When Sadness Is Everywhere: Meditation For Emotional Pain

This meditation offers a slow, trauma-informed space to meet sadness and the heaviness it can bring. With gentle guidance, you’ll be invited to notice how heaviness shows up in the body, behind the eyes, in the throat, in the chest, while staying connected to breath and support. The practice moves gradually between tenderness and steadiness, allowing space to build around what you’re feeling. The meditation closes with a gradual, body-based re-entry into your surroundings.

Transcript

When sadness is everywhere,

A trauma-informed meditation for moving through what's present.

Allow yourself to take a few moments to arrive in this space wherever you are.

However your body has come into this moment,

Allow yourself to settle into this space.

You can choose a position that feels sustainable or comfortable or safe,

A posture that allows you to feel supported.

You may notice the surface beneath you,

How your hips and your body are seated or laying down,

How in this moment your body is being held and supported.

Allow your hands to rest wherever they may feel most natural.

As we begin,

Allow yourself to sense and notice the atmosphere and space around you.

Maybe you notice the quality of the air in the room or wherever you are.

Maybe you notice the temperature against your skin,

The subtle movement of breath as it moves into and out of your body,

Or maybe even a sense of silence.

There are times in life when our emotional fields may feel heavy,

As if the world itself is carrying something similar and unspoken.

It may feel dense,

It may feel loud,

It may feel in one place or it may feel everywhere.

Maybe you recognize this sense of this atmosphere or this noticing.

Perhaps it may be that you just notice that your body feels slower than usual.

If it feels okay,

Can you even notice the emotional climate within?

You don't need to name it,

Just be curious about what arises in this moment.

Then allow yourself to bring awareness to the breath.

Without making changes,

Simply notice where it moves into the body.

Perhaps the air at the tip of the nose or the sense of coolness as it enters,

Or maybe warmth as it exits.

As you inhale,

Maybe you even notice the space in the chest and the ribs widening.

Or even the belly softening as the breath moves out.

Let the breath move in at its own pace and rhythm,

Just being curious and watching alongside.

As you notice,

Maybe you begin to sense the weight of your own body in this space.

Maybe you notice,

With a little bit more curiosity,

How you're seated or lying back.

The gravity of your arms,

Your legs,

Simply holding you here in this space.

What would it be like to allow yourself to lean into the gravity of your body being held in this moment?

Allowing yourself to allow gravity in a way to support your weight in this moment.

And if that means adjusting or shifting or just being curious,

Maybe you can notice just a subtle difference.

In the moment.

Perhaps that might mean the shoulders soften.

Perhaps that might mean the jaw softens.

Perhaps that might mean the hands soften.

Just being curious in the moment.

As we notice,

Perhaps,

This sense of softening,

Maybe you can begin to notice a sort of quieter layer that might arise in the moment.

For some people,

This sense of sadness might arrive within a crisis or have no particular reason at all.

Maybe it comes forth after a sort of responsibility has been met or a sort of vigilance has been sustained.

Or this period where you needed deeper strength has come and gone.

Maybe you can identify one of those.

Or maybe not.

Either are okay.

Can you see if there's a place in your body,

If you can identify a sort of effort or effort has been living?

Or dwelling?

Or feels heavier?

Can you be curious around the space of the muscles in the eyes?

Or the base of the skull?

The space of the neck and the shoulders?

The center of the chest?

The belly?

Simply scanning into the body and sensing for places that have been holding onto or sustaining perhaps this sense of heaviness.

If you're able to notice one,

Can you allow that place to soften just in this moment?

Perhaps that means that the eyes rest a little more gently.

Perhaps that means the tongue releases from the roof of the mouth.

Perhaps the breath drops a little bit lower into the torso or the belly.

It may be just a sense of lightness everywhere or nowhere in particular.

Maybe there's a new sense of warmth behind the eyes.

The space of the heart.

An invitation just to be gently,

Gently aware of whatever's present.

Sensing into the space of the eyes.

Sensing into the space of the throat.

Sensing into the center of the chest.

Noticing a shift in temperature or warmth or coolness or sensation-wise from heaviness to lightness.

Or just awareness of your body exactly how it is.

Can you allow your breath to move around these spaces?

Can you allow the inhale to touch into any of these places?

And then the exhale,

Perhaps you can allow it to settle a little bit beneath.

As we move through our meditation,

There's no need to understand the sadness or trace it back.

This is just an invitation to meet it as sensation,

As a sort of density or tone or temperature.

With light curiosity and awareness.

Continuing to allow yourself to notice the breath as it moves in.

Touches a space of whatever you notice.

