Come into a comfortable seated position and softly close the eyes.
This meditation is for moments in which you experience strong emotions such as anger,
Fear,
Sadness,
Stress or anxiety or any other emotion that is strongly present.
You can use this meditation in the heat of the moment,
So when you're right in the middle of it,
But also you can do this meditation on a regular basis when you experience unpleasant emotions for an extended period of time.
So often our first reaction to a difficult emotion is wanting to push it away.
We want to not feel it,
Remove ourselves from the situation,
Disctant shade,
Avoid it.
Now mindfulness gives us an alternative way of approaching a difficult emotion,
Which is to move towards it,
To investigate it and thereafter soften it.
In this meditation we will explore this option a bit further.
Now first as a way of collecting and gathering yourself in this moment,
Take a few deep breaths,
Inhaling through the lungs,
Filling the lungs and exhaling through the mouth,
Letting all air out.
Then inhaling deeply,
Filling the lungs,
Allowing them to expand and exhaling,
Releasing,
Letting go.
Do this once more,
Inhale,
Fill the lungs,
Open the chest and exhale,
Release the air,
Emptying the lungs completely.
Turning to your natural breath now,
Allowing the breath to be as it is,
Noticing the body moving on the breath.
And when you are ready,
Bring this difficult emotion to the forefront,
Allowing it to expand in your awareness,
Really feeling it,
Allowing for it to become bigger.
And now see if you can notice what kind of thoughts are connected to this emotion.
So allowing all thoughts connected to this emotion to come to the forefront,
Also allowing yourself to follow the storyline from one thought to the next.
Often you will notice that when experiencing strong emotions,
There is often this cascade of thoughts,
One triggering the next.
Allow all these thoughts to be there.
What kind of thoughts are connected to this emotion for you?
Allowing them to pop up like words or sentences on a screen.
From there,
Move back to the emotion,
Bringing the emotion to the forefront,
And see if you can label this emotion.
What is really the emotion that you are experiencing?
Maybe you notice there is different emotions connected to a more dominant emotion,
And also noticing these,
Labeling them.
Seeing whatever set of emotions is connected to this situation or these thoughts,
Allowing these emotions to grow and to really be present,
Feeling them,
Allowing for them to expand your awareness.
And slowly you will see its effect unfolding in the body.
Now see where in the body you feel this emotion.
Where in the body is this emotion located?
See if you can explore this emotion with investigative curiosity.
Where does the sensation start and where does it end?
The front,
The back,
Left,
Right.
See if you can explore any other parameters of this sensation.
Is it tingling,
Pulsing,
Pressure,
Warm,
Cool?
Noticing if it's constant or changing.
Slowly exploring the sensation with investigative curiosity.
Noticing the shape it has.
Maybe there is even a color connected to this emotion and this area in the body.
Where there is to notice for you.
And whenever you're ready,
Placing your hands on the area where you experience this sensation.
This is possible depending on where the sensation is located in your body.
And otherwise just holding your attention there.
And slowly start to breathe towards the sensation.
Really softly breathing towards the sensation,
Surrounding the sensation with your attention.
Breathing,
Softening,
Surrounding with warm compassion,
Loving kindness.
Slowly moving around this whole sensation and all its parameters with softness.
And maybe saying to yourself,
Let me be with it,
It's okay.
Let me be with it,
It's okay.
Once you're softly breathing towards it.
Softening,
Warming,
Loving.
And slowly moving your attention back to the breath.
Taking a few deep inhales through the nose and exhales through the mouth.
Inhaling deeply,
Allowing the chest to expand.
And exhale,
Letting it all go,
Releasing,
Completely emptying the lungs.
Doing this for a few times on your own rhythm of breath.
Inhaling deeply,
Exhaling,
Letting go,
Exhaling fully,
Maybe even making a sound with it,
Releasing,
Softening.
Continuing to do so for yourself.
See if you can relax the muscles in the face,
The shoulders,
Allowing everything to let go.
Still lengthening the spine.
As you inhale and exhale fully and deeply.
And for the last few breaths,
Just bringing the breath back to natural breathing.
Softly breathing in and out,
Feeling the softer,
Cooler air coming into the body and the slightly warmer air moving out.
Sitting here until you hear the sound of the bell closing off this meditation.
Okay.
