Shaping Emotions

Feeling slightly off? Sometimes our lives are too full and busy to grab what we truly feel. Then this meditation is for you. Through the use of your breath and body, this meditation guides you inwards and allows you to reconnect to your feelings. There is no need to name, analyse or understand the emotion present, we work with whatever is coming up. While this is a guided meditation, you will find longer moments of silence to provide you the chance to go deeper and connect.

Transcript

Welcome.

The following meditation is best done in a seated position.

This could be any seated position that you can comfortably sit in,

Like a cross-legged or a leg stretched out.

Maybe you want to lean against a wall or sit on a chair.

Whatever feels natural and allows you to feel grounded and steady,

Whilst allowing you to find the beautiful long spine.

You can tilt the head forward a little bit so that you have that long neck all the way up to the crown.

And then,

When you're ready,

Slowly allow the eyes to close now.

Take the first couple of moments to arrive,

Taking in the environment around you,

The room you're practicing in.

Noticing your body and the position in this room.

Notice any small pulsations of your body,

Maybe caused by your natural breath.

If you already now feel that there is something in your seat that doesn't quite feel right,

Then allow yourself to adjust and adapt.

So that your focus of attention during the meditation doesn't stay with the it doesn't quite feel right in the body sensation.

But that it can go to those areas that we want to focus on today.

As you draw your attention from the room towards yourself,

Start taking the position of the observer.

The observer,

The one that looks neutrally without judgement.

The observer that looks neutrally at your body,

That looks neutrally at the seat that you have taken.

And now,

When you're ready,

You shift your awareness onto your breath.

Allow the breath to flow naturally in and out.

With time,

Begin to deepen your breath.

Deepen your breath and create deeper inhales,

Longer exhales.

And then with the next longer exhale,

You allow the hips to ground and your shoulders to relax.

You feel the face softening.

You consciously take the tongue away from the top of the mouth,

Letting it rest at the bottom of the mouth.

Now drawing your attention further inwards.

Begin to focus either on your body or on the floor of your breath.

Choose one or the other and focus on it for the next couple of moments.

So you're either letting your awareness circle through the body or you're attaching the mind to the breath.

Whatever helps you to draw the focus inwards.

There be no right,

No wrong.

If you feel a couple of deeper exhales wanting to release,

Give them space by exhaling extra long out.

Let's begin now to connect both body and breath.

So you have been focusing on your body,

Include the breath.

Now sending the breath with each inhale into the different body parts that you're sensing.

If you have been focusing on your breath,

Observe how the breath flows into the body.

Which body parts it's reaching.

Where it stops.

Where there is space.

Which path it takes to flow back out.

For just a moment we want to actively breathe out everything that feels in the way.

So with your next inhale grab tension or grab something that caught your awareness and just breathe it out really strongly.

Maybe even through the open lips.

So when you're ready inhale deep.

And open the lips exhale it out,

Out,

Out.

One more time.

Inhale.

Exhale letting it go.

Last one on your own.

Deep in,

Deep out.

And then close the lips again to return to your natural breath.

Breathing through the nose in and through the nose back out.

And then shift your awareness.

Moving deeper inwards.

Notice how are you feeling right now.

Let there be absolutely no judgement.

If you feel tired,

You feel tired.

If you feel happy,

You feel happy.

Sometimes we wake up angry.

Sometimes we're irritated and we don't even know why.

Take a moment to just observe which emotions come up.

No need to change,

No judgement.

Even if certain emotions show themselves multiple times,

Just take note.

And while the emotions pop up,

You'll actually feel that your breath or your body changing.

You can connect each emotion as they come up to the flow of your breath or to a sensation in your body.

It might be emotions that you want to hold your breath or that might bring that extra long exhale.

You allow everything to naturally happen.

You just realize that this emotion is triggering this reaction in the body or in the breath.

There is no need to change anything.

Now let's go deeper.

Select one of the emotions where you felt that your mind got attached to or that triggered a strong reaction on a bodily or breath level.

Just pick any of the ones that came up.

You can even change it throughout the meditation if another one becomes more present or intense.

So don't be afraid to choose the wrong one.

Often our emotions are interconnected.

You just use one entry point.

The one that struck you,

The one that surprised you.

Now look at that emotion.

Look at that emotion with your mind but in a mindful way.

How does that emotion reflect in you?

How does it show up?

What does it trigger?

Do not let your mind wonder off exploring why you feel this way.

Don't explore if it's justified or okay to feel that way.

Remember to take that pure outside observer perspective.

Observing for example tired.

What does tired feel in your body?

How does tired feel in the mind?

Choose your own emotion,

The one you selected.

How does it show up?

Take it deeper.

How does that emotion feel in your heart?

Your mind brings pictures of why or drifts off to analyze gently got it back to the emotion.

You're observing the emotion as if you have never seen it before.

Now you invite that emotion to be with you.

Really sit with it.

Give the emotion room.

Maybe even changing your breath or changing your body posture to create space for it.

Find the shape that describes your emotion.

What shape does your emotion have?

This can be a solid shape.

It can be a liquid or moving shape.

And then also choose a color.

Just as if you were creating a sculpture in front of your visual eye.

A three dimensional shape that best describes the emotion you have chosen.

Look at your three dimensional shape.

Turn it around in front of your inner eye.

Look at it from all angles.

You might find yourself adding detail to it whenever it fits.

Look close at the color of your emotion.

Is it a solid one color shape?

Or are they shades?

Maybe color changes?

A mix of colors?

What other details do you notice?

When you feel your art is done,

You have shaped your emotion into an abstract form with all its color and detail.

Then you let it sit.

Allow the observer to take one step back to look at the result.

Now decide.

Decide together with your breath and together with your body.

What would you like to do with your sculpture?

Would you like to keep it within you?

Or is it time to give it a new space?

Sometimes it's not the time to keep something in our hearts.

We just exhale it out.

As if we are placing it next to us.

So it can still be with us,

But it doesn't move us from within.

So take a moment to decide.

Don't rush it.

Use the breath to breathe around the shape.

Your inner eye still focused at the shape while you breathe.

Do you observe how does it make your heart feel?

Which reactions does it trigger in your body?

Do you prefer to breathe it out and let it go?

Or would you like to hold on a bit longer keeping it in your heart?

Make your choice now.

Imagining that you place your piece of art either inside of you or outside of your physical body.

And return your awareness back to your body and your breath.

Take a deeper inhale.

As you exhale,

Breathe out through the open lips making space for all the other emotions,

All the other shapes and colours that you have within you.

Inhale deep again.

Exhale,

Open lips.

And then bringing your awareness back to your body sensation or your natural breath.

Note if something has shifted.

Note how you are feeling now.

There is no need to have changed.

Just observe again the breath,

Observe again the body.

Prepare yourself to slowly return.

Shift the awareness slowly back outwards.

Allowing the different senses to return.

Shift your hearing outwards.

Shift your sense of touch by moving your hands and feet.

Whenever you are ready to bring back the sense of seeing,

Then slowly allow the eyes to open.

I wish you a beautiful day.

Thank you for joining today.

Reviews

Her voice is lovely and I really like the idea of examining our emotions in the visualization process she has!