And then as you exhale and breathe out,

Noticing the tone or the lightness or the settling beneath it.

Feeling and sensing into the body.

Feeling the atmosphere,

The tone and the sensation.

Feeling into the steadiness and the support all around,

Within the body.

From the space of settling in and noticing your sense of steady presence,

What would it be like to move a little bit more deeply into the body?

Beginning with the eyes.

Noticing the space behind the eyes.

Noticing the lower lids of the eyes.

Noticing the tiny muscles that orient and support the entire eye,

Both the left and the right.

Can you allow your gaze to soften?

And if it feels safe,

Perhaps even closing your eyes if they're not already closed.

What's present in the inner visual space as your eyes soften and close?

The space as if you're looking at this blank horizon in the distance behind your eyes.

Is there a color shift?

A deeper sense of fullness or clarity?

A shimmer?

A warmth?

Or just being curious?

And then inviting your awareness back into the space of the throat.

Feel into and notice the entire column from the base of the tongue down towards the collarbones.

Perhaps even swallowing and clearing the space for a moment.

Allowing the breath to move through the throat gently.

Gently with the inhale.

Softly with the exhale.

Allow yourself to notice and sense into the interior space of the throat.

If there's a temperature,

A tone.

Perhaps even a sense of openness.

And from here,

Perhaps descend into the chest.

Noticing the space of the sternum,

The flat bone at the center of the chest.

And sense into the space behind it.

This is a place where the lungs expand with the breath.

And also where the heart beats.

What do you notice here?

Is there a sort of weight?

A sort of density?

A space or sensation?

Pressure or lightness?

Thickness or softness?

Feeling into and noticing this space.

As you stay with this noticing in the space of the chest,

Can you notice the breath again?

With the inhale,

The expansion as the ribs slightly move outward.

And the exhale,

Allowing it to settle and move slightly inward.

Can you allow the breath and the space of whatever you noticed here to move side by side within your awareness?

And then can you gently widen your awareness?

Can you include noticing the rest of your torso?

The belly?

The lower ribs?

The back of the body?

As sensation,

Sadness can sometimes live in multiple places.

Not just in the front of the chest or in the space of the eyes or the throat.

But maybe it's in the back body,

Between the shoulder blades,

Along the spine.

Can you sense into and notice the muscles here?

Are they tight or bracing?

Are they fatigued?

Just being curious as you move your awareness around the body.

If I invite you to move attention to the heaviest place in your body in this moment,

Where might it be?

And can you stay in that space for just a couple in-breaths and out-breaths?

And then slowly widen your awareness out.

Sense the entire length of your body.

The entire length of your body from the top of the head to the soles of your feet.

The entire space of your body in this moment.

And then moving and widening even further.

Sensing the space extending beyond the skin to the air surrounding the body.

The quiet sort of dimensions of the space of your room or wherever you're seated or lying down.

Perhaps noticing a sense of lightness within the space.

A sort of openness.

And can you remain in that widened sort of openness for a couple of breaths in and a couple of breaths out?

Can you notice what happens to that heaviness that was present when it's held inside something wider and more open?

Inviting you,

If you wish,

To return to wherever that space of heaviness was first present.

Can you feel into the density of that space one more time?

Noticing if its texture or sensation or its appearance has changed.

Is it even more heavier?

Is it lighter?

Is it more defined?

Less sort of compressed or softer?

Just being curious with what you notice.

And then once more,

Can you allow yourself to widen your perspective again?

Widening into the space extending beyond the skin.

The air surrounding the body.

The space of the room or wherever your body is positioned.

Maybe even allowing yourself to go further.

Widening beyond the space.

Are there other buildings or people around?

Are other bodies also quietly carrying their own heaviness,

Their own sadness?

Sadness may often not be just isolated within.

It can be felt within community,

Within entire cities,

Through a family.

Sadness can be part of a shared human field.

The recognition of such can create space within the widening.

The weight or the heaviness that was within can be noticed as something within humanity and then community.

You're not carrying it alone.

With the inhale,

Can you return once more to the body?

Feeling into the legs,

Grounded,

Connected to the space beneath you.

Feeling into the hips,

Offering a sense of stability.

Feeling into the spine,

Offering strength and balance.

And can you allow your sense of noticing,

Sense of grounding,

Stability and strength to weave together.

Bringing with it perhaps a new noticing of what's present in the body.

So awareness of wherever that heaviness was in the body.

And then shifting awareness to the strength in the legs.

Notice if there's a difference in sensation.

A change in any density,

Fluidity or tenderness,

Alongside stability and grounding.

And you move slowly between these spaces within your awareness.

The space of the heaviness and the grounding and the stability of the legs.

