Exploring the difficult.
Connecting to a sense of being supported by the chair or the bed,
The cushion or the floor.
And turning your attention inwards.
Feeling the body as you sit here or lie here.
Noticing the felt sense of breathing.
And when we do this,
Keeping in mind that your breath is an anchor.
And that you can always come back to it,
It's always here.
Just breathing.
Just this breath.
And now,
Using a light touch,
Let yourself bring to mind and to your body and your heart,
Something difficult that you are grappling with.
Maybe something that you're worried about in the future.
An unpleasant event that you're not looking forward to.
Maybe a sense of confusion or being lost.
Maybe a difficult interaction with someone who you know or someone from your past.
And as you hold this in mind,
Noticing what kind of emotion arises and making space for that to happen.
Perhaps even naming what emotions are coming up.
If it's fear,
Resentment,
Anger,
Sadness,
Grief.
Just knowing what's coming up.
While this is happening,
Notice the sensations that these emotions are connected to in the body.
Might be a tightness in the stomach,
Tightness in the face,
Tension in the jaw,
Tension around the eyes,
A lump in the throat,
A tightness in the chest.
Just noticing what's happening in the body and giving yourself permission to feel it in the body.
And again,
Perhaps naming the emotion associated with the feelings in the body.
Maybe noticing the thinking that's going along at the same time.
Perhaps thoughts that are quite different.
Just like thoughts are dragging you away from the experience.
And that's OK.
When you become aware that you've moved elsewhere,
To just simply come back.
To come back to the body.
Come back to the emotions right now.
There's no need to push it away.
Just touching it with your mind,
With your heart.
And breathing.
Breathing into it.
Letting it be.
Perhaps noticing what it's like to spend this much time with something without having to run away or going into battle with it.
Just resting into the sensations,
Opening and softening.
Resting into sensations,
Opening and softening to what is here.
Whatever it is.
It's here anyway,
So let's make room for it.
And having a sense that you can give time to honour these feelings,
These difficult dilemmas that aren't so simple,
And honouring what is here.
And bringing a sense of compassion and curiosity to hear and bear as best you can.
And making a shift now,
If it's right for you to come back to the body and the breath.
Letting go of whatever difficult emotion,
Difficult situation you've been working with.
And just coming back to the sensations in the body right now.
Sense of pressure and contact.
And I'll now just drop in a couple of metaphors that you might find helpful or not.
And just see how you respond to them.
Perhaps picturing yourself as a tree with roots deep into the ground.
Supporting you.
Holding you solid.
Is your trunk and branches.
Move and sway with the wind.
Move and sway with the storms that come by.
Knowing that the roots are holding you safe.
Knowing that whatever comes along,
You can deal with it.
Or picturing yourself as an open sky.
That your mind is like an open sky.
Wide open and blue.
Containing all things.
Not limited by any one thing.
And inside the sky.
Weather presents for a time and then goes.
The sky is always there.
Fast.
Open.
Radiant.
And just like the sky,
Your emotions come and go.
And they are held in something larger.
In the space of awareness.
And for the last couple of moments,
Just focusing back in on the breath.
And if it feels right for you,
Thanking yourself for being brave enough to spend some time in this way.
Choosing to hang out with some difficult experiences as opposed to running from them.
Or being completely consumed by them.
So maybe thanking yourself for doing this.
