Welcome to this brief meditation on the mindfulness of emotions.
My friends,
Let yourself sit in an upright and comfortable way.
And when you're ready,
I want you to close your eyes.
Now take a few deeper cleansing breaths and then let the breath settle into its natural rhythm.
Notice if there is any obvious tension in the body that you can release easily and do so.
Maybe it's in the neck,
Maybe it's in the shoulders,
Wherever it is,
Notice and let go.
Let the eyes and face be soft,
Remove your tongue from the roof of your mouth,
Unclench your jaw,
Relax your shoulders,
And let your arms and hands rest easily.
Let the belly be soft and the breath natural.
And let your heart be soft as well to receive whatever arises with kindness and with compassion.
Now,
With this embodied presence,
Bring a kind and gentle awareness to your breath.
You might notice it as coolness in the nostrils on the inhale,
Or warming in the nostrils on the exhale.
Maybe you notice swirling or tingling sensations in the throat,
Or the rise and fall of the chest or the belly.
Whatever it is,
Wherever it is,
Feel each breath and as you allow it,
Invite a sense of calm and equanimity and ease to grow.
Now return gently to the next breath,
Whenever you notice the attention is wandering.
See my friends,
Wandering is a natural process,
There's no judgment.
Jack Kornfield was once quoted saying,
The mind secretes thoughts like the salivary gland secretes saliva.
It just happens.
So let it.
Now let all the other experiences,
The sounds,
The sensations,
The thoughts,
The images,
Let them rise and fall like waves of the ocean around the breath.
I once heard a guru say,
You can't control the ocean,
But you can learn to ride the waves.
Now,
Start to become mindful of any emotion that calls your attention and you can bring the same mindful loving awareness to these emotions as you have to your breath.
When an emotion arises,
I want you to let go of attention to the breath and receive the emotion kindly.
It can be helpful to name it softly.
You might name it sad,
Sad,
Or joy,
Joy,
Or bored,
Bored,
Anxious,
Anxious,
Or excited,
Excited.
As you attend to the emotion,
Notice carefully where you feel it in your body.
This is key.
See friends,
We can't control a thought with more anxious thoughts.
It doesn't work like that.
Rather,
We must go inside.
We must understand what we are feeling so that we can move through the emotion and let it pass.
How does your emotion respond to kind awareness?
Does it dissolve?
Does it get stronger?
Does it change or transform into another emotion?
Whatever happens,
Wherever it happens,
Notice this too.
You are the space of loving awareness that can kindly notice emotions as they come and go.
Just as sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west,
Your emotions are sure to rise and fall,
Rise and fall.
If you feel any resistance to contacting the emotion or it feels very strong,
Notice the story that the mind tells along with the feelings in your body.
And then acknowledge it kindly and let this be in the background and again bring a gentle presence to the emotion.
And when the emotion has changed or dissolved,
Just return back to the awareness of the breath for a short time.
And now you can include emotions in your loving awareness as well as attending to your breath and to your body.
Emotions come,
Emotions go,
Breath comes,
Breath goes,
Body comes,
Body goes.
As you experience these vivid emotions,
You are becoming this calm,
Steady witness,
Acknowledging them without getting caught by each one.
Rather than getting carried away by the stories or the content of your thoughts,
You simply take a back seat and become this non-judgmental loving awareness.
Remaining in mindful loving awareness,
You become gradually more open,
More balanced and free.
Thank you my friends for joining me in this short meditation on the mindfulness of emotions.
Namaste