The space of tenderness,

The grounding,

Stability and strength within the legs,

The hips and the spine.

Moving between these places in the body and allowing the nervous system to experience one place alongside the stability of another.

And with your breath,

Allowing yourself at a pace that feels right to move your awareness between these places.

Perhaps staying longer in one place than the other.

Moving equally between them.

And then remaining with the body.

Feeling into the physical layer of the body.

Maybe noticing the density of the tissues of the body.

The weight of muscles resting on bone.

The firmness or softness beneath the skin.

The tone of the abdomen,

The way your shoulders rest or hang.

Heaviness in the forearms and the quiet sort of gravity perhaps present in the hands.

Allowing yourself to feel the body as something that occupies this space with texture and sensation.

Now include the breath as another layer.

Not just movement of inhale and exhale.

Not the sort of climate of the breath.

Is the air cool as it enters?

Is it warm as it leaves?

Does the breath feel thin,

Thick?

Does it feel shallow or deep?

Does it brush gently against the back of the throat?

Or does it widen the ribs in all directions?

Can you allow the breath to be a living sensation inside the body?

And then if it feels okay,

Can you include an emotional layer?

The sadness that you've been sensing.

Where is it now?

Is it still noticed as a sort of heaviness within the body?

Has it shifted?

Can you feel into it as a tone?

Perhaps that's gray or muted or another shade.

Can you feel into it as another sensation?

Like slowness or a low humming?

Does it stay in one place or does it move?

Does it move through the tissues and the muscles and the bones?

Simply noticing what's present.

And perhaps now including the thought field as another layer.

Without following any single thought.

Can you notice the subtle movement of thinking as a sort of action?

Perhaps there are statements or sentences or blurbs drifting through the mind.

Perhaps there's images or judgments.

Without amplifying or stopping them,

Can they simply pass through awareness?

Like actions or birds crossing a wide sky.

And now can you sense into another layer,

Awareness itself?

The part of you that's noticing the body,

Noticing breath,

Noticing emotions,

Sensations and thoughts.

Awareness itself does not feel any sense of sadness or heaviness.

Awareness feels open and spacious.

And it can include many experiences at once.

Can you be curious and allow yourself to rest into this space of awareness for a few breaths in?

And a few breaths out.

And maybe that means allowing the body to feel into the sense of heaviness,

Sadness.

Allowing the breath to move in and move out.

Allowing the sadness to move like a tone or a hum.

Letting thoughts drift and allowing awareness to hold and be present.

All of it at once.

All of it at once through these many layers.

And when you're ready,

Can you allow a deeper widening?

That might mean sensing the outline of the entire body.

The entire body as though you can feel it from the inside and the outside at the same time.

The front of the torso,

The back of the torso,

The sides of the ribs,

The length of your legs,

The space of the head.

And sense the space surrounding the body.

The air touching the skin,

The subtle field extending inches beyond the body.

And the whole space of the room or wherever you're present.

The noticing of sadness might be present still inside the body,

Through that sensation of sadness.

The sensation of heaviness or slowness or whatever was present.

And the body is resting inside the space of a room or wherever you're present.

And that space of the room or the space of wherever you're present is inside and part of a larger world.

The sadness might be there,

But it's held within the space of a larger world.

Can you allow yourself to return again to notice a breath inside,

A breath moving inside the body?

The breath moving outside the body.

The breath moving inside the body.

The breath moving outside the body.

Allowing your awareness to widen both inside and outside all around the body.

And then can you feel the ground beneath you?

Wherever you're seated or lying back,

Can you feel the ground beneath you?

Solid,

Steady,

Supported and natural.

Can you allow your awareness to move into the space of the earth?

Being curious,

Can you sense into the density of the space of the soil,

The stones,

The foundation of the entire earth?

Then also sense upwards,

Space above the body,

Above the head.

Moving into even the space of the ceiling and the open sky.

The sort of vastness extending upwards without limit.

Again,

Noticing what was present as we started.

If there was sadness or heaviness in space in the body,

But this time connecting into the ground below and the sky above.

On your body,

Your being,

Existing between both.

Allowing yourself to move awareness both inside what you notice as sensation inside the body,

But allowing that awareness to continue to widen.

Allowing yourself to remain with this spacious awareness.

Sensing your experience,

The body,

The breath,

Emotions or sensations like sadness or heaviness or thoughts and awareness.

All coexisting within the moment.

Then being aware of this sort of layered experience you've been holding.

The weight or the heaviness or the sadness in the body.

The movement of the breath.

The steadiness and the solidity of the legs supporting the body and the spaciousness of your own awareness.

