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Meditation on emotions.
Let's come into a seated posture and direct the attention inward,
Either closing your eyes or lowering the gaze,
Whichever feels most comfortable for you at this moment.
Sitting with your spine upright with just the right amount of effort so there is not too much strain on the muscles of your back.
Front of the body,
The belly and chest are open and soft,
Breathing with ease,
Feeling the head and neck balanced above the shoulders,
Shoulders heavy,
Relaxed,
Finding a comfortable place to rest your hands,
Perhaps with palms down on the thighs or gently folded in the lap.
Take some time to settle into your posture.
Settle into your body as you begin this short guided meditation on emotions.
Allow your attention to rest gently on the breath.
And to begin,
Take a deep breath in through your nose,
Feel the belly expand,
And then as you exhale,
Breathing out through your mouth,
Feeling the tension release from the face and the jaw with your exhale.
And breathe in this way for a few breath cycles,
Breathing in through your nose and exhaling slowly through your mouth.
At the end of your next exhale,
You can now close the mouth and allow yourself to breathe naturally,
Releasing any effort in your breath.
The intention of this guided meditation is to explore emotions with mindful awareness.
Mindfulness allows us to investigate many different aspects of our present moment experience that are available to us but often overlooked or ignored.
Can you now direct the lens of your awareness to the emotions that are here for you right now?
Some basic emotions we can experience are joy,
Delight,
Happiness,
Sadness,
Fear,
Anger,
Surprise,
Shame,
Or even boredom.
Which emotion or emotions are most prominent for you right now?
Do you experience your emotions as strong or subtle?
Pleasant or unpleasant?
Just sit and observe your emotions with curiosity,
Staying with those emotions and noticing how you experience them in the body.
Once you have recognized an emotion,
It can be helpful to label it,
Give it a name.
If contentment is here,
Label it contentment.
If sadness is here,
Just note sadness.
Or other emotions such as calm,
Worry,
Frustration,
Whatever is here.
Label it for what it is without judgment.
There is a saying that if you name it,
You tame it.
Research shows that by labeling our emotions,
Especially the strong ones,
We can tame them so that they are less overwhelming.
Notice what your attitude is towards the emotion that is here with you at this moment.
Is there a tendency to judge your emotion?
Is it something you like or dislike?
Can you welcome this emotion,
Give it space to be present like a welcome guest?
Or do you prefer it to go away?
Does it feel more like an intruder than a guest?
Perhaps you want to turn away from this emotion,
Pretend it is not there,
Or distract yourself by thinking of something different.
Regardless of whether this is a pleasant or unpleasant emotion,
Consider what it might be like to adopt a welcoming attitude of openness and acceptance to whatever emotion is here.
For the next part of the practice,
Can you identify a pleasant emotion that is here for you?
Identify and label that emotion.
It could be contentment,
Calm,
Joy,
Happiness,
Satisfaction.
If it helps,
You can bring to mind an image or memory that evokes a pleasant emotion.
Sit with this emotion and notice how you feel it in your body.
How does it express itself?
Is there a slight smile in the face?
A feeling of relaxation?
Deepness to the breath?
Openness in the chest?
Savor the feelings in the body as they are.
And now,
If you are willing,
See if you can identify a difficult emotion that is here for you.
Just choosing a mildly difficult emotion,
Maybe one that is a 3 out of 10 on your scale of difficulty.
A feeling of frustration,
Worry,
Annoyance.
Identify and label this emotion if it is there.
And notice where you feel this in your body.
Are there areas of tension?
Holding of muscles?
Perhaps in the face,
The jaw,
The belly,
Holding of your breath.
Where are your patterns of holding this emotion in your body?
Allow yourself to feel this emotion.
Give it space.
Breathe into it with a sense of curiosity and acceptance.
See if you can let go of any tension in the body with the breath and letting go with the out breath.
Noticing if it changes the intensity of the emotion.
In this practice,
We can learn to soften around the edges of these difficult emotions and ride the wave of the intensity rather than become overwhelmed and swept away by the emotions.
And now when you're ready,
Allowing yourself to let go of this difficult emotion and if you like,
Coming back to the pleasant emotion.
Soften into this emotion and notice how it feels in the body.
Notice how you can make this transition from an unpleasant emotion to a pleasant emotion rather than just getting stuck in this difficult place.
Take a few more breaths,
Breathing into the sensations in the body.
And now letting go of this practice and expanding awareness to the whole body breathing.
Take a few moments to feel the body from the crown of the head to the bottoms of the feet.
Resting in your breath as you take a few moments to reflect on the effects of this guided meditation on emotions before opening your eyes and transitioning out of the meditation.
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