Why You Should Meditate When You Are Sad

Feeling sad? The last thing you might feel doing is meditation but this talk will go over why meditating when you are sad will actually benefit you. You can actually learn to USE the pain as an anchor or entry point into your meditation. Over time, strong negative emotions can lose its grip on you because you have learned to meditate through it. Listen on!

Transcript

Hey,

This is Ish and today I want to talk to you about meditating when you're sad.

So I know when you're sad the last thing on your mind is meditation,

But let me explain why it's actually really beneficial to meditate when you're sad.

So your sadness is actually a very good anchor for your meditation practice.

So in the yoga system,

We know that dharana,

Which is the sixth limb of yoga,

Is a one-pointed focus that you keep bringing your attention back to over and over again,

And that eventually leads to dhyana,

Which is a meditation absorption.

So if you think about it,

Sadness is a sensation that you will feel in your body,

And you can keep bringing your attention back to it over and over again,

And that can actually help you reach that state of absorption or meditation absorption.

So this leads to that one-pointed focus.

And your sadness,

When you think about it,

When you're not really looking deep into it,

You just think that,

Oh,

I'm just sad.

But when you really dive deeper,

You can start to notice it's the sensations associated with sadness,

And that also takes away the depth of sadness as well.

So you might start to feel a warm sensation in your chest,

For example,

Or your heart area,

And then you can start to dive deeper.

So when you're feeling sad,

You'll look into the sadness and see where it's emanating from.

So,

For example,

Do you feel the sensations of sadness or the warmth that I mentioned only in your left side of your chest,

Or is it on the right side of your chest?

Does it extend all the way to your shoulders,

Or does it stop by the chest area?

Does it just travel there,

Or does it go downwards towards your belly area?

You start to pinpoint where exactly do you feel the sensations,

And then you start to go deeper.

So this is that period of bringing your attention back to that point over and over again.

So eventually you'll start to bring that focus inwards.

And if you find that your mind starts to wander during this process when you're sad,

You can then bring your attention back to the tactile sensations that you feel.

So you'll bring your attention,

If your mind wanders,

You'll bring it back to the sensations that you feel in your chest,

And then go deeper.

And then you will start to develop that focus.

And this can be a really good practice that you can meditate on when you're sad,

Because on a higher level you start to grow as a person a lot,

Because essentially what you're doing is you're training yourself that whenever you feel any kind of uneasy emotion,

You can train yourself to detach from it by seeing it just as a sensation and coming back to it over and over again.

And you can start to see your heavy emotions just as something that you feel,

Like a warmth or a tingling sensation,

Rather than something that actually just controls your life.

Because if you don't bring that period of being an observer,

You just tend to get really wrapped with whatever we're feeling.

And this also.

.

.

When you meditate when you're sad,

The feeling will also go away.

I found that meditation is obviously a really good way to handle your emotions and get rid of the bad emotions.

And this can actually be a very nice self-care routine for yourself.

And you'll actually develop the confidence that you know that,

Hey,

Whenever I feel sad or depressed or whatever it is,

Or even angry,

I know I can always come back to my meditation cushion and sit.

And by half an hour or one hour later,

Most of this feeling will go away.

And that's very comforting to know that you always have something that you can rely on.

And when you meditate when you're sad and also happy,

So both,

Both sides of the coin,

You start to disassociate yourself with the whirlwind of emotions that you'll feel.

And you'll come to this really nice space of equanimity where you're above the emotions.

You notice that it's obviously happening,

But you aren't in the midst of it,

The current of it.

So it's kind of like you're an observer.

And this causes a very nice feeling of groundedness.

So try it at first.

I know it might be a little bit difficult,

Especially in the throes of the emotions,

But eventually you can learn to master your emotions by sitting straight,

Looking inwards,

And just sensing and feeling the emotions just as they are.

So I hope this helps.

Thank you.

Reviews

Thank you for this. Years ago after going through an extreme trauma I was following a meditation teacher who taught to sit with your emotion - assign a color, find where it is in the body, feel how it feels and how much you can feel it, breathe and observe - and then watch how it starts to change, break apart or dissolve - and realize it’s temporary. Doing that one meditation over & over got me thru the toughest of times.
Over the years I had forgotten it.
Your talk here reminded me of it because what you are saying is very similar. I was having a very tough, sad night. I tried a number of meditations on depression and nothing was helping. Many seem to say things that don’t ring true for me. But yours is real. This really helped me to acknowledge the feeling but to observe it and allow my body to let go of the tension and let the pain of the sadness dissolve.
Thank you for such an honest talk.

Thank you for sharing 🙏 very helpful 🙏

Very helpful! Thank you.

Wow!!! Amazing advice! It makes a lot of sense. I’m going to give it a try🙏

I’m going to try this. I appreciate you! Thanks 🙏🏼

Ish, thank you for this recommendation.. I’m grateful for your wise insights and for your message. Equanimity is one goal of mine as I practice meditation.. learning how to harness my energy and have more balance with emotions is important to me. I’ve come a long way but still haven’t attained a good balance.. your teachings and this app are a wonderful tool for me. Thank you! Namaste..

Thank you for being such a clear articulator and strong connector while explaining these
concepts.

Really helpful. Thanks.

Namaste

Thank you so much for such wise words.

This does help, Ish! You provided the very important reminder that my meditation practice can help me handle whatever comes my way. And this week, and probably many more, a lot may come my way. Meditation is the best coping mechanism and it is available to me constantly.