Can you allow this sort of widening to become more relational?

Is the sadness you feel personal in a sort of texture?

Or can it be that it's not again isolated?

It's present within communities.

You might notice it within a neighbor.

Many people or bodies carrying similar experiences.

If it feels safe,

Can you allow yourself to notice what you sense about your own sadness without becoming overwhelmed?

What would it be like to imagine this quiet network of human nervous systems supporting and interconnecting?

Helping carrying the sense of sadness or heaviness.

The space of the body where you notice the heaviness or the sadness might still hold a sort of quality of denseness.

But it might also be true that others can support,

Enlighten and uplift.

And share in the holding.

And this moment within this meditation,

That's present right now.

So allowing awareness to come back to the breath.

And allowing the inhale to widen across the ribs in all directions.

The front,

The sides,

The back.

Imagine the breath expanding not only in the chest but in the entire torso.

As though your body has more internal space.

On the exhale,

Can you feel into the gentle settling downward through the pelvis,

Into the hips and into the ground.

The breath connects you vertically,

Widening on the inhale and grounding on the exhale.

Can you stay with this vertical rhythm?

Expansion upward and outward.

Settling downward and inward.

Expansion upward and outward.

Settling downward and inward.

As you continue,

Can you notice the lightness beginning to soften and be present in the space?

Perhaps you notice it as more distance between the heaviness that you noticed at the beginning or the sadness that arrived as we started.

Being curious and just noticing.

Where's the lightness?

Can it possibly be present?

Surrounding the space that was originally there and expanding out to soften.

Soften into the outline of the body.

Soften into the space of the room or wherever you're present.

Soften into the depth of the earth and the movement of the sky above.

All present at the same time.

Perhaps noticing in this moment warmth in the hands,

Steadiness in the legs,

The safety of the beating of the heart and perhaps even a shift into and around and within the body.

And can you allow that noticing and widening to continue and include time?

Sadness may move differently in different seasons.

Different seasons in nature.

Different seasons within ages or within our life.

Different seasons in our relationship with others.

And these seasonal changes are part of being human.

Just noticing one moment.

One moment at a time.

The breath that you're breathing in now will give way to another breath in another moment.

The sensation you notice within the body,

The heaviness in the body will shift and give way to another sensation.

Within the continuity of time,

A gentle unfolding as the breath moves in,

The breath moves out.

Noticing again the space behind the eyes,

The space in the throat,

The space in the chest.

Feeling into the body for a couple more breaths.

The breath moves in and the breath moves out.

Feeling and noticing what's present in the body.

Feeling and noticing the ground beneath the body.

Feeling and noticing and being aware of the sky above the body.

Feeling and noticing the quiet strength of your spine holding.

The entire body.

Remaining where you are for a few more breaths.

Sensing into and noticing the full field that you cultivated within the meditation.

The space of the body,

The movement of the breath,

And awareness surrounding it all.

Noticing how these layers coexist in this moment.

Where sadness may be present now.

Where heaviness or slowness might have shifted.

Taking a moment just to be curious of shifts and changes in the body.

Noticing the quality of the weight of your body in this moment.

Noticing perhaps if there's a sense of softness even at the edges or warmth.

If it feels okay,

Can you place a hand over the center of your chest?

Feeling into the natural movement as the breath moves in.

Or maybe noticing that sense of warmth in the moment.

Feeling into and noticing the rise and the fall of the breath beneath your hand.

If it feels safe staying here for a couple breaths in and a couple breaths out.

And maybe the quietness of the meditation can offer a sense of internal kindness.

May I be gentle with the sadness I carry.

May I trust my capacity to feel and remain steady.

May the parts of me that have held everything together feel supported.

May tenderness live safely within this body.

Following the breath.

Following the breath.

And if you wish to widen awareness to community or to others,

May all who are moving through the shared sensation of sadness feel moments of space.

May heaviness be held in something larger.

May strength and softness coexist in every body.

May all who need it feel into and notice the support of all those around them.

Finding your breath in.

Finding your breath in and finding your breath out.

Gradually allow yourself to begin reorienting into your space.

Sensing the room or the space where you're present.

Sensing the light through your eyelids or across your eyes.

Sensing sounds all around you.

Sensing any particular texture of air on your skin.

Feeling into and noticing your fingers,

Allowing them to wiggle and move.

Feeling into and noticing your toes,

Allowing them to move.

Perhaps rolling your shoulders in a gentle circular movement and allowing your neck to shift side to side.

Noticing how sensation follows movement and how your body responds.

Allowing any sense of spacious awareness to continue moving through you and supporting you in any part of what follows your meditation today.