Moving Through Difficult Emotions & Creating Peace

Sometimes, uncomfortable emotions are unavoidable. We deal with anxiety, stress and overwhelm regularly. This practice will help you give notice to those emotions, but also detach yourself from them. This meditation is here to remind you that you are NOT your emotions. You are something much bigger and grander.

Transcript

So, To get started just find yourself in a comfortable seated position. You can be seated on the floor or even a chair. I'm seated in a chair right now currently. What matters is that you're comfortable and also that you can stay alert. So find that balance for yourself here. So you can allow yourself to sit up nice and tall through the spine once you've found your seat. Maybe give yourself a few moments to kind of wiggle and stretch and shake however you need to. Find it's a little bit easier to drop into stillness when we have a moment to move first. So just take a few moments, Maybe sway yourself side to side. Roll out the neck. Bring the shoulders up nice and tight towards the ears and let them go. And then gently dropping into that stillness whenever you're ready. So bring yourself onto your sit bones sitting up nice and tall through the spine, Through the crown of the head. And exhale, Drop your shoulders away from your ears. Take a moment here as you arrive into your body and into your space to just relax. Relax the muscles around your face, Through your jaw, Your forehead, Your eyes, Back of your neck. Dropping down into the shoulders and the chest, The belly, The hips. And even out through the soles of your feet, Just relax. Just take a deep breath in through the nose and sigh it out through an open mouth. Take another deep breath in through the nose, Sigh it out through an open mouth. And starting to deepen and lengthen your breath here as you settle even more deeply into a comfortable seat. And start to pull the breath deeper down all the way into the base of the belly. Letting each exhale soften you around your physical body just a little bit more here. Giving ourselves this space to drop in. No matter where you've been earlier today, No matter all the energy you've picked up, No matter all of the things that you've done, Give yourself a few breaths. All of that going. Like when you come home and you take off your jacket and your shoes, You set your keys and your bag down, Imagine that that's what you're doing for yourself here. The home that you're coming back to is this moment in your breath and your body. And as you come in through the door of your meditation practice here, We're leaving everything else at the door. So still keeping those strong, Deep inhales, Begin to let your awareness come to that rhythm of your breath. Notice where in your body you're feeling your breath the most. Let me notice the sound of your breath. Notice the rhythm of your breath. Notice the texture of your breath. And as you continue to lean into this awareness, This knowing, This seeing of your breath, Remind yourself, I am knowing of my breath. I am observing my breath. I'm feeling and I'm sensing my breath. And since I can observe my breath, That means my breath is outside of me. That means I am not my breath. Just bring the awareness back into the physical body here. Notice all of the sensations that it takes for you just to be seated here. Notice wherever your body touches the floor or your chair. Notice the muscles that it takes in your back to keep you seated, To keep you upright. Notice the air on your skin, The temperature on your skin. Notice the sensation of your clothes touching your body. And reminding to yourself here, You can even repeat it internally as I say it here. I am observing my body. I am sensing my body and feeling my body. And since I can observe my body, Since I can bear witness to my body, It means that my body is outside of me. It means that I am not my physical body. Take a full deep breath in through the nose and out through your nose. We'll guide our awareness to the mind. You may have already noticed it in the first few moments of this meditation as we've been seated here. It's not uncommon for there to be distractions or chatter, A quick jumping of thoughts over to things that we still want to do or things that happened, This constant living in either the past or the future as a way to avoid the present. Take a few moments here continuing to breathe deeply, Continuing to stay present in the breath and through the body, Just observe the mind for a moment. Just what if anything comes to the surface for you here. Now reminding yourself here, I am observing my thoughts. I know my thoughts. I know how my mind works. And since I can observe my thoughts because I can observe my mind, Then I am not my mind. My mind is outside of me and the me, The I that can sense and observe my thoughts is something much, Much deeper, Something much more permanent, Something much more wise and divine. And finally guiding your awareness down into your heart space, So the center of the chest, A few inches behind the breastbone. Continuing to breathe and connect here to the emotional body. And here just observing, Just noticing to begin. Ask yourself, How am I feeling today? How am I showing up emotionally today? Allow yourself to feel the answer, Right? We're stepping out of the mind into the heart. Resist the urge to tell a story or even assign words to how you're feeling. Just keep it in the heart. Just keep it in the emotions and the sensations. How am I feeling today? Maybe those emotions begin to express themselves in different ways. It's not uncommon to get a little bit tight in the throat, Maybe a bit teary-eyed. Maybe you're feeling some physical manifestations of your emotions. Maybe you feel yourself bubbling over with happiness and joy, Contentment, Reminding ourselves here first and foremost that there is no right or wrong. There is no good or bad. There just is. Give yourself a few moments here, Leaning into whatever emotions are showing up for yourself here today. Allow those to just be without judgment, Without trying to change, Without you telling yourself that you're a terrible person. Give yourself compassion. Give yourself permission. Just breathe for a few moments here. Allow whatever is in your heart to just be. Now gently guide your awareness, Guide your focus back to the breath, Coming out of the emotions, Coming back to the now, And then reminding yourself, I am observing my emotions. I am feeling all my emotions. I give myself permission to experience all of these emotions. But since I can observe them because I can bear witness to my emotions, That means that I am not my emotions. That means that my emotions are separate from myself. But even though they can seem so tangled up and so deeply ingrained and true to who we think we are, That that real you that can observe, That can watch, That can witness, That can question, Is something so much more permanent, Something much wiser and stronger than you could ever imagine. Knowing that this doesn't mean that we need to shame or change or push away our emotions. It is okay to feel sad and angry and down or happy and joyful and elated, But that does not mean that you are sad. It does not mean that you are happy. It means you are experiencing an emotion and that the real you is true and strong and steadfast no matter what. Take a few breaths and connect with that knower and connect with that seer. Just a little bit closer to that seat, That back seat where you are no longer personally entangled in the daily experiences of the mind and the emotions and the body and the physical. Step back and connect to that deepness, That truth, That unshakable light that is here with you. Take a deep full breath together here in through the nose. Open your mouth and let it all go. One more inhale. Let it go. Gently move your awareness back into the physical. Begin to bring some awareness back into the physical body. Notice wherever your body is touching the floor or your chair. Notice any sounds around you in the room. Notice your breath. If you'd like you can close by bringing a hand up to your heart, Placing your palm against your chest. Just connecting physically with the seat of the knower, The seat of the you, The self with the capital S. And know that through any struggle that you experience in day to day life that you always have this space within you that you can connect to even though it might be hard sometimes. But no matter what you go through, You are strong and you are complete and you are not what happens to you. Gently release your hand down from your chest. Let's take one more deep full breath in. Let it go. Take your time to wiggle into your body. Softly open your eyes. Jai, Thank you. Thank you all so much for being here in your practice and to hopefully receive and listen to yourself. I hope that you found a little bit of connection, A little bit of strength here for yourself.

Reviews

I lay down for this practice, I found it a deeply relaxing mindful meditation. Thank you so much