Hi everyone and welcome to week four's meditation on mindfulness of emotion.
In today's practice we'll be taking a look at our inner life of emotion and really seeing how we can meet our emotions with more compassion and kindness in the heart.
So I'll invite you all to find a comfortable seat that feels supportive for you.
Right away really allowing yourself to fully relax your body,
Letting any tension or tightness in the face drop away,
Smoothing the brow,
Letting the shoulders melt down and away from the ears,
Letting your heart and your belly be soft,
Resting your hands in an easy and relaxed way,
Noticing your legs and your feet,
Contact with the ground,
Feeling connected and grounded,
Just letting your attention rest on the inflow and outflow of the breath,
The breath intimately connected with the body,
Feeling any sensations of warmth,
Tingling,
Pressure.
Now attuning to your inner weather,
The state of your heart and your mind as you sit here.
What's the general feel,
The emotion that's present for you right now?
Maybe subtle states of calm,
Ease,
Peace,
Stillness,
Maybe a bit of numbness or irritation,
Fear,
Worry,
Seeing if you can recognize and name what's here and really allowing and accepting however this emotion manifests in the body and in the mind.
You may notice that there might be some openness,
Some inner stillness to the mind,
A sense of expansion,
Relaxation in the body.
Maybe there's a bit more of a cloudiness or fogginess in the mind and some contraction and tightness in the heart or the belly,
Allowing and accepting what's here.
This belongs,
This is part of our experience of the moment and if no strong emotion calls your attention,
It may always bring your attention back to the breath and the body,
Letting yourself rest there.
Now seeing if we can get intimate with and investigate what our relationship is to our emotions,
What the attitude in the mind is toward whatever is here right now.
Is there a liking,
An enjoyment,
A wanting,
Or is there more of an acceptance and a welcoming?
Maybe you were in more of a fight with or feeling some resistance,
Wanting our emotion to change or go away.
Just seeing what's true for us,
Seeing if we can do this with a sense of curiosity,
Not judging or being harsh with ourselves.
Instead,
Just really wanting to know,
Wanting to understand how it is.
And finally,
We will bring a sense of nourishment and self-compassion towards our inner weather,
Our emotional state,
Really recognizing that whatever's here,
That it's not personal,
That this emotion,
This inner weather has blown through due to different conditions,
Their lives,
And that it won't be here forever.
And so seeing how we can hold whatever's here with love and kindness in our hearts.
You may experiment with a hand on the heart as a demonstration of your kind presence or using phrases such as,
I'm here and I'm listening.
And as our meditation comes to a close,
Really taking notice of what may have shifted for you over these last 12 minutes together and seeing how your relationship to your emotion may take on a new flavor,
A new color.
I thank you for sitting with me and I wish you a wonderful day or evening.
