Welcome to my meditation on dealing with difficult emotions and pain.
Please find a comfortable seat,
Making sure your spine is straight yet relaxed,
Bringing awareness to your belly.
Notice if you're sucking in your belly,
Consciously letting that go on each exhale.
When you found something comfortable,
Gently closing your eyes or lowering your gaze towards the floor.
And we'll start by taking a deep breath,
Inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth,
Letting go of the day thus far.
Now bring to mind an emotion or pain you've been recently struggling with.
It doesn't have to be the most intense or complex,
But just something that's been coming up for you lately.
Allow yourself to feel it fully without judgment or resistance,
Just labeling this emotion or pain for what it is,
But stopping at that.
So if you notice any intrusive thoughts or judgments coming up,
Come back to the breath and the body,
Reminding yourself of this meditation.
So notice where this emotion or pain lives in your body and how it feels.
Breathe into that space,
Acknowledging the sensation and what it feels like to give it permission to be there.
Let yourself be present with the emotion or pain for a few more breaths.
And when you're ready,
Let it go on your exhale.
You may recall a time when you've refused to acknowledge the presence of an unsettling or overwhelming feeling,
Emotional or physical.
And you may have noticed that the more that you have compartmentalized,
For example,
I am feeling angry,
It reframes itself to I am angry.
So with this specific example,
There's no bad emotion.
It's just what we decide to do with it.
It's our responsibility to not let it fester and become excessive.
It's our responsibility to not become our emotion.
So the lesson here is that denial is not sustainable.
Because when we do notice what difficult emotion or uncomfortable pain is present,
We can give it space to be seen and dealt with so that we can let it go.
And you can imagine that thoughts and emotions come and go,
Just like clouds,
Just coming and then passing away.
Once it's been given the attention it needs and deserves,
It leaves you instead of becoming this dense,
Dark cloud that looms over you.
So in meditation,
We create a safe space on the cushion to allow your experience to be just as it is without judgment.
Maybe after your practice,
You explore any judgments that may have come up through journaling.
But for now in meditation,
We just allow the experience to be investigating what it feels like,
How we can nurture ourselves.
So practicing mindfulness and offering ourselves compassion.
Now we'll return to the breath and the body.
Taking a deep breath,
Inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth.
Now bring your attention back to the difficult emotion or pain that you recalled earlier in our practice.
Acknowledge its presence and allow yourself to feel it fully.
Breathe into the heart center,
Remembering to allow yourself to feel as you feel now.
And you can repeat after me,
This is my experience.
I am allowed to feel this way.
My difficult emotions and pains are not permanent.
Now allow the emotion or pain to be present.
For a few more breaths and then when you're ready,
Let it go on your exhale.
