Let's go ahead and meditate.
So just make sure that you're in a comfortable position.
It's okay just to make a couple little adjustments,
Maybe just move the body a little bit,
Just to make sure that you are in a comfortable,
Relaxed,
But alert position as well.
So your back is straight,
And close your eyes.
And we'll take a few deep breaths in and out through the nose.
So really big inhale,
Opening up your abdomen,
Your chest,
Lifting the shoulders.
Maybe taking a slight pause at the top.
And a long,
Slow exhale through the nose.
And then as you begin the next inhale,
Really opening up the torso.
Really exaggerating the inhale.
Pausing slightly.
And then exhaling slowly.
And one more really big inhale,
Your biggest one yet.
And as you exhale,
Really feeling that sense of release.
And then allowing your breath to flow naturally.
At its own rhythm,
Its own pace.
And just noticing on your own.
In your body,
Noticing if there's any tension,
Any tightness.
Any areas that you want to breathe a little space into to relax.
Obviously,
Our neck and our shoulders tend to be places where we hold on to a lot of tension without realizing it.
In our forehead and eyes,
Our jaw.
Even just noticing in your hands,
We often clench our hands without realizing we're doing it.
Just noticing what's happening there.
If there's any room to gently release,
Then go ahead and just release whatever is there to be released.
We're often walking around holding on to a lot of stuff.
A lot of stories that create a lot of tension in the body and we're so disembodied as a culture,
As a society.
So it's just nice on your own to just explore noticing how you feel,
Noticing what's here.
And just bringing a little more attention,
A little more breath.
To any areas that do feel tight.
And just feeling that sense of softening.
And when you are finished scanning through your body,
Bring your attention to your heart center.
In the center of your chest.
And we can anchor our attention here.
By imagining as if we're breathing in and out of our heart center.
And ask yourself,
What is it that you want more than anything else in the world for yourself?
Really looking within for this answer.
Not considering anything in the external world.
What is it that you most intrinsically want to feel?
And you might notice that as the answer arises for what it is you most want.
Whether that answer is peace or freedom.
Spaciousness.
Just feeling okay.
And we can notice just through that.
That answer revealing what it is that's most important.
We get a sense of that feeling.
Right now.
And if your answer was peace or some variation of the word peace.
In knowing that is what's most important.
It's as if everything else falls away.
And we feel that peace.
That's always here.
And then we can allow this intention to dissolve into our heart center.
Planting the seed of our intention in our heart center.
And you might open up your attention to really feel the breath as a whole.
Feeling the body.
Opening up on each inhale.
And relaxing on each exhale.
And as a way to connect in.
More deeply to what it is that we most want.
I'd like us to explore what it is that takes us away from this so much of the time.
So I'm going to ask you to bring to mind Something that you haven't been able to let go of.
Something you're holding on to.
Maybe it's some anger towards someone.
Some resentment,
Some regret,
Some disappointment.
And we don't have to make it our deepest resentment for this practice,
But something that we have been holding on to and we've Maybe even heard ourselves saying,
We like to let this go,
But we just don't seem to be able to let it go.
So no judgment for whatever it is we're bringing to mind.
And just as best you can.
Thinking about this situation,
This event that happened.
This hurt.
And once you've got somewhat of a sense of the feelings,
They probably won't be as intense as when these thoughts catch us off guard,
But enough that we can feel a little bit of intensity,
A little bit of a contraction.
Come in and feel.
What's here in the body.
So there was a thought,
A memory about something you were holding on to.
And there's a feeling that comes along with it.
And again,
It won't be as intense,
But we can still notice.
That little bit of a contraction.
And you might take a few deeper breaths as you open up some space for the feelings that are here.
Allowing yourself to relax.
Fully feel.
What's here?
So we're not trying to change the way we feel.
Or to push anything away.
But simply to create some space on each inhale.
For this tension to be here.
On each exhale.
A softening around the tightening.
And maybe every now and then the thought appears that's associated with the feeling,
Whatever.
The resentment was about,
Or the anger,
Or the disappointment.
An image of that person flashes in your mind.
And no problem,
Just noticing that.
Coming back in and feeling what's here.
And we can even silently.
Talk to our feelings.
It's okay that you're here at Jealousy.
It's okay that you're here,
Disappointment.
So we're really ensuring that we truly are being okay with what's here.
Bringing a sense of kindness and care to our feelings.
As long as you need to be here resentment,
It's okay.
I'm here with you.
As long as you need to be here,
Jealousy,
I'm here with you.
And of course,
What we're here with are the feelings of jealousy.
The feelings of disappointment.
The feelings of anger.
Not the stories.
But the feelings.
The physical sensations.
In the body.
Opening to what's here on each inhale.
Softening on each exhale.
And usually when we can't let go of something,
When we feel we've been wronged,
We've been hurt.
We feel like we're getting left behind.
We can feel an intensity of that feeling in the solar plexus.
The solar plexus really being the center.
Of the torso,
Of the body.
And in noticing that,
We breathe more openly into this area.
We're not pushing anything away.
Or opening to it.
Or moving closer to it.
And again,
Maybe a flash,
An image of this person that we're upset with,
That we're angered with.
That we feel some resentment towards,
Maybe it appears we can't control that.
You just bring your attention back into the feelings,
The physical sensations in the body.
Allowing whatever it is that's here to be here.
And what we often find.
Is that the more present we are with what's here,
The feelings.
That there is a natural loosening.
In those feelings.
And those sensations.
And in letting go of the story of what happened.
Along with that sense of A little bit of spaciousness,
A little bit more loosening of the feelings.
The sense of a me that this happened to.
Also falls away.
So in being with what's here,
Noticing the impermanence.
Of our thoughts,
Of our feelings,
Of our emotions.
We also see that there was no one.
That any of this was happening to Simply thoughts were arising,
Feelings and emotions.
And the more that we came into our experience directly.
Opening to what's here.
What we found.
And the absence of a me that this was happening to.
Here's a sense of spaciousness.
Of openness.
Something happened.
And feelings go along with that.
But they come and they go.
The one that we believed was holding on.
Is no longer found.
Just sensations in the body.
Occasional thoughts or images flashing by.
Nothing to hold on to.
We'll just rest here for a few more breaths.
And as we come to the end of the meditation,
With a big inhale,
Take your arms over your head with a big stretch.
And as you exhale,
Gently lower your arms.
And slowly open your eyes.
