Yin Yoga Meditation On Positive Emotions

Our meditation today is of a very specific kind because we are going to create positive emotional states.

States that you have already felt in your life before and that you might even feel disconnected to at some point.

But they're always existing within you.

And so this is what we're going to do today and we will enhance it by adding on the postures,

The asanas if you will,

To the physical body that corresponds very much to these emotional states.

We'll start with a feeling of safety.

So do remember that you can always put a pause to this recording and stay as long as you wish in either of these poses,

Cultivating the emotional state for as long as you need before you move on.

Come into child's pose and try to take if possible a traditional kind of child's pose where the knees are together and the hands are by the sides of your feet to get a full rounding of the spine and the forehead close to the knees.

As you come into that pose I would like for you to first of all notice each part of your body that touches the ground and specifically notice the forehead on the ground,

The rounding of the spine and the closeness of the forehead to the knees.

And then bring into your mental body,

Into your mind,

Into the eye of the mind what it feels like for you when you feel safe.

Now you might need to associate this with a memory,

A specific time,

A place,

A period in your life,

A person or a pet.

Bring it into your mind's eye and focus on it 100%.

And then you let that feeling spread.

You might have located it somewhere first behind your eyes because there is where you feel that you are working.

But where do you actually feel the feeling of safety?

Is it somewhere lingering low in the abdomen or is it in your chest?

Is it a warm sensation?

Can you put a quality to it?

When you are ready to move on we are going to take pigeon pose,

A gentle variation.

Make sure that you are comfortable.

And then we will repeat the experience but with another feeling state,

A feeling of gratitude.

When did you last feel grateful?

Was it after having been ill and you are starting to feel well again,

Realizing just how grateful you are to be in good health?

When did you feel it?

Where do you usually feel it?

Do you associate this with a place,

A person,

A specific event?

Bring it into your mind's eye and focus on it.

Focus on it so clearly.

As if you would hear your favorite song on the radio and then start to tune up the volume.

Tune up the volume of this feeling as you let the gratitude spread in your whole body.

Now you have been here for maybe a minute or a little bit longer.

If you need to stay then do so,

Otherwise change for the opposite side.

See if you can hold on to that feeling as you change legs and then come back into it.

Where do you place the feeling of gratitude in your body?

Is it lingering in the belly?

Is it in your chest or is it in your head?

Is it like a lightness almost in the head?

Isn't it wonderful that we can create these emotional states completely on our own?

We have this belief that it's the external event that will make us feel this way but it's just a trigger.

You are doing it all on your own.

Now isn't that already something to feel grateful about?

If you wish to stay then you can pause this recording and you stay as long as you need.

But if you are ready then we'll continue for a seated forward folding pose.

Here we come into our capacity of letting go.

As we come into a forward fold we are often triggered by the tightness in the hamstring,

In the back of the leg,

In the hip area and the lower back as well.

And especially when we know that we need to sit for a longer time we tend to pretend that the pain isn't there.

But the only way to go further into this,

To release the tensions,

To let go is to actually focus on it instead.

So as you sit there I would like for you to really focus on where you feel most of the discomfort and then breathe into it as if you could have a small version of yourself standing there next to the muscles and breathe warm air into them.

Just like in life we can never progress,

We can never continue with ourselves until we manage to let go of what actually is in front of us.

When we learn to accept a discomfort or something inconvenient,

A loss,

A pain,

Then we can finally learn from it and move on.

And this is exactly what your body is showing you in this pose.

What do you need to let go of?

Once again maybe you want to stay here a little bit longer or you are ready to move on.

When you are ready to move on we are sliding into the melted heart pose,

Letting the chest drop,

Maybe chin or forehead to the ground.

And of course as we release the blockages around the heart area cultivate the feeling of being in love.

Now remember what's going on in your life today does not matter in this moment.

You go where you need to go to remember exactly how that felt.

When in your life do you recall that strong feeling of being in love?

Where?

Do you link it to a person or maybe your favorite pet?

Is there a smell that you associate with this?

Where do you place it in the body?

Really enjoy this position for as long as you need.

Cultivate the feeling of being in love.

Feel the bubbles like champagne bubbles in your head.

Like a fuzzy feeling of being a teenager for the first time in love.

Once again I am inviting you to pause the recording to stay a little bit longer or if you feel that you are done then I am inviting you to lay down on your back in what we call star.

It's like a variation of corpse pose shavasana.

We spread our legs really wide and our arms are stretched out far away from the body as far as we can like a star.

And then cultivate again each and one of these emotional states.

How does it feel to feel safe?

Where do you place it in the body?

Do you remember what your focus was?

When did you last feel grateful?

Can you bring that feeling in as well?

To coexist with feeling safe.

The feeling of letting go.

And the wonderful feeling of being in love.

Now let these emotional states coexist.

Let them spread,

Let them shoot around in your body like shooting stars of energy.

Feel the lightness,

Feel the joy.

And then begin to let your breath deepen again.

Letting the belly rise on the inhale and sink on the exhale.

Move your fingers and move your toes.

Make circles with your wrists and your ankles.

And then hug your knees in towards your chest and really hug them close in.

Swaying gently from side to side a couple of times before you decide to come back into a seated position.

As you come back seated,

Keep your eyes closed for a few more moments,

Lengthening the spine.

And place the palms of your hands upon your heart.

Tap into what's going on.

Register that feeling.

Remembering that in your practice you peel off layer by layer of all the decorations that you collect through life.

So that when you come to the end of a practice like now and you tap into your heart center,

What you feel might just be seeming a little bit more authentic,

A little bit more you.

So repeat silently to yourself,

This is me.

This is me.

This is me.

Namaste.