Working With Challenging Emotions and Experiences

This practice uses both your imagination and mindfulness to help you show compassion for the parts of yourself that may be hard to accept, particularly your inner child. By harnessing your imagination, you can more easily connect with, and learn to embody, compassion for yourself.

Transcript

Let yourself sink into your meditation posture.

Take some time to arrive.

Right away bringing attention to your feet on the floor or wherever they are,

And your seat sinking into the surface beneath you.

And for this practice it can be really helpful to put your hand on your heart or your hand on your belly or both.

And take some time here to let yourself feel into anything lately that you've been struggling with,

Something that feels like it's been on your mind or emotions that you've been carrying around and haven't had time to really be with or explore.

And as you make space for these things to arise,

You can also notice what happens in your body as the emotions arrive here.

There might be contraction somewhere or tension,

Maybe a sense of heaviness or a stirring restlessness.

It could be something really subtle and faint or maybe it's a body sensation that showed up right away.

You could also feel like numbness or blankness in these body sensations.

It would be pretty fights where you could acknowledge that there's not enough cameo or to feel sulky too soon.

Sickness,

Kind of difficult to connect with the body.

There's no need to push for an experience.

It's hard to find one.

You can simply just kind of follow along and be curious about what's here without needing to create an experience or have expectations about an experience.

We're simply making space for anything here that just needs an extra bit of caring and kind compassion.

And as you make space for any emotions and body sensations that go along with those emotions,

You'll notice stories and thoughts that arise that are in connection to those.

You can simply be aware of them.

But see if you can step back using your mindfulness to simply observe them instead of get caught up in the story or start feeding the story by believing it or wondering where it's going or trying to figure it out.

You can just notice what's coming up,

Observe,

And then come back to the sensations and the emotions.

And at any point in this practice,

If the emotions or sensations become quite overwhelming,

Where it doesn't feel like you can actually stay in the present moment observing,

You can come back into somewhere in your body that feels easy to lean into,

Feels supportive or comfortable,

Even pleasant.

This is a resource that helps keep you steady and grounded amidst challenging emotions and experiences.

It could be as simple as feeling the little toe or an eyelash.

I like to feel my hands and my seat and the rhythm of my breath.

Now what I'll have you do is I'll have you investigate the sensations and the emotions even more meticulously,

Really getting to know how they live in your body and in your experience,

Seeing how you hold whatever this current challenge is,

How does it live inside of you in this moment.

Really focusing on the sensations.

Is it heavy or light?

Are the sensations moving or still?

Are they flowing,

Pulsating,

Contracting?

Maybe there's a temperature to the sensations.

You can notice even a color,

If images come to mind,

You can see everything that arises in response to these sensations and emotions.

And then what I'd like you to do is actually feel into this and see if it feels younger.

Maybe it's a younger part of yourself that is trying to be in charge of your current experience.

You notice if this particular feeling has an age.

We have young parts of us that try to take over and control when they get scared or afraid or feel like they don't belong or afraid of losing connection.

Often we think that it's just us,

But it's really a younger part of us that hasn't been able to grow up and feel integrated or safe yet.

So you can just use your imagination to feel into how old this part of you feels.

It doesn't have to be younger,

It could be your same age,

But if it is,

Just notice what happens as you invite that into your imagination.

As you get a sense of this young one,

Imagining that it is a young one,

You can even see if an image comes to mind.

If you can see this young person,

Notice what they look like,

Where they are,

If they're inside or outside.

Notice how their posture is and if they're alone or if there are people around.

Letting yourself hold this young one in your heart as you're curious about their experience and how they're feeling amidst this current challenge,

This current struggle.

Notice what happens in your heart as you make space for this young one.

Sometimes people's hearts can feel numb or checked out or others feel kind of a deep sense of compassion and care or anywhere in between.

You might imagine approaching this young one if you haven't already and maybe sitting down beside them or taking a walk with them,

Playing with them,

But checking in with them how they would like to have company.

See what's needed in this moment,

How this younger part of yourself wants to feel held and seen in this moment.

What we're doing here is we're creating a relationship with this young one as if we were a very kind parent,

A good enough parent or maybe a grandmother or grandfather or mentor,

Somebody that's really healthy and supportive and validating and compassionate with a lot of empathy.

Many of us did not get that modeled for us.

