Mindfulness of emotions meditation.
Start by finding a comfortable quiet place to sit.
Taking a dignified posture,
Relaxed,
But alert.
Closing over the eyes,
Maybe fully or maybe partially.
Take a few breaths to allow your body to relax.
Shifting your attention into your body.
Noticing your posture.
Noticing where your bum meets the chair or your feet are on the floor.
Noticing your breathing.
Feeling the breath in the body.
Maybe at your nostrils or at your chest or at your belly.
When you get distracted,
Because we get distracted.
Gently,
Kindly bring your attention back to your breath.
As you continue this mindfulness of breathing,
Notice what emotions begin to surface.
Momentarily shifting your focus from your breath and asking,
What are we feeling?
What emotions are here right now?
You might be feeling contentment.
Maybe you're curious.
Maybe there's another emotion inside,
Such as longing or yearning.
Maybe sadness or joy or worry.
Maybe there's a sense of urgency.
Maybe you're bursting with pride or feeling lost or envy or jealous.
Maybe you're having a lot of feelings.
Maybe it's hard to find a word for the feelings that you have.
You're not trying to create anything.
Really tuning in to what's here for us today.
Try to identify the strongest feeling you're having and give it a name.
Maybe you're only picking up faint signals.
Try to tune in with the body.
When you have an emotion and you have a name for it,
Then repeat that name three times in a kind and gentle voice.
For example,
You might have anxiety,
Anxiety,
Anxiety.
Return to your breath,
Feeling your breath in your body.
Going back and forth between your breath and your emotions in a relaxed way.
And if any of these emotions become too much for you at any time,
Just come back to the breath.
So that's the whole game.
You feel the emotion,
You label it,
And then you return to your breath.
You're just touching in and touching out.
If anything gets too much,
You just stay with your breath.
Breathe.
Feel each breath.
And soften into your body and the sense of kindness you have towards yourself.
Show yourself kindness that you might to a friend or a child or a pet.
We all wish to be happy and free from suffering.
So feeling that innate goodwill and breathe through your heart.
And when the emotion arises or sweeps away your attention,
Just label it.
And then return to your breath.
Ebbing and flowing between emotion and breathing.
And when you're ready,
Slowly opening your eyes.
