Mindfulness Of Emotion

A Guided Meditations on Mindfulness of Emotions; one of the Four Foundational Teachings of Mindfulness. Investigating the nature of emotions to cultivate more awareness and understanding from an objective view.
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Transcript

This is the practice of being aware of our emotions.

Mindfulness of emotions is a practical and powerful tool to be able to recognize emotion,

Create an awareness,

And help to manage emotions more effectively,

Creating a space between our thoughts,

Action,

And reaction.

This is a foundational practice of mindfulness,

Learning to become more aware and fully present with our emotions without judgment.

It is an open and accepting awareness with an equanimous perspective without preference to good or bad.

The practice is a contemplation,

An exploration,

And discovery of our emotions and how we experience them.

Emotions are an instinctive state of mind and derived and influenced from circumstances,

Mood,

And in relationship with others.

Emotions are triggered and stimulated by incoming information.

They are distinguished from reasoning and knowledge.

Emotions are inherently mental reactions that are accompanied by a physiological and behavioral changes in the body.

In other words,

Emotions are complex,

They do not occur in isolation,

And essentially are neither good or bad or right or wrong.

Emotions and feelings typically have distinct components,

A subjective experience,

A physiological response,

And a behavioral or expressive reaction.

These challenges that emotions bring to our lives in and of themselves are not a problem,

But how we relate and react to them can be.

As taught in the first century by the Greek stoic philosopher Epictetus,

It is not what happens to you,

But how you react to it that matters.

Apparently humans have been struggling with this for quite some time.

Mindfulness is a skillful means to navigate the ups and downs of life,

Bringing more awareness to our thoughts,

Emotions,

And our response to them.

Mindfulness practices can help to increase the ability to be with our emotions without reacting to them.

It can help us regulate and manage our emotions and provide more discernment in the choices we make around emotional experiences,

Helping to cultivate emotional intelligence.

As we move through this practice,

The invitation is to bring a kind and gentle attention to yourself,

Staying open and curious.

The first step is just to recognize the emotion without judgment,

Without identifying with it,

Without getting caught up in the story or adding story,

Without trying to justify or deny it.

Learning to be with the experience and the raw nature of emotion in the moment and then to be able to name it,

A kind of exploration and discovery,

How emotions show up and how the experience of emotion is felt in the body.

It might be considered an exercise in understanding of embodiment,

A tangible or visual form of an idea,

Quality,

Or feeling,

Understanding that emotions are an experience,

Not an intellectual process of thoughts.

It's just the story we tell ourselves about them.

The nature of an emotion can be categorized as pleasant,

Unpleasant,

Or neutral.

This is the raw nature of how we experience emotions,

With an open mind,

An objective view,

And able to witness our experience.

The struggle experienced around emotion comes from our inclination to cling to what is pleasant and to push away what is unpleasant.

Experiencing the full embodiment of an emotion can bring freedom from attachment or aversion to them.

It can bring a more wholesome response rather than reactivity.

Being mindful of emotion increases the capacity to have more choice and agency in our response.

It might be considered a kind of befriending of oneself,

A training to become less reactive and more understanding and compassionate,

Sometimes even finding insight.

Practicing mindfulness of emotions can build resilience,

Cultivate equanimity,

And develop emotional intelligence.

As with any practice,

Start by finding a comfortable posture,

Seated or lying down,

And begin to settle into the moment by taking a few slow,

Deep breaths.

Slowing and deepening the breath activates a relaxation response in the central nervous system.

Using the inhale,

How the chest and belly expand,

And maybe even slowing the exhale,

Noticing how there is a subtle release of tension in the body on the exhale.

Taking a few slow,

Deep breaths on your own,

Bringing a focused attention to this being in this moment,

And closing your eyes if comfortable,

Or letting your eyes rest in a soft downward gaze.

Closing the eyes can be helpful to reduce distraction,

And it's not necessary.

And now just notice the natural rhythm of the breath.

Maybe become aware of the body just sitting or reclining.

Notice any sounds that might be present.

Resting your attention to where it feels most comfortable in this moment,

On the breath,

Any sensations or sounds.

This is your practice.

There is no wrong or right way to do this.

And now gently bring your attention to checking in to see how you're feeling,

Bringing attention to the body.

Take a brief scan from head to toe,

Noticing what is present,

How the body is feeling.

You might not notice anything in particular.

You might notice feeling relaxed,

A sense of lightness of being.

Perhaps there's some tension in the jaw and neck or shoulders.

Just noticing what is present without any judgment or analysis.

Notice the subtle and natural movement of the body breathing and how it is feeling in general.

If there is tension,

Maybe you can bring a little more ease,

Letting go of it on the next exhale or making a little adjustment to your posture.

Relax for a moment,

Fully present and aware of your body.

During practice,

Notice if you become distracted by thinking.

This is normal and very common.

The objective in any practice is not to stop thinking.

It is what the mind does.

Asking the mind to stop thinking would be like asking the eyes not to see or the ears not to hear.

Noticing distractions and refocusing your attention is mindfulness.

Staying present in the moment is mindfulness.

Simply notice when you've been caught up or lost in thoughts and return to the practice.

Again,

With a focused attention to being present,

Noticing the body breathing,

Sitting in the chair oriented to this space,

Maybe even the sounds that can be heard.

And now make a transition.

Gently bring your attention to emotions and feelings without searching.

See if you can notice what is present.

