Hello and welcome to today's meditation.
I am your host,
Katie Surma.
In this meditation,
We are going to focus on alleviating feelings of anger and resentment.
During this practice,
I encourage you to find a nice comfortable space,
A space where you can be quiet and be fully present,
Turning off any devices that may distract you,
Finding a soft place,
A peaceful place,
A safe place to be fully present here in the moment.
We find a place of refuge,
Whether that's on our mat,
Lying in our bed,
Sitting on a chair,
Or even riding in your car.
If you are in your car,
I encourage you to be safe while driving.
We begin today's practice by breathing in two,
Three,
Four,
And out two,
Three,
Four.
Inhale and exhale.
If you can,
I encourage you to close your eyes.
You feel comfortable,
Allow them to slowly drift close.
Again,
Breathing in and out,
In and out.
With each exhale,
Slowly sinking deeper and deeper into the space beneath you,
Allowing yourself to become one with the ground,
Chair,
Mat,
Or bed,
Or seat beneath you,
Feeling both light and heavy at the same time.
In this exercise,
I'm going to share a mindful exercise that you can use anytime in order to help you alleviate feelings of anger and resentment,
Those feelings that may be related to memories and unprocessed energy.
Mindfulness has been shown to help reduce anxiety,
Depression,
Pain,
And fatigue,
While also improving self-esteem and energy,
Increased self-mastery and motivation,
And help with healing and relaxation.
But I do encourage you to speak with a doctor or a professional.
If you are having feelings of sadness,
Depression,
Pain,
And fatigue,
Allow the professionals to help you in the best way they know how.
So for all of these reasons,
It's a wonderful tool to help you manage your anger,
To help you in this journey we call life,
From healing,
Resentment,
And setting the stage for forgiveness.
Sometimes it's easy to forget that anger can be a healthy emotion.
It can come from a place of wishing things to be better or to be improved,
Like being angry about the injustices of slave labor,
Human trafficking,
And all the negative impacts of the world is just a small example.
Expressing it in healthy ways is useful because bottling up the anger numbs your feelings and other feelings as well,
And it wears down on your health.
Pretending that you are not mad is inauthentic,
Which people can sense,
And it also has harmful effect on your health when it's bottled up inside you,
Often just getting hotter and more reactive.
On the other hand,
Anger can be an emotional rollercoaster that stresses the body and can often feel dangerous and destructive and scary for not only yourself,
But others as well.
There are a few ways to bring mindfulness to anger.
One way,
Try to diffuse the anger before there is a big blow up.
See if you can blow off steam along the way.
If you feel anger or frustration building,
Try to go for a walk,
Chatting with a friend,
Breathing fully in and out,
Or journaling about it,
About how you're feeling.
In other words,
Try not to accumulate a build up of irritation as your daily progress and as your day progresses.
It is also helpful to bring mindfulness to learning more about a situation before jumping to some conclusions,
Sometimes asking the questions or bringing curiosity to what you think you're angry about.
This can lead to realization that you may have assumed something different than how it actually is,
Or that it wasn't as a quote unquote black and white as you thought it may be or what it was.
Finally,
When motions and emotions of anger is present,
See if you can sense internally into the softer emotions beneath anger,
Like hurt or fear.
Can you sense these underlying emotions anywhere in the mind or the body?
If so,
Simply and gently acknowledge them with a sense of kindness and remember that these feelings are absolutely normal.
Staying with these sensations,
Share compassion for yourself and wish yourself well.
So with all of this in mind,
Let's practice these techniques in a mindful exercise together that you can do anytime whenever you're feeling anger.
So let's begin.
Bring your awareness to whatever is going on for you right now.
Give the weight of your body up to gravity and allow your weight to sink into the points of contact between your body and the floor,
The chair,
The bed,
Whatever you are lying or sitting on.
What sensations are there right now?
If you're noticing any tension or resistance to painful or unpleasant sensations,
Gently turn towards them,
Accepting them as best you can.
If you begin to tense around the breath,
Then let it go a bit more with each out breath.
Listen and soften deeply into gravity.
Notice any thoughts as they arise and pass through the mind.
Seeing if you can let them go without being able to identify with their content.
Observing them as they were clouds in the sky.
Seeing any feelings of emotions as they arise.
Can you let these come and go?
Include everything within your awareness as a kindly perspective.
Now allow your awareness to gather around the experience of the breath deep inside the body.
Dropping your awareness inside the breath,
Feeling the different sensations in the front and the back and the sides of the torso.
Can you feel your awareness within the flow and movements of the breath?
Use the breath to anchor your awareness in the present.
In this present moment,
Breathing in the body,
Noticing each inhale and each exhale.
Again and again.
Each time you notice your mind has wandered,
Gently guide the mind back to this breath deep within the body.
Now,
I encourage you to gently expand your awareness to include the entire body.
Feeling the weight and the shape of the body as it sits,
Stands,
Or lies.
If you have any pain or discomfort,
Make sure your awareness stays open,
Cultivating acceptance or acknowledgement for all of your experience.
Staying in this acknowledgement and acceptance just a moment longer.
Over there.
You you Wonderful I thank you for your courage to do this exercise with me the more you practice this The more you'll be able to diffuse the anger Turning it into a healthy action and decision-making For your benefit and the benefit of others So to recap today's meditation Sometimes it's easy to forget that anger can be a healthy emotion Expressing it in ways is often useful Try to diffuse the anger before it's a big blow up by blowing off steam along the way And also bringing mindfulness to learning more about a situation before jumping to conclusions Finally see if you can sense internally Into softer emotions beneath that anger like hurt or fear My hope is these techniques will help you along your journey in the moments days and weeks ahead I thank you for your mindfulness today One last time breathing in fully and deeply Exhaling slowly and softly Remembering that the warrior inside of me Sees and honors the warriors inside of you Namaste I thank you for joining today's meditation Please come out of the meditation slowly and softly and Enjoy the rest of the remainder of your day.
Thank you.
I am your host Katie Sermon
