Use this meditation to work with difficult emotions, such as fear or body sensations, such as pain.
Find a space that is comfortable for you.
Check inside your body and try to locate a part of your body that feels good to you right now. Pleasant, safe, at ease, or at the very least neutral.
You can check out your hands or feet or legs.
Let your attention go to this pleasant part of your body…hands or feet…or wherever you have chosen and let your attention rest there…feel it…sense it…notice what those sensations are…
let your mind relax a bit, feeling that part of the body.
if there is something difficult that is happening for you, a difficult emotion or a physical sensation that is hard, let your attention go to that.
It may be an aching in your shoulder or back. Or a headache. Or it could be a sense of sadness, or anxiety, or anger.
Where do you feel that sensation in your body?
Where do you feel that emotion in your body?
Notice it…just notice it for one moment. Tap into it. Feel it. Make sure to breathe.
And now return your attention back to that area that feels at ease…your hands or feet or legs.
Let yourself stay there for a moment…feeling it, sensing it, relaxing, maintaining the mindfulness.
You are giving yourself a break from what could be potentially overwhelming to feel.
And once again return your attention to that part of the body that feels unpleasant.
The body ache or pain or the emotion and the sensations of the emotion in your body.
The vibrations on your chest or the clenching in your belly. The tightness in your jaw
Just notice.
And breathe.
And let it be there. Let whatever is there be there.
And then bring your attention again to this pleasant or neutral part of the body. Hands, feet, so forth.
Relaxing, staying present and alert.
Feeling the safety and the connection in that place.
now let yourself stay connected to this place but see if you can what we might call a side-long glance at the difficult area in your body.
Is it possible to still feel connected to your body in the area that feels good and yet know that there is something going on that feels unpleasant and let it be there.
Keeping maybe 75% of your attention on the part that feels peaceful and at ease.
Still breathing.
Casting the side-long glance at this difficult area.
Noticing what happens to it, is it growing or shrinking. Is it changing, shifting into something else. Becoming aware of whatever it is that it’s doing.
Relaxing…breathing.
And now see if you can bring some loving kindness to yourself for whatever you are feeling right now…physical pain, emotional pain.
Hold yourself with kindness.
You are not the only one.
May we all be free from our pain, and our suffering, May we all have happiness.
Learn More
For more information, the following resources may be helpful.
- Understanding and Finding Help for Anxiety. https://ontario.cmha.ca/documents/understanding-and-finding-help-for-anxiety/
- Youth Anxiety. https://youth.anxietycanada.com/
- Anxiety Disorders Association of Ontario. http://www.anxietydisordersontario.ca/
- Mood Disorders Association of Ontario. https://www.mooddisorders.ca/faq/anxiety-and-mood-disorders
- Anxiety Disorders. Canadian Mental Health Association. https://cmha.bc.ca/documents/anxiety-disorders/
