Awakening Your Heart

This is a wonderful practice to use for dealing with difficult emotions. Use it anytime you feel you are struggling with emotions. And please know, we've all been there, so you're not in this alone. This is a deeply powerful practice that will leave you feeling much lighter and calmer.

Note: This practice can be especially powerful when done with the Ten Day Course: Ten Days to Deeper Meditation. This practice can be used with Day 9.

Transcript

This is the awakening your heart meditation.

Now just taking your seat.

A few fuller breaths really filling the chest and lungs.

Slow out breaths.

Relaxing and releasing.

Just taking some moments here to arrive.

Right here,

Right now.

And when you feel ready,

Beginning to think about your life.

Seeing if you can notice some places in your life where some reactivity has been coming up for you.

Maybe in relation to a child or a friend or at work.

Maybe in relation to your own body and health.

Just kind of scanning your life and bringing forth in your mind something that you're getting stuck on.

Something that's triggering you.

A time when you go unconscious.

When you no longer feel the access to your peace of mind.

Maybe you get blameful or you feel hurt.

Maybe you pull back or lash out.

Just picking a situation that you get some sense of strong emotion,

Anxiety,

Fear,

Guilt or just whatever it is.

And now just seeing if you can notice what you're most aware of in those moments when you're getting stuck.

What are you most feeling?

Is it anger or hurt?

Or judgment?

Is it embarrassment or shame?

Just really seeing if you can notice what you're most feeling in those moments when you're getting stuck in your life.

You might even whisper to yourself what it is you're feeling in those moments.

Is it insecurity or whatever it is?

Just allowing yourself right here in this moment to fully recognize what it is you're feeling.

And now just letting yourself feel it.

Thinking of that situation,

That problem you're having in your life,

That life moment and just really allowing yourself to feel whatever starts coming up for you.

Allowing yourself to feel the hurt or the blame.

The anger or the sadness.

Let's just allow it to be here.

So thinking about those moments in our life,

We're getting stuck and now in our meditation just giving space to those emotions now.

Allowing yourself to fully feel them.

Without trying to change them in any way,

Just giving them space to do their thing.

For some of you it might be helpful to even whisper yes to these emotions.

Actively agreeing to allow yourself to fully experience them.

With friendliness,

With interest,

With compassion.

Allowing yourself to feel those stronger emotions now.

And now seeing if you can investigate these feelings.

Where are you feeling them right now in your body?

Maybe even letting your posture change as you feel these feelings.

Maybe your face winces or your hands want to clench.

And just letting yourself do that.

Remembering that we're giving ourselves the space right now to investigate these feelings.

Allowing them to be here so they can be fully expressed.

They can fully express what they need to,

What we need to,

Within the safety of our meditation.

Investigating where in your body you most feel the fear or the anger or the hurt.

You might ask yourself the question,

When this is happening in my life,

What thoughts am I believing?

Are they thoughts that others don't care about me or I'm going to end up all alone?

Or that I'm going to fail at something or some other terrible thing is going to happen?

Just noticing what are the thoughts that surface when you're feeling these emotions?

What are you believing?

And just noticing.

Maybe noticing what feelings are coming along now with these thoughts?

Do they change or intensify when you believe these thoughts?

About being alone forever or not being respected or whatever it is.

What are the feelings that go along with these thoughts that you're believing?

And now just seeing if you can feel right into that place in you that's most vulnerable.

That place that you protect and guard.

But that now in the safety of your meditation you can allow yourself to touch into.

With care and friendliness,

With compassion.

Seeing if you can begin to understand what that part of you really needs.

The most vulnerable part of you,

What does it really need?

Maybe asking yourself,

How do you want me to be with you?

What do you most need me to give you?

Is it love or understanding?

Is it a sense of safety or forgiveness?

What is the message that the most vulnerable part of you would most like to hear?

What would be most reassuring?

What would be most healing?

And just listen.

Sensing what this part of you most needs like no one else can.

Maybe shifting your posture now to really reflect this ability to be offering whatever you most need right now.

A posture of love or reassurance.

Of trust and care.

Whatever that means to you.

Whatever that feels like to you.

So you're really listening now from your true self.

Your kind self.

Your caring and compassionate heart.

Listening to what your most vulnerable part is asking to hear.

And having your posture begin to reflect this listening.

This care.

For some of us it can be helpful to place one or both hands on your chest now.

On your heart.

As a touch of care and tenderness.

A posture of healing.

A posture of I'm listening.

I'm here for you.

And now just nurturing that most vulnerable part of you.

Sensing how you want to respond to yourself.

Sensing how this vulnerable part of you wants you to be with it.

What message you might offer yourself.

And letting your attention go inward with that message of love or understanding.

Of forgiveness or trust.

Offering the love and care this part of you most needs in whatever way most resonates with you.

And noticing your own sense of love and care as you bring this message inward.

Letting yourself really rest now in the sense of love and care you're offering yourself.

This sense of nurturing yourself.

Letting yourself rest in this aspect of yourself that can really be with this most vulnerable part of you.

You caring for you.

You responding to yourself as you most need yourself to respond.

And just letting go and letting yourself rest in this space of nurturing you've just created.

And just breathing.

Tanks and you

Reviews

Merci beaucoup 🙏

I have this saved and always come back to it when I am dealing with something difficult.

Thank you, Michelle. My partner is so traumatized these days by the election and her fears of what's to come that she doesn't have much to give me in the way of support. I give and support her but feel overwhelmed and helpless. Very helpful to give myself the care that I need. I'm grateful for your guidance.

This meditation really helped me have some profound insights

My hands were already on my heart. My friend is dying. This meditation helped me be able to share my feelings with him.
Thank You.

This was wonderful, thank you! I will call on it again when experiencing difficult emotions.

This was really helpful for me, perfectly paced and led. What I thought was anxiety and fear was covering a grief that I had been as yet unable to feel, and I was able to give myself space and support to begin feeling it.

Just what I needed today and fot many to come. Namaste 🙏

Thank you. I was triggered by something this week and I needed to hear this ❤️

Thank you for this

Very thought provoking meditation.. really helped 😊

Thank you so much. With this meditation you really helped me and me come closer... 🌸❤️🌸 love from Cyprus

Lovely! Felt the heartful warmth in the end!❤🙏

Really Inspiring

Great way to feeling my emotions so I can process them, thank u!

What a beautiful message, I loved it
I feel like a different person because of this meditation

Beautiful calming and soothing meditation. One I will definitely bookmark.

This practice is extremely enlightening and healing. Full of compassion and kindness, it lead me to a vulnerable place that allowed me to see and heal. 🙏🏻🙏🏻 Namaste 🌟

I and i loved that. Thank you so very much 💕

My wife, at 60, is losing herself to Alzheimer's. 2+ years into this journey, my biggest fear is no longer losing her, but watching her have to endure losing herself. The guilt and self-loathing I feel over hoping her battle is short and her freedom comes soon consumes me, and I occasionally react rather than responding calmly when she has her "episodes". I promised her I would work on living and responding from my place of peace, and this lesson is precisely what I needed to find this evening. My sinuses are now swollen from weeping, but now I know that my peace simply needs me to love it, and treat it with love, and to stop wallowing in self hatred because I pray for mercy for my beloved wife.
In addition to advanced Alzheimer's and severe kidney disease (only one functioning kidney now), she may also have a cancer in her stomach and uterus. We have elected not to investigate that, as it is simply one trauma too many for an already very frail and fragile person.
Thank you for this. It will be on my regular rotation, and I may try to find time for the course, as well.