Today's meditation is on facing discomfort,
Working with those intolerable moments of thoughts,
Situations,
Emotions,
Body sensations,
Pain and how to work with it.
And the meditation is going to gently help you to see what actually creates more of that.
So let's begin by making sure our posture is in a reasonable position,
Maybe laying down or possibly sitting upright.
You can even lean against a wall and then just take a nice deep in- all the way up to the heart and then exhale through the mouth.
So let's do three of those breaths.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Last one.
And now just taking a moment to scan the body,
Becoming aware of your experience.
What do you notice unfolding in your body today?
Maybe we notice some uncomfortable thoughts,
Maybe some uncomfortable emotions or maybe there's some discomfort in our body,
So pain.
Just noticing whatever's there.
So it is in Buddhism and nervous system regulation that actually to actually move out of something or to heal from something we have to move through it.
And to move through it completely we also have to know what holds us back from healing,
What's preventing us from really moving in and experiencing what we're experiencing.
So what I mean by that is often we have this resistance or we try to fix the discomfort,
We try to avoid it,
We numb out,
We move away from it.
But if we really look closely and we'll do this in this meditation today,
You may notice that there's almost like another layer around the discomfort and that's what we call in Buddhism your view.
So it's wrong view.
So we have this view about our discomfort that it shouldn't be there,
I need to get rid of this,
This is I don't like this,
This is uncomfortable,
Whatever your view is and that view it's not actually the emotion or the feeling or the sensation itself that is an issue or a problem,
It's actually our view about it.
So when we can remove remove our view about what we're experiencing then the whole experience changes.
It then begins to be this energy that's moving through us because there's a sense of allowing this to be here.
So understanding that life is impermanent,
Life is forever changing,
It's not going to be the same in the next moment,
The next day,
The next year.
So when we can even see that could we just lean in a little to what we're experiencing,
The discomfort,
Knowing that this too will pass,
That it is just a moment in time and if I can change my view around what I'm experiencing to maybe just even having a sense of curiosity or a sense of tenderness that I want to hold this.
So for this meditation I invite you to look at your body and your mind as a container.
What is it holding in this container?
And then externally is outside that container is everything else that's unfolding which may be in nature,
May be outside,
There's different sounds but let's just take a look inside first.
What do you notice that is unfolding inside your body today?
Can you feel anything that is uncomfortable?
Just scanning through and just notice is there something there that you don't want to be there?
Maybe it's knee pain,
Maybe you've got a headache,
Maybe you feel a bit emotional or sad or anxious or angry,
Resentful,
Jealous,
Maybe there's a busy mind,
Lots of thoughts and worries and the to-do list.
What is it for you?
Let's just lean in to that right now.
Find that in your body today.
So once you've found that place in you that feels uncomfortable can you notice what's around that?
So what's your thoughts about that discomfort?
Are they judging it?
Are you moving away from it?
Are you trying to get rid of it?
Trying to fix it?
What is the nature of the energy that is holding that discomfort in this moment?
And just feeling into that.
Now see if you can just soften that,
Just soften your hold around that knowing that this is part of my experience,
That I will to feel discomfort and I will also feel pleasure,
That pleasure and pain are tied together.
It's part of the existence of living in this life and maybe you can place some softness or tenderness around this discomfort.
A sense of just allowing it to be here,
Breathing with it,
Taking a breath in through your nostrils,
Breathing that discomfort in and breathing with it as well as breathing out with it.
Lightly touching your experience as it is,
No judgment,
No fixing,
Just staying with it and also noticing now what else is in your container.
So you may notice sounds around you externally or you may notice different sensations in your body internally.
So including that in your experience as well because often what we do when there is something uncomfortable is we fixate on that one part of us.
When if we really are truthful and honest with ourselves and expand our awareness and get curious we'll see there's so much more in our container internally and externally.
So we want to broaden our awareness as well to move outside of just what I'm experiencing because when we focus in on that one sensation or that one emotion it tends to what we call in Buddhism again it's inappropriate attention and focusing on a wrong view and that will just exacerbate that energy.
So we're wanting to expand our awareness outside of that.
So just breathing with it,
Lightly touching it,
Noticing your body and when the mind drifts away or moves away because it will because it won't want to stay with the discomfort just gently bring it back.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Just allowing everything now to just wash in,
Wash out,
Being present with yourself in this moment.
Acknowledging all that is unfolding,
All that is flowing,
Even the discomfort.
So just a few more breaths here,
Maybe even noticing some peace arising and breathing that in and breathing that out.
Just knowing that you are here with everything arising and falling,
Arriving and ceasing.
Just go back to that discomfort that you experienced at the beginning.
Has it softened even just 1%?
Because if it was really strong it may only have softened a little and you may like to stay here a little longer just allowing that experience to just be there,
Dropping your view about it,
Inviting the rest of your experience,
The sounds of birds,
The coolness of a breeze,
The different emotions and sensations you're experiencing in your body.
Just allowing all of that to move through.
So you're opening your awareness to this experience instead of disconnecting.
So that disconnection as I said it's just your view about it and when we can soften our view we come into connection,
We come back online.
Our ventral vagal part of our nervous system or part of our vagus nerve comes online.
So the more you can lean in to your experience and allow it to be as it is,
Inviting that discomfort,
Leaning in to that discomfort,
Touching it,
Being okay with it,
Not judging it.
It's in those moments of really holding what's intolerable that builds your resilience to further discomfort,
To further pain.
This is the start of this practice so I encourage you to keep visiting it again and again and stay here today as long as you need and when you're ready deepen the breath,
Open the eyes and allow yourself to have the day you need.
Thank you.
