MBSR Awareness Of Emotions

Awareness of emotions.

Our inner life can become extremely interesting if we practice mindfulness of emotion in the body.

If we ever become bored during the exercise,

Label it bored.

Boredom always changes to something else when we linger with it long enough,

Without prejudice.

There's often an unpleasant or unfamiliar feeling lurking in the shadows behind boredom.

The practice of becoming aware of our emotions can transform us into poets,

Searching for subtle nuances in emotional experience,

Unflinching in the face of discomfort.

With this practice,

Don't worry about finding the perfect label.

Don't think about it too much.

Choose a good enough label and return to the breath.

For example,

We can say unpleasant,

Pleasant or neutral as we sweep through the sensations in the body.

Or when we feel an unpleasant sensation,

We can just say ouch.

The task is simply to recognize the strongest emotion happening in the present moment,

Even if it is only a whisper.

The first time you do this exercise,

Don't choose something too big,

Choose a mildly difficult emotion.

Once you are used to the practice,

Drop into it whenever you notice strong emotion is present.

The idea of labeling is to be with the sensations,

Without being swallowed up in them or pretending they aren't here.

Research tells us that labeling emotions can also calm the brain.

Intention.

To recognize when emotion is with us,

Kindly and gently cultivating a new relationship with our emotions,

With less avoidance and a wider perspective.

Attention.

Practicing becoming aware of where emotions are felt in the body.

Attitude.

Curiosity.

Allowing.

Non-judging and non-identifying.

We are not our emotions.

As best we can,

Softening our resistance to any emotional discomfort.

Settling down into an appropriate posture.

Finding a comfortable seated position.

Perhaps feeling the ground beneath our feet.

Sitting bones making contact with the seat.

Spine growing tall.

Head balanced on top of the spine.

Allowing the hands to rest on the lap or thighs.

Gently closing our eyes.

Alluring the gaze.

Making a choice to allow ourselves to be exactly as we are in this moment.

Simply present with and open to what is happening right now.

As we settle,

Just allowing our attention to feel the body breathing.

The breath entering and leaving the body.

Bringing curiosity and freshness to this moment.

Noticing where we feel the sensations of the breath most vividly now.

And centering our attention there.

Simply breathing in and out.

Noticing that there is a beginning,

Middle and an end of an in-breath.

And a beginning,

Middle and an end of an out-breath.

With the next in-breath expanding the attention beyond the breath.

And include the entire body sitting here.

Becoming aware of sensations in the body.

Perhaps sensations of contact with the chair or cushion.

The touch of clothes on your body.

Or how your hands feel in this moment.

Sensations of temperature on the skin.

Being present with any bodily sensations as they arise.

Allowing the attention to shift from the breath and the body to the sense of hearing.

Not seeking sounds,

Rather receiving whatever is available from within the body and from the environment near and far.

Noticing how the awareness receives sounds without effort.

How some sounds are very short and some are long.

Noticing how they are varied and textured.

How there is a space between sounds.

Awareness that just like the breath,

Sounds have a beginning,

Middle and an end.

Gently shifting the attention from the changing patterns of sensations and sounds.

And letting it expand this time into thinking,

The realm of thought.

Practicing seeing thoughts not as distractions,

Rather bringing our awareness to the thinking process itself.

Practicing noticing thoughts.

Perhaps labelling thoughts.

Planning.

Arguing,

Arguing.

Remembering.

Dreaming.

Training perspective.

Practicing looking at thoughts rather than from thoughts.

And if we are carried away in the current of thinking,

Practicing coming back to observing.

Seeing thoughts as separate elements that come and go.

Gently coming back to the anchor of the breath and the body sitting here.

Thoughts moving through an open and spacious mind.

Like clouds in the sky.

There is no need to try to make thoughts come or go.

Just practicing,

Watching them arise.

Labelling them.

Greeting them.

Maybe saying hello thought,

Goodbye thought.

And letting them pass away.

Bringing our attention to the heart region.

If it feels right,

Perhaps placing the hand over the heart.

Feeling the warmth from the palms of our hand against our chest.

Perhaps finding a sense of the breath in the heart region.

Gently breathing into the area.

Breathing out of the area.

When the mind wanders,

Practicing coming back to the sensation of breathing.

And back into the heart region.

