In this meditation,
We'll be exploring the inner system,
In particular emotions in the body.
In the unified mindfulness system,
This technique is referred to as feel in,
Where feel is any body experience and in is body experiences that have an emotional flavor versus just a purely physical experience.
So let's begin by finding an alert but comfortable posture,
Something that we can hold relatively still for the duration of this meditation.
This could be lying down,
Seated,
Or standing.
And eyes can be open or closed at any time during this practice.
We can use that choice to help find a balance between alertness and ease,
Perhaps allowing some light into the eyes and letting the gaze be gently focused in order to create some more alertness or closing the eyes to create a little more calm.
We might be able to further balance this sense of awareness and ease by noticing the rising energy of the in-breath and perhaps imagining that in-breath lifts the crown of the head up and away from the shoulders and then noticing the natural letting go of the out-breath,
Letting that relaxation spread throughout the torso,
The belly,
And out through the limbs.
And if it feels good,
Following the breath a few more times to help settle and balance the posture.
Using this process of connecting with the breath and posture as a warm-up for our concentration muscle,
Our ability to become fully present right now,
Putting our attention right here.
And we'll start with a little sensitizing activity to become more tuned into where we might notice emotions manifesting in our physical experience.
So beginning by just bringing a smile to the face,
Noticing what that feels like,
The corners of the mouth turning up,
The lips spreading,
The cheeks lifting upwards.
And then reaching out awareness,
Exploring a little further and noticing what other physical sensations come along with the smile and notice which ones may seem to indicate happiness or positivity.
It could be that the experience is just localized around the face,
The lips,
The cheeks,
Maybe the corners of the eyes,
But we might also notice sensations like an opening or rosiness in the neck or chest,
A little uplift in energy or maybe even subtle shifts in the posture.
And then as a way of contrast,
Just noticing what it feels like if we let go of that smile and then just tune into the soles of the feet,
A part of the body that tends to be pretty emotionally neutral.
So just using this as an orientation for where you might be able to monitor for any kind of emotional activation.
Very often emotions play out along the midline of the body,
The belly,
The chest,
The neck,
The head,
But it is possible to have physical experience with emotional flavor across the entire body.
So just beginning to monitor,
To observe physical experience.
Can you notice something in the body that seems to have an emotional flavor,
An emotional activation to it?
Notice that silently labeled to yourself,
Feel.
And then just explore that experience in detail for a few seconds,
Enveloping the experience with attention.
And letting go,
Repeating the process so it might sound like this.
Feel.
Feel.
You get the idea.
So try that now.
It's possible as we look for emotional activation that we're not really detecting anything,
Sort of like looking out at a clear night sky.
That's fine.
We can just notice that that is emotional neutrality.
We're still detecting the lack of emotional activation and we can still call that feel.
We may notice when we detect emotion arising that as soon as we label it and attempt to investigate it,
It fades.
That's fine.
You can just let it go,
Not trying to force it into any certain length or type of experience.
We may also notice that when an emotion arises and we label it and investigate it,
And then we go to let go,
That the emotion remains.
That's fine.
We can just continue to re-note and re-investigate.
Continue to feel in.
And if we get pulled into sound or sight,
Just knowing that this is a natural part of the process,
Natural part of the way the mind works,
And we can actually celebrate it as an opportunity to build our ability to refocus.
It's an opportunity to exercise our concentration by just gently returning to feel in.
And if you're practicing with eyes closed,
I invite you to maintain this practice of monitoring for emotions arising in the body,
Gently allowing some light to enter the eyes,
And seeing if there's any impact.
Maybe there's a sense of urgency and need to do something to move on to the next thing,
A sort of craving emotion for this to be over.
Just investigating where that arises.
Does it have a shape,
Location?
Is it stable?
Is it fluid,
Changing in some way?
Just letting this process of investigation with eyes open be a teacher for how you might take this practice into other aspects of your daily life.
Now taking a moment to thank yourself and congratulate yourself on a meditation well completed,
Feeling free to continue this exploration if you choose,
Or ending here but knowing that the process continues in every present moment,
Moving the body gently to reorient to the room that you're in and letting this be the conclusion of this guided meditation.
