Welcome to this 10-minute meditation to help you sit with hot emotions.
Most of us have difficulty recognizing and feeling emotions,
Especially the more negative ones.
Our biggest fear often is when we allow these negative emotions to exist,
Or when we allow ourselves to feel bad,
That in some way it also makes us bad.
So our tendency is to talk ourselves out of feeling these emotions.
Perhaps by saying someone else has it worse off than us,
Or by saying that we shouldn't have these feelings because there's still a lot to be grateful for.
Or we find ways to distract ourselves from it all.
But it's so important to allow ourselves to feel everything.
The bad and the good.
Feelings are our internal compass.
It gives us insight or more information about who we are,
What we want and need.
It is our inner wisdom birthed from this deep awareness and listening to our heart,
Our emotions.
And with that awareness,
Can we then do something about it?
Or at least uncover some clarity on the way forward.
Find a comfortable seat or find a space to lie down.
Always take the time to set up your physical position.
Fidget as much as you need to before we begin.
Really use this time as a physical check in with your body.
And then when you feel more comfortable,
Allow your eyes to rest.
And I'd like to invite you to shift your focus towards your breath.
Simply notice how are you breathing today?
Without needing to change the breath,
Pace or pattern.
Simply observe how air travels into your nose and then travels out.
Perhaps also noticing if there is a corresponding movement with your breath.
Maybe in your belly or in your chest.
As you breathe,
Notice any sensations that are arising in your body right now.
What are the areas of tension or ease in your body?
What areas of your body feel tight or restricted or small,
Contracted?
Perhaps comparing to areas that are more soft and expansive.
Simply noticing sensations in the shoulders,
The back of the head,
Belly,
Centre of your chest.
Without judging or needing to change it,
Simply stay curious to whatever that is present.
Allowing yourself to softly breathe into that space.
Together take a full inhale through the nose.
And then open the mouth and a loud exhale out.
Take a moment to reflect.
If you're going through a hard time right now,
Perhaps recount what happened or why it is hard for you right now.
And then allow yourself to connect that story with a physical sensation that is manifesting in the body at this present moment.
Where is it that you feel pain,
Displacement,
Anger,
Fear or even sadness?
Where is it that you feel any kind of discomfort?
And as you breathe,
Continuously check in with your body.
Notice if your mind wants to drift away or push away any of these painful,
Uncomfortable sensations.
Keep breathing into this emotional space,
Into your emotional body.
Breath into the pain,
Into any sadness,
Anger.
Take a breath into the fear,
Allowing them to all belong.
Just keep breathing.
Full inhale together.
Open the mouth and exhale these emotions.
There's no need to analyze them or figure them out right now or even today.
Just simply allowing them to exist in your sea of awareness.
Allowing them to melt,
To dissolve,
To slowly disperse into that vast sea of awareness.
And as you allow these emotions to have their space,
Also allow yourself to connect with them,
Just for now.
Allowing yourself to feel them without any judgment.
Think of this practice as a simple acknowledgement of whatever that is in your direct experience.
And making the choice to let it all belong.
Whatever that comes up in the practice is the practice.
Keep breathing,
Following your inhale and then your exhale.
Full inhale.
Open the mouth and exhale.
If it gets too intense,
Hold your heart gently by placing a hand on it.
Acknowledge and give it space to be.
Give it space to belong.
Just for now,
Have a moment with it.
Allow yourself to taste it.
Now shift your awareness to the tip of your nose.
Without needing to open your eyes,
Connect with the felt sense of this area of your nose.
Maintain your focus there.
And then together let's take a full inhale in.
Through the nose and open the mouth and take a loud exhale out.
Once more,
Inhale.
Open the mouth,
Loud exhale.
Notice how you feel.
Begin to make some gentle movements with your hands and feet.
Maybe even moving your head from side to side or shrugging the shoulders up and down.
Place both hands at the center of your heart space.
Take a breath in.
And as you exhale,
Gently bow towards the center of your heart.
Offering gratitude to yourself for carving out this time to practice being here.
Offering gratitude for being present to all that you're feeling and all this energy that you're holding within you.
Thank yourself for being brave to be able to sit with any internal chaos,
Turbulence,
Staying present to these hard emotions that you are facing right now.
