10.2 Guided Meditation – Inviting Everything in For Tea

Breathing in, and breathing out.
And then allowing your breath to return to its natural rhythm.

And we can set an intention for equanimity in today's practice, just allowing things to be as they are.

Whatever arises in this meditation, setting that intention to be kind, and patient.
And so, allowing your attention to connect with the breath. Practicing your mindful breathing.

Just feeling the rise and fall of the belly, or feeling the expansion and contraction of the chest or whatever physical sensations you can tap into.

Whatever you can notice about the breath, and how it moves in the body.
So, in today's meditation, we’re going to work with strong and painful, or difficult emotions.

And this will help you gain some deeper clarity about what you're experiencing.
So, see if you can notice what you're feeling right now.

And just give it a label.
You might be feeling calm or peaceful.
You might be feeling anxious or stressed.

You might be feeling frustrated, judgmental, fearful, whatever is true for you. just connecting with it.

Right now it's like this.
And understand that there's no correct way to feel, there's nothing we’re supposed to be feeling.

We’re just getting in tune with how you feel.
What is true in your experience right now?

Agitation, frustration, concