Hi,
This is Orit Krug,
Board Certified Dance Movement Therapist and Trauma and Relationship Expert.
Today,
I would love to guide you through a movement-based meditation to stop over-identifying with your emotions.
When we over-identify with our emotions,
We become overwhelmed by them.
We become controlled by them.
We lose our sense of self because all we can feel is taken over by the way that our emotions are feeling inside of us.
So in this meditation,
I would love to help you experience emotions without identifying with them so that you can feel what is normal to feel without it getting in the way of living your life freely and joyfully.
To begin,
Find a comfortable position that feels good enough for you right now.
You may sit,
Stand,
Or lay down.
And you may choose to close your eyes,
Lower your gaze,
Keep them open,
Or switch between the three of those options.
Let's take two deep breaths together.
Breathing in and breathing out.
And again,
Breathing in and breathing out.
I'm going to invite you to notice the first sensation that comes up in your body right now.
And without labeling it or putting any meaning on it,
Just notice it.
Where do you feel a sensation in your body?
Once you have a sense of this sensation,
Where it is,
Start to notice if there's a color,
A texture,
A temperature to it,
Or a certain way that it is moving or perhaps not moving at all.
You can notice the qualities of this sensation,
But again,
Try to avoid putting any meaning or label to it.
And if you do end up labeling it or judging it,
That's okay.
Bring your attention back to the sensation's qualities without labeling it.
And proceed with curiosity here.
Follow the sensation in your body like a piece of art,
Perhaps a piece of moving art.
For example,
If you began to feel a tightness in your chest that constricted and was a dark blue color that felt warm,
Maybe as you kept witnessing and watching the sensation,
You started to notice that it began to expand and the color became lighter and it almost grew rays of sunshine into different parts of your body.
That's just an example,
But you can notice your sensation like a piece of moving art.
You don't need to understand it or analyze it.
Simply notice it and witness it with your mind's eye as well as witnessing it in your kinesthetic body.
How is the sensation moving?
How is it shifting?
And now,
As you're noticing this ever-evolving sensation inside of your body,
I'm going to invite you to use your imagination to take this sensation outside of your body and place it in front of you.
And this can look like anything your imagination wishes it to be.
Perhaps you make hand movements to have the imagined experience of taking the sensation out of your body and placing it right in front of you.
You can envision this as big or small as you'd like.
This can be something that looks like a ball of energy or a person or some kind of other being.
There's no right or wrong.
And try not to plan too much,
But just let those images come to you as you imagine taking this sensation out of your body and placing it in front of you.
This sensation that you've taken outside of your body is essentially an emotion that you can now see as a separate entity in front of you.
Take a few moments to witness it.
Does it look the same?
Is it moving the same way as it did inside of your body?
Is there something different about it now?
And I'd like to invite you now to start moving with it,
Almost as if you're about to enter a dance with this sensation.
So I'm inviting you to literally,
Physically move your body as you are imagining the sensation outside of you,
In front of you,
Moving around you,
Perhaps.
For example,
You may imagine holding hands with the sensation and doing a waltz.
You don't have to know how to waltz to imagine that.
You can make it up.
Or maybe you imagine that you're passing back and forth a ball of energy between you and this sensation.
You can lead with play here.
You don't have to take it seriously.
How are you dancing with this sensation,
Which essentially is what emotion is?
Emotions are sensations that begin in the body,
That we put meaning on it.
When we feel heavy,
We may label that as sadness.
When we feel light and jumpy,
We may label that as excited.
When we feel constricted and shaky,
We may label that as anxious.
So here,
Right now,
As this sensation that we have avoided labeling or putting meaning on it is placed in front of us,
Outside of our body,
We have the opportunity here to be with the sensation,
To move with it,
Without taking it too seriously and without over-identifying with it.
Seeing it as a separate entity,
Which allows us to witness it,
Be with it,
And maybe even move with it,
Without identifying with it.
So,
Continue to use your imagination.
Let this dance with this sensation just come naturally from your body,
Without thinking too much about it.
Even if it feels silly or awkward,
Or you don't know what to do,
There is no right or wrong.
Try to just let it flow for the next minute.
However you are moving right now,
Start to slowly,
Gradually,
Bring your movements to a close.
Still noticing the sensation that is present,
Whether it's still outside of you and in front of you,
Or perhaps it's gone somewhere else.
If this sensation is still present,
Make a conscious decision of what you want to do with it.
Do you want to hug it,
Or put it away in a box,
Or put it back in your body?
Using your imagination,
You can do anything.
Let your body and your imagination lead this decision of how you might be relating differently to this sensation now.
And once you find closure,
Let's take a deep breath together.
Breathing in,
And breathing out.
When you're ready,
You may gently open your eyes and look around the space.
Making physical contact with yourself to let your body know you are here and now.
Now,
Back in this present moment,
You may notice that it feels a little different inside of your body.
Check in with yourself.
See if any of the sensations that you felt at the beginning of this meditation feel different now.
And still practicing not labeling it,
But just noticing the qualities.
Continue to practice this in your life over and over again.
Breaking the pattern of labeling and making meaning or associations of the feelings inside of you.
Letting go of the need to change them,
Or fix them,
Or numb them.
And instead,
Seeing them as entities that you could dance with,
That you can move with,
Or even be still with.
You can come back to this meditation to keep practicing this however many times you need.
And until then,
You deserve to feel the fullness of your emotions,
Of your precious emotions,
Without them controlling you or taking over you.
If you were able to do that,
Even just for a moment in this meditation,
You now have the embodied understanding that you can do it again.
And for even longer stretches,
As it becomes more embodied,
You are capable of being in touch with your emotions without being overwhelmed by them.
