Dealing with Challenging Emotions

This meditation will gently guide you to work with your difficult emotions so that you gain insight into their purpose and ultimately heal and release them.

Transcript

This guided meditation is designed to help you deal with challenging emotions.

Sit or lie comfortably with your eyes closed.

Take three slow deep breaths.

Use these breaths to anchor yourself into the moment.

Check in with yourself.

What's your experience right now?

Explore the body,

The mind,

The emotions.

If you've come to this meditation then you're probably experiencing a challenging emotion right now.

What is it?

Try to identify it.

Is it anger?

Shame?

Fear?

Hurt?

Sadness?

If it feels like a soup of mixed up feelings then which would be the strongest?

And now look at your response to the emotion and your relationship with it.

Our natural response can often be to try and avoid an unpleasant emotion.

So explore this.

Do you have resistance to feeling it?

Are you internally pushing or willing the difficult emotion away?

Is there some kind of an inner barrier between you and it?

And if there is,

What does it look like?

What does it feel like?

Just hit the pause button on that process and take the attention back to the breath.

Notice it flowing in.

Notice it flowing out.

Now focus more specifically on the out-breath.

The out-breath must be allowed to move through you.

It's a permission that we normally grant unconsciously.

We're used to letting the breath just flow out.

Take a moment to make that allowing conscious.

Notice that the out-breath can't happen if you fight it or resist it.

Or rather it can happen but not smoothly,

Not freely.

Become aware of the release that lies at the core of the out-breath.

Now take your attention back to the challenging emotion.

Is it still there?

If it is,

What's your experience of it in this moment?

The first step in working with and ultimately releasing a difficult emotion is giving it permission to exist.

See if you can be with the emotion while at the same time connecting to the feeling of allowing that you found in the out-breath.

You're not forcing,

You're not pushing,

You're not rejecting the emotion.

You're simply allowing yourself to be with the emotion while staying connected to the letting go that happens naturally with every out-breath.

Tell yourself,

I don't have to fight this emotion or get rid of it right now.

Feel as though with every out-breath you're letting go a little more of any resistance that you might have had to that challenging emotion.

You're giving the feeling space and permission to be.

And now get curious,

Become a scientist of your inner world and examine the feeling.

What does it look like?

What does it feel like?

What impact does it have on your body?

Does it change your heart rate?

Your breathing?

Does it create any physical tension?

Is there a place in the body that feels like it's holding the emotion?

Maybe the stomach?

The head?

The heart?

Does it feel heavy?

How intense is it?

What else can you notice?

Feelings have their own inherent logic.

The mind might not understand it because it's an emotional logic but it's logic all the same.

This emotion is here for a reason so ask yourself.

If there was something this emotion wanted me to know or to realise or to acknowledge what would that be?

What thoughts am I thinking or what beliefs am I holding that keep this emotion in place?

Is there a more empowering perspective that I could take about this?

What would I need in order to let this emotion go?

Continue to allow the emotion to be as it is and focus once more on your breath.

Now extend that attitude of allowing,

Of letting be,

Not just to the emotion but to the wholeness of you.

To your body.

And your mind.

Take another three slow deep breaths,

Allowing the out-breath to flow freely and allowing yourself to be as you are.

Reviews

Thank Gd for you and for this meditation. ✨🙏💗🙏✨💗

thank you, your meditations are very effective and full of wisdom 🙏💚

Very helpful. Thanks.
(Only complaint: ending felt a bit abrupt/premature. I was expecting a little more before it was over.)

Fine for beginners.
Bears multiple listens.

***
Update after a second listen: Found I liked and benefited from this recording even more this time. The central metaphor of the exhale as a conscious choice to “let go” was especially powerful.

I absolutely loved the reference to allowing the outbreath when speaking about emotions that hold us back. Letting go of everything that no longer serves us could be easier when we allow it - as every exhalation. I am so so grateful for sharing your knowledge and talent for us. Heaps of light and love to you. Namaste

Intuitive guidance with difficult emotions, I felt them and felt release, thank you!

Sublime.
My first time ever, TYVM!

Any others, “focus, happy emotions, embracing love, accepting good feelings and/or compliments...?”

I was following on out of interest from the podcast. A good subject to face accept and let go. All good and will return whenever I have some conflicts which is always lurking annoyingly. None today though gladly. One observation... a gentle finale would be lovely. Namaste. 🙏

Both of my daughters have gone off to college and the sadness and loss I feel at times is overwhelming (I have been divorced for many years and I live alone). Thank you for helping me put these feelings into context. You remind me that it is my job to release these kind, giving young ladies out into the world and to teach them to make positive contributions to our beautiful earth!

All the questions I really needed to ask myself. It was not an easy meditation but so helpful. Thank you so much!

Great work on allowing you to be able to sit in the moment and understand how to let it go and why the emotion was there in the first place.

Very good to help accepting the emotions that are sometime difficults.
Thank you.

Thank you. Very helpful !

Third time I've done this one. It - gets deeper every time 🌅

I like her clear, direct style without the fluff of "if you wish", "gently", etc. Powerful guidance to explore the underpinnings of emotion. Thank you.

Excellent Meditation... helped me clear my swollen throat caused by fear of expressing my talents and being seen ☄

Very interesting. Gave me some perspective

Very effective when feeling particularly strong negative emotions- will be using this again in the future. Thank you 😊

I have been feeling fear and worry. This meditation helped me put my fears and worry in perspective. I found it very helpful. Will definitely explore it again.

Ended a bit short but was good

Very insightful.