This is the practice of writing the wave of emotion.
This is from dialectical behavioral therapy.
The goal of this practice is to let the emotion be present the way that it is and to experience the sensations of the body related to this emotion.
We are not trying to do anything to make the emotion go away or to decrease its intensity.
We experience our emotions in our bodies,
That's why they are called feelings.
And yet we often detach from emotional experience by focusing more on thoughts instead of how the emotion is felt.
We also distract ourselves from emotions in so many other ways and avoid them in so many ways.
It can be a lot to feel the emotion in the body.
So in this practice,
We will use some simple cues to experience the emotion physically and we might start to notice that each emotion is like a wave.
There's a beginning,
A middle,
And an end.
Some are large and some are small.
They all eventually end.
Maybe another one comes by,
But we can ride that wave too.
By riding the wave,
We learn that we can tolerate difficult and intense emotions.
It helps us become better emotion regulators.
So to do this practice,
Make sure you're in a space where you have some privacy and come into a position where you feel somewhat alert.
You could be sitting,
You could be lying down,
Whatever works for you.
Feel free to close your eyes or keep them open,
Perhaps looking at an object in the room.
Try to allow the muscles around your eyes to relax a little bit.
You don't need your eyes for this practice.
Let's go ahead and start.
Can begin by observing your heart rate,
If it's possible to tune into that and see is your heart rate beating slower than it usually does?
Is it faster?
Does it seem to be at a normal pace?
Whatever that might mean for you.
If you can't detect anything about your heart rate,
If you can't feel it,
That's okay.
Just take note of that.
Now start to tune into your breathing.
Are you breathing slower than you usually do or is your breathing quicker?
Is it shallow or is it deep?
Where in your body can you feel your breath?
Perhaps in your chest or your belly or even through the nostrils.
When we notice this,
We aren't doing anything to change the breath,
Although sometimes it does change simply through observing.
We're really just trying to experience it as it is while also recognizing that emotional experiences may impact how we are breathing.
Notice if there are thoughts coming up right now.
My guess is that there are because the mind is almost always thinking.
That is what our minds do.
The thoughts might be trying to pull you away from your emotional experience,
Trying to get you to think rather than feel.
For a lot of us,
It is more comfortable and we are more accustomed to thinking rather than feeling.
Notice what the thoughts are like.
Maybe they're really intense.
Maybe they're loud.
Maybe they're repetitive.
Maybe they're really pestering you right now.
Maybe there are a lot of judgments.
Notice what they're like.
Notice that these are thoughts.
The mind is generating thoughts.
That is what the mind does.
And then gently bring the focus back to the body.
We're going to tune into temperature now.
What is the temperature of the body like?
And if it's hard to check that out,
You can also notice the temperature of the space that you're in.
Do you feel warm?
Do you feel cold?
Do you just feel kind of normal as far as temperature is?
Whatever that might mean for you.
Are there certain parts of the body that feel warmer or cooler than others?
For example,
How do the hands feel?
Are they warm?
Are they cool?
What about the feet?
What about the face?
Does any other part of the body stand out as far as temperature?
You can also observe any areas of tension,
Clenching,
Tightness,
Even pain.
And we'll observe this as part of the emotional experience too.
As you are riding this wave of emotion,
Consider asking yourself,
What is this emotion right now?
Can we put a label on it?
Is it sadness?
Is it anger?
Is it shame?
Guilt?
If you're not sure what it is,
That's okay too.
We can also notice how intense the emotion is.
Rating it from a zero to 100.
Where was it at the beginning of the exercise and where is it now?
Did it lower in intensity or did it increase?
Did it stay the same?
There's no right answer here.
And even if the emotion did stay the same or even increased,
You just spent about five minutes allowing yourself to feel your emotion without getting lost in thought and without trying to escape.
This practice is teaching you how to tolerate difficult emotions and how to be present with your emotions.
And at any time going forward,
You can check in with these sensations and you can be present with the physical experience of your emotion.
Now as we close this practice,
Take a moment to check in with yourself.
Feel your feet contacting the ground below you.
Look around the room and notice three things that you can see.
Now take one more grounding breath.
Big breath in.
And long exhale out.
As we exit this practice and move forward from riding the wave of this emotion.
Thank you for practicing.