There may be a sense of calm,

Maybe a little restlessness,

Perhaps something unexpected,

A nondescript feeling.

Just notice the quality.

Is it pleasant or unpleasant or neutral?

Maybe no emotion or feeling can be recognized.

This is okay too.

Bringing mindfulness to emotions can be challenging.

The raw nature of emotions can be difficult to just sit with.

It is never necessary to be uncomfortable.

If at any time you feel discomfort,

Something is too much,

Just move your attention back to the breath or the body or sounds and rest there,

Returning to the guided meditation when you're comfortable.

Learning to rest with what is here and now exploring an experience of unpleasant emotion.

See if you can recall an experience you've had recently that was uncomfortable.

Nothing too sensitive or overwhelming,

Allowing yourself to stay open and curious.

Notice by recognizing the emotion or the uncomfortable nature of how it feels,

It might be anger over something that didn't go your way,

Maybe something disagreeable or anger associated with insisting that things be a certain way.

Something said that may have triggered anger and you're not even sure why.

Perhaps a disappointment or frustration of how things turned out.

Fear or anxiety being caught in an imagined future.

Sadness over loss.

See what is there and allow it to be present without judgment.

It is helpful to name emotions.

In neuroscience,

It is often said that if we can name it,

We can tame it.

Neuroscience has demonstrated that when you experience significant internal tension or anxiety,

You can reduce the stress of it by up to 50% by simply noticing and naming your state.

This is fear.

Labeling it without identifying with it.

This is anxiety.

This is anger versus I am angry.

See if you can recognize the emotion without judgment,

Without the story,

Without needing to change it.

Using a simple word of easier,

Anger,

Sadness,

Frustration.

And see if you can bring in awareness to how it's felt in the body.

The experience of anger,

For example,

Might feel tight or like pressure in the belly or chest,

Tension or clenching in the fists or jaw.

Sadness might feel heavy and hollow.

Disappointment might be tense or restricting.

Explore how the emotion can be felt.

What is the physiological response to this emotion and how does this emotion feel in your body?

Notice if there's any tendency to get stuck or caught up in reactivity,

Wanting to replay a story or conversation associated with the emotion or trying to control or change it,

Put blame or justification to it.

This is just thinking about the emotion,

Not the experience of the emotion.

Explore and investigate how this emotion is experienced in your body without the thought of it,

Just how it is felt,

The full embodiment.

Now explore the quality of this experience,

The raw nature of how this emotion is felt.

Noticing the tendency to dislike or not care or to avoid the unpleasant nature.

Bringing a more objective view as a witness,

Again,

This sadness,

This is unpleasant.

Experience it without the need to change it.

There will always be experiences that are unpleasant and pleasant and neutral.

You may notice as you practice and become more aware that you also become less reactive and able to notice how quickly things change.

As the emotions alike thoughts come and go,

The more we are able to be with our experience,

The more likely it will change.

Noticing that it may dissolve,

Get stronger,

Less intense,

It might change into another emotion.

And notice that it may change and it may not change.

As you practice mindfulness,

One of the things that you will notice is the awareness of how everything changes,

The impermanent nature of everything.

Without adding stories and judgments to our experience,

Things naturally change more readily,

Allowing us to be more present in the moment.

Experiencing this emotion,

How it is felt in the body,

The unpleasant nature of it,

Allowing and accepting.

And now take a few deep breaths and transition into being with a pleasant emotion.

Adding into your awareness something you've experienced recently or maybe a pleasant memory.

And naming it,

It might be a joyful feeling from have heard from a dear friend recently or the happiness of playing with a grandchild or pet,

The comfort or sense of belonging of a warm embrace.

Maybe an elevated happiness from having successfully completed a difficult task or challenging conversation.

This joy,

This happiness,

This comfort,

This sense of belonging,

This satisfaction,

Again without becoming identified with it.

This is happy versus I am happy.

Having not identified with emotions and thoughts allow a sense of equanimity and resilience,

A liberation from our attachment to preferences.

Everything in life changes.

Identification can cause suffering when things do change.

Circumstances the capacity to recover quickly from difficult and changing circumstances.

Recognizing and acknowledging the experience for what it is,

Bringing understanding and meaning and potentially a greater appreciation when things are good,

More accepting and understanding and compassionate when they are unpleasant.

I am happy is a state of short-term conditioning.

This is happiness establishes a bond memory.

Again,

With attention to this pleasant emotion,

Noticing how it is felt in your body,

It might be a group or pattern of sensations.

Joy might be a sense of openness,

A lightness of being,

A warm and relaxation,

Allowing a kind and generous curiosity to recognize the pleasant emotion and how it is felt in the body,

Identifying the quality of this experience.

This is pleasant.

Sit with this pleasant emotion,

Recognizing how it is felt,

The pleasant nature of this feeling,

Just allowing,

Accepting and without becoming attached or identified.

As we start to close this meditation,

Bring your attention back to being present and just rest for a few moments with a gentle attention to the breath and the body's subtle movements,

Aware of any ambient sound present in this moment.

And in closing,

I will read some thoughtful words from Pema Chodron,

An American Tibetan Buddhist teacher.

Things fall apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing.

We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem,

But the truth is that things don't really get solved.

They come together and they fall apart and then they come together again and fall apart again.

It's just like that.

Healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen,

Room for the grief,

Room for the relief,

Room for misery,

And room for joy.

Thank you for taking the time to practice and thank you for practicing with me.

Stay open and curious.