What we're doing is we're kind of installing a new operating system where we're creating care for these younger parts of ourselves that show up that still don't know how to feel held and feel loved,

Feel supported when they feel challenged,

Scared,

Sad,

Nervous,

Worried,

Shamed.

So as much as you can invoke a sense of being the wise,

Compassionate adult and bringing that care to this young one right now,

Really let yourself go there.

What might you say to this young one?

I often say,

I see you.

I'm here with you.

I've got you.

You can even acknowledge and validate any emotions that you see in this young one.

It makes sense that you feel that way,

Sweetheart.

Of course you feel that way.

Really making space for them to have their feelings without shaming them,

Without trying to fix it or figure it out.

Simply sitting by their side and feeling with them.

This is empathy.

See what the young one would like to communicate with you.

Mine often takes some time to trust me when I show up.

Takes some time to connect.

Doesn't want me quite too close or doesn't want to share too much too soon.

So whatever yours is doing,

Really listening deeply to what's needed in each moment.

Not doing to say any phrases to this young one that would feel helpful.

You could even offer meta,

Loving kindness.

May you be happy,

Healthy,

Strong,

At ease,

Safe,

Whatever they need to hear.

Notice what happens in your body as you become more connected with this young one.

You can ask them what they want or need right now.

Often they don't know,

But it's always nice to ask.

It's the listening that matters here.

Sometimes they want to throw a temper tantrum.

Sometimes they want to go play on the playground with you.

Sometimes they want you to sweep them up and hold them in your arms.

Sometimes you're in this experience allowing yourself to have any emotions that arise.

Pleasant,

Unpleasant,

Neutral,

Whatever they are,

They're welcome.

You can imagine your breathing in and out of your heart center,

Continuing to fill yourself up and this little one with as much kindness and compassion as you can bring to this moment.

Also feeling the support of the earth beneath you,

Feeling yourself held in something bigger as you hold this little one in your care and your attention.

You can check back in with them one last time here.

Just see if there's anything else that wants to be spoken between the two of you.

Anything else that wants to be done or explored or experienced.

Take a moment to look into the eyes of the little one if you can imagine this and honor them for being willing to connect with you in this moment,

Maybe saying thank you.

Knowing that you can come back to them at any time.

Maybe even reassuring them that you're here now listening.

If that's a promise that you want to make.

Building trust with our little ones takes a lot of time,

A lot of returning,

A lot of learning how to be this good parent and this wise grandparent or mentor.

Letting yourself take time to learn this so that you can really trust that you can keep showing up in this way.

No pressure to need to do it all right now perfectly.

You can let the image and experience of the little one go into the background.

You can let that dissolve and then come back fully into your own body feeling your heart.

Noticing the places in your body where you were feeling the emotions or challenge originally.

Just noticing how they are now.

No need for them to be different,

But just checking it out.

Feeling your feet on the floor,

Your seat sinking into the earth.

And maybe honoring yourself for taking this time,

Honoring your heart for showing up.

Noticing your eyes if they were closed and looking around your space where you are.

Taking in your environment.

Using your eyes and neck to look all around.

Up and down.

Taking your right here in this present moment as an integrated adult.

Taking three full breaths and bringing this to a close.

Thanks for watching.

Reviews

Beautifully lead meditation for inner child. Thank you

This helped. Thank you!

This is one of my favorites, thank you 🙏

Helpful go-to for those needing to reparent broken parts and hurts from the past

Thank you, it was wonderful

This really helped me identify a core injury that needs validation, allowance, attention, nurturance, etc. I promised to carry this child with me everywhere I go, consciously, today, and to listen to her and care for her. Thank you so much for this lovely meditation.

Great and useful guidance to being with those younger/needy parts of ourselves in a relaxed and compassionate way.

Interesting and powerful

The guidance I gleaned from this practice is outstanding! After visiting my inner child I felt lighter. Simply insightful.

Very good inner child meditation. Just what I needed. Thank you!

We grow up looking forward, leaving our younger self behind. Good to embrace her again. Thank you

I will be returning to this one again and again. This was a powerful experience for me. Thank you 🙏🏼

I didn't realize that I was holding this pain. Thank you for helping me connect to my inner child 🙏❤ I will often return to care for her

Much more powerful than I anticipated and just what I needed ❤️ namaste

I needed this today

Helped me to acknowledge and become aware of the feelings I keep trying to detach from, helped integrate my inner child roots.

Excellent! I found this extraordinarily helpful. Thank you

Thanks, worked for me!