Welcome to this guided imagery meditation in which I'm going to be showing you how to use a visualization of a container at times when you have an upsetting emotion or memory coming up and it's not a safe or appropriate time for that.
I do encourage and support processing and embracing your emotions but sometimes they come up at a time when it's just not safe or just not possible to deal with them at that time.
That's when you can use this container not to hide your emotions but to keep them safe until you get to a time and place where you can give them your full attention.
So this container is going to be very unique to you.
So I'd like you to find a place where you can sit or lay down and be comfortable and start to relax.
Take some slow deep breaths so that you can get in touch with your intuition and think of what your container should look like.
Trust your gut on this.
Whatever comes up is the right one.
So visualize that container and I'd like you to notice how it closes and how it seals and if there's any added features that you want to include or add to it so that it feels more secure and I'd also like you to think of where you would keep this container.
Some people would like to keep it with them so they shrink it down and put it somewhere in their body or their pocket.
Other people don't want to keep it with them.
They want to send it somewhere that they feel is safe or they want to send it somewhere that they feel is very hidden or secret or very far away or maybe they want to leave it with someone or something that they feel is very protective and can take care of it for them until they're ready.
So once you have an idea of what your container looks like or you'd like to keep it,
I'd like you to follow along as I guide you through practicing using the container.
So I'd like you to think of something that's mild to moderately upsetting that might come up that you might want to use this container for if it was not an appropriate time for you to deal with that.
So I'd like you to come up with some sort of a visualization to represent that discomfort.
Maybe you can notice where you feel it in your body and imagine that that feeling had qualities so that you could see it or maybe there's an image from a memory that you can see visually and I'd like you to imagine shrinking that down small so that it fits into the container.
And maybe you want to even embody sort of if it is in a location in your body,
Sort of bringing your hands to that place and grabbing that discomfort,
Shrinking it down or imagining it the image in your hands and shrinking it down,
Placing it into the container.
You can physically move your hands into the shape of placing it into the container.
If you're in a place where that's appropriate or if you're amongst people,
You would just do this in your mind's eye.
Place it into the container,
Close it up,
Seal it up,
Whatever way you envisioned your container closes,
Locks,
Seals securely and I'd like you to envision sending it to the place you decided you want to keep this container.
So if that's somewhere with you,
You can just envision or you can physically make the movement of putting that container away or if that is somewhere away from you,
You can visualize that your container maybe floats over to that space or maybe there is a spirit guide or an animal or a trusted person that picks it up and takes it to that place.
And see your container safe and secure in that place.
Now I'd like you to take a deep breath in through your nose,
Hold it for a moment and exhale out your mouth with a sigh,
Releasing any remaining energy associated with what you placed in the container and maybe you want to shake out your hands or do a stretch and some more deep breaths to finalize the letting go of the discomfort that you placed in the container.
And when you're ready,
Open your eyes and observe things in the room,
Listen to the sounds around you,
Bring yourself fully back into the here and now.
