory.
And this time notice the emotion that comes with it.
Maybe anger or frustration,
Jealousy or resentment.
Now shift your awareness from the memory,
From the thought to the emotion itself.
Allow yourself to feel it completely and without judgment.
Be fully present and aware with the experience of this emotion.
And now try to find the emotion.
Where do you experience it in the body?
Does it have a location?
Is it stable or moving?
Is it easy or difficult to locate?
Does it have a temperature or a texture?
Is it stronger now or weaker?
For a few moments,
Keep your focus and awareness on the experience of this emotion and just allow it to exist as it is without judgment.
And now bring your awareness back to the breath,
To the rising and falling of the belly or the movement of air around the nostrils.
And when the mind wanders,
Become aware that thinking is happening.
Release the thought and gently bring your awareness back to the breath.
And for a few moments,
Breathe naturally and stay in this gentle awareness of the breath.
And now,
Remembering that anything can arise into our awareness at any time and be support for meditation,
Recall the pleasant memory and hold this memory in your mind for a few moments and notice the emotion that comes with it.
And now shift your awareness from the memory,
From the trigger to the emotion itself.
Allow yourself to feel it completely and without judgment.
Be fully present with the experience of this emotion.
Now again,
Try to locate it in the body.
Is it stable or moving?
Easy to locate or difficult?
Does it have a temperature or a texture?
Is it stronger now or weaker?
And for a few more moments,
Keep your focus and awareness on the feeling of this emotion and just allow it to exist just as it is without judgment.
And now bring your awareness back to the breath,
To the rising and falling of the belly or the movement of air around the nostrils.
Keep your awareness on the natural rhythms of breathing.
When the mind wanders,
Become aware and gently bring your awareness and your focus back to the breath.
And for a few moments,
Stay in this gentle awareness of the breath,
Breathing naturally and comfortably.
And now gently move your awareness from your breath back to the body.
Become aware of your hands,
Your feet,
Your legs,
And your arms.
Feel the weight of your body on the chair or the mat.
Take a deep breath into the belly and as you exhale,
Gently open your eyes.
With this exercise,
We see that by shifting our focus from the trigger of the emotion to the experience of the emotion itself,
It can be difficult to remain in that emotional state,
Be it anger or frustration or jealousy or rage,
That it remains difficult to stay provoked or swept away by any of the other negative emotions that we regularly experience.
We see that we have a choice to stay in this negative emotional state for moments or for hours or even days.
We see that emotions are the products of a trigger and we can learn to use them as a tool for meditation so that they do not control us.
And we learn that the continued experience of any emotion is simply a matter of shifting our focus and awareness.
I hope that you find this meditation useful and I hope you can carry this practice into your daily lives.
Thank you.