Breathing into the area beneath the hand.

Breathing out of the area beneath the hand.

At any point resting the hand if necessary.

And if it feels appropriate,

Returning it.

When ready,

Releasing the breath.

Keeping the attention in the heart region and asking ourselves,

What am I feeling?

Letting the attention be drawn to the strongest emotion in the body.

To the location where the emotion expresses itself most strongly.

Even if it is only a whisper.

Inclining gently toward that area.

Allowing the breath to be our anchor.

Just allowing the sensation to be there.

Perhaps soothing ourselves by holding our own hand.

Or once again placing the hand over the heart.

Allowing the gentle rhythmic motion of the breath to soothe the body.

As we simply sit here,

Maybe no obvious emotions are present.

Or we might be noticing there's a lot of emotion here.

Contentment.

Perhaps just curiosity.

Eventually we might become aware of other emotion.

Such as longing is here.

Sadness.

Maybe worry.

Irritation is here.

Loneliness.

Joy.

Boredom.

As best we can,

Labeling the emotion without being swallowed up in them.

And if it feels right,

Repeating the label two or three times in a kind and gentle voice.

For example,

Perhaps saying,

There's a lot of emotion here.

And then returning to the breath.

We're practicing going back and forth between the breath and emotion in a relaxed way.

Letting the attention be drawn from the breath by an emotion.

Labeling it.

And then returning to our breath.

If no emotion shows itself,

Then as best we can,

Being open to the possibility that emotion may come into our awareness as we simply sit and breathe.

Observing the whole of an in-breath from the beginning to the end.

Noticing the moment,

The space or pause,

When it shifts to become an out-breath.

And then noticing the out-breath from its beginning to its shift as it becomes an in-breath.

If it feels right,

Gently bringing emotions back into awareness.

Letting our attention be drawn from the breath by an emotion.

Labeling it.

And then returning to the breath.

If we feel overwhelmed by an emotion,

Coming back to the anchor of the breath or feet on the floor,

Staying with the rhythm of the breath rolling in and rolling out.

The sense of being grounded,

Anchoring in the present moment until we feel able to return to the emotion and its echo in the body.

Again,

If we wish,

Returning the hand to the heart region and practicing going back and forth between the breath and our emotions in a relaxed way.

Letting the attention be drawn from the breath by an emotion.

Labeling it.

And then returning to our breath.

Coming back to the breath.

Observing the in-breath from the beginning to the end.

And then noticing the out-breath from its beginning to its end.

Again practicing,

Giving our strongest feeling a name.

Repeating the label two or three times in a gentle,

Kind voice.

And then coming back to the breath.

Realizing that no matter how many times the attention leaves the breath,

At some point awareness of that arises and there is an opportunity to choose.

Take care of ourselves.

And maybe choosing to bring the attention back to this in-breath and this out-breath in the present moment,

Anchoring in the body.

Gently sweeping the awareness from head to toe.

Taking a kindly breath to any tension or discomfort.

Noticing any sense of how the body resists uncomfortable emotions.

Maybe the emotion can be felt in more places than originally expected.

Staying in touch with sensations in the body as we sit.

Anchoring ourselves in the present moment.

When the attention wanders,

Noticing and making a choice to bring it back with care and kindness to the awareness of this moment.

The breath rolling in and rolling out.

Gently shifting now into an open awareness.

Not choosing to bring your attention to anything in particular.

Simply sitting here.

Fully aware of whatever is presenting itself to you in each moment.

Observing.

Being spacious with whatever arises.

Sitting in stillness with whatever comes and goes.

Being present with it all.

Being here.

Now.

Practicing opening to the totality of your experience without judging.

Gently expanding the attention to include the entire body from the soles of the feet to the top of the head.

Being present to the totality of the experience of sitting here in this moment.

Perhaps feeling the breath,

How it has been a constant companion.

Allowing our attention to be carried by the breath.

Feeling the surface beneath us.

Feeling the ground below.

Breathing in.

And breathing out down into the ground.

Breathing in.

And breathing out down into the earth.

Earthing ourselves.

Noticing the sounds in the room.

Outside of the room.

Mindfulness of emotions.

Gently starting to move and stretch in any way that feels good at this moment.

And when you're ready,

Gently opening your eyes and coming back to the room.

The meditation is now complete.