Welcome,
Beautiful one,
To this guided meditation to help you work with difficult emotions.
Begin by getting yourself into a comfortable position with your head,
Neck and spine straight or in whatever position feels good for you to feel relaxed yet alert.
And if it feels okay and safe to do so,
Go ahead and allow your eyes to gently close,
Although keeping them open and soft focusing is fine too.
And then take a nice deep full breath in and letting it out.
Taking another full deep breath in through your nose and letting it out through your mouth with a sigh.
And then breathing in whatever way feels good to you.
Finding your breath in your body,
Bringing some mindful awareness to the simple act of breathing.
You might notice your belly rising and falling on the inhalation and the exhalation.
You might notice the air as it enters and exits your nose.
Not really working to change the breath in any way right now,
Just becoming aware of it.
And if while you're focusing on your breath,
Your mind wanders away,
That's okay.
That's what minds do.
Just notice where it went and gently bring it back to your breath.
Focusing on your breath is a good way to anchor and center,
Slowing down and allowing yourself to be just in this present moment right now.
There's really nothing to do,
Nothing you have to think about,
Just allowing your breath to come and go.
Sensations can show up as physical sensations in our bodies,
So as you breathe comfortably and easily,
Shifting your attention to your body now,
As you gently scan,
Notice what sensations are wanting your attention right now.
You might notice a tingling or numbness in your hands or feet,
Or you might notice a tension or tightness in your neck or shoulders.
Perhaps if you focus in on your torso,
You can notice a heaviness in your chest or butterflies or gripping in your stomach.
Gently bringing curious attention to these physical sensations,
No judgment or criticism,
Just observing the physical sensations and expanding your awareness now and seeing if there are any emotion words that come up for you associated with these physical sensations or emotions that you notice that don't seem to be connected to a physical sensation.
Just noticing,
Making space.
There might be a general mood state.
It might be difficult to put any words to the emotions at all.
So it's really about just noticing what's coming up for you right now.
Not really getting caught up in the emotions or the physical sensations or trying to change them in any way,
Just allowing them to have the space that they need right now.
Noticing perhaps the shape or the color of these emotions or these sensations.
Sometimes it can be hard to become aware of the emotions,
Bringing up a situation to your mind right now that might've caused some difficult emotions for you and just allowing yourself to develop that situation in your mind very clearly.
Who was there?
What were you doing?
What time of day?
What was your body language like?
And then without getting caught up in this situation or the thoughts about the situation,
Just being that observer,
Seeing if you can notice some emotions that might be connected to this difficult situation.
Perhaps there's sadness,
Frustration,
Anger,
Disappointment,
Guilt,
Loneliness,
Or whatever emotions you're noticing about this situation.
And then allowing yourself to drop down into your body and noticing what's happening,
Noticing the physical sensations that might now be wanting your attention.
You might notice a gripping or a clenching,
A tightening of your face or your jaw,
Just noticing where these emotions might be showing up for you and then allowing yourself to soften,
To bring some soothing breath to those areas,
Allowing them to open so that the emotion does not stay trapped in that part of your body,
Allowing it to shift and to change.
And so whatever's coming up for you is okay.
If you feel like it's too intense,
That's all right.
Step back a little bit,
Return to your breathing for a moment,
Just allowing yourself to be the observer,
Allowing the physical sensations and emotions to perhaps increase a little as you're focusing on them,
But then watching as they might begin to fade a little or change.
It might be helpful to bring to mind something or someone for which you are grateful and noticing these feelings of gratitude and warmth and care and noticing where they show up in your body.
They might be an opening of your chest,
A slight smile on your face,
A softening of your belly,
And then noticing how you can actually hold these emotions at the same time.
A moment ago,
You were thinking about a situation that caused some difficult emotions and you made space for them.
And now you're bringing to mind someone or something for which you are grateful,
Being able to hold the gratitude,
The warmth,
And the caring,
As well as the more difficult emotions and then seeing if you can focus on the gratitude and the warmth and the caring and allowing those emotions to grow.
Perhaps placing a hand on your heart and knowing that you did very good work here today.
Noticing,
Working with your emotions in this way can increase your regulation,
Your emotional intelligence.
When we work with our emotions in this way,
We're less likely to be overtaken by them and we can really begin to investigate what these emotions want to tell us.
And now bringing your attention back to your breath once again,
Finding your breath in your body,
Noticing the rise and the fall,
And then taking a nice deep,
Full breath in and letting it out,
Wiggling your fingers and your toes,
Feeling good to move in your body after being still for so long,
And then opening your eyes and returning to the room whenever you're ready.
Thank you for spending this time with me and learning to work with difficult emotions.
I'm Kelly Dennis.
Be well and have a wonderful day.
Namaste.
