Let's take a moment to settle in.
You may be,
You may had a busy day today or maybe rushing to do too many things.
So let's just take a few seconds to settle in in a more comfortable position and whatever that position is for you today seated or lying down.
So just find that comfortable position to fully relax and feeling ourselves here present,
Whatever that means.
You may have lots of mind activities.
You may have sensation in the body related to your emotional state.
So let's allow it to be exactly the way it is in this moment.
It's said that meditation is about training ourselves to have capacity to be completely present.
Sometimes it might be difficult to shift attention because the mind is a strong force.
As the mind for most of us like to tell stories that help,
Like to fix,
To resolve,
To plan and pushing away unpleasant,
Holding unpleasant.
So there is a strong feeling between mind and emotion.
Today we practice with being,
With our emotion,
With the physical experience,
With the emotion without including the mind,
Without stories.
But we know there might be a strong magnet between our physical emotion and our thoughts.
In our practice today,
I like to bring awareness to that relationship,
Just awareness so that we can relax.
But in order to do this,
Let us do some checking,
Physical sensation of the body and see if you can have a sense where are your emotion in your body.
There might be other emotion present at the same time.
You might notice,
You might notice that.
You might notice that you are maybe a little anxious,
Maybe stressed,
Or maybe feeling peaceful or feeling gratitude.
We don't even need to put a name on this sensation on what we are experiencing in this emotional space.
But just knowing whether there is any emotion in our somatic,
Physical place.
So I invite you to try to observe the emotion in your head as we look at things and to let the awareness to settle in that part of your body where it is expressing at this moment right now.
And if you don't have any emotional sensation,
Maybe peaceful and very neutral,
You can actually experience that as well.
But if you experience some sort of sensation of emotion in your body around the heart,
Or could be in your throat,
In your jaw,
In your belly,
Lower plexus,
That's good too.
It could show anywhere and it's okay to guess if you're not sure.
If there is lots going on in the body,
You may zoom in on the sensation that is louder.
We are going to allow that awareness to drop to that area of the body.
So we are aware of this emotional sensation that is happening right within,
Not from a distance.
So let's just zoom into that one.
We may notice that there is a little bit of resistance that may be present.
If we are experiencing some contracting or heaviness or feeling discomfort,
Let's do our best to fully open and accepting.
You might be even curious to learn more about these emotions.
It may feel like a little pressure in upper chest.
You might feel some movement or vibration as we hang out around this space.
Maybe we notice the sensation is growing or maybe the sensation is shrinking.
It is really important not to get caught in any stories around why this emotional sensation is here.
It doesn't matter how the story is and if the story is juicy.
If you find that your attention has got hooked by some type of thought,
Try to drop that story or thought.
Drop any sense of knowing why this particular sensation is here,
Even if it is obvious.
We are trying to be with the sensation of emotions in our body without the mind.
So we don't need to refer to the mind at all.
We may notice some stories that are quite beautiful around the sensation.
We can drop them too.
And we can be free of the mind.
Free from the mind thinking of pleasant or unpleasant.
We are training to be truly with what it is right now and dropping all the stories.
Just being here,
Being yourself and freeing yourself from the mind.
Sometimes we might feel we can release our emotional sensation by maybe crying or contracting.
It's okay.
If the body is opening to that and want to release this emotion and set it free,
That's perfectly okay.
If you find this practice challenging,
Dealing with your emotion,
You can always shift gear or shift your attention away from these emotions.
You can use your anchor,
Find that neutral spine in your body and focus on that spot.
It could be today your nostrils that you're breathing in and out.
It could be your hands,
Your feet or even around your ears.
And if you start hearing some voices in your ears telling you stories,
Just become disinterested.
You know that is the mind doing.
Just continue with the emotional sensation in the body.
Now is it shrinking the sensation?
Is it growing?
Just noticing without any stories.
Being spiritual does not mean you maintain happiness,
Joy,
Peace.
It is about being here with what it is happening right now in this moment without any arguments,
Without any stories.
It takes a lot of courage.
We're trying to do these practices so we can have a real relationship with the mind,
To be friends with the mind,
Acknowledge it but don't get engaged in it.
We want to be free from reactive mind.
Now that we have found that sensation,
The emotional sensation in our physical body,
We have experienced it.
Let's shift attention to do some love and kindness approach,
Metta,
And approach.
So instead of passively observing being emotional space,
Try to cultivate positive thinking.
So by thinking of a word that presents some love and kindness,
Maybe the word love,
Something that makes you happy,
Maybe sunshine,
It could be a mantra,
It could be a prayer,
It could be a song,
A person that you really love and bring you the image of love and beauty.
So you can picture that in your mind.
It could be even nature.
And if you can see what this image,
What sort of experience feel bring to you,
The sort of feeling bring to your body.
It doesn't have to be big,
Doesn't have to be small,
Just a little bit love and kindness,
Gentle warm sensation in your body,
In the space that you felt was a little bit tight,
A little bit uncomfortable.
And you might notice that there's a gentle kindness of love,
Gratitude,
Maybe happiness around particular area in your body.
Maybe you like to hug yourself,
Or maybe you want to put your hands in your chest and your heart,
Feeling your sensation of your breathing,
Just a nice hug.
Let's just hold on that feeling,
That sensation to ourself,
That nice love and kindness and happiness.
So if you can cultivate that positive feeling,
You can allow it to grow,
To become bigger in your physical body and bringing that beautiful warm sensation and feeling gratitude.
And if today this is not available to you,
That's okay too.
So we're going to prepare ourselves today for our silent meditation and allow all this to settle in,
In our heart,
In our body.
Sorry.
You You You You You You You You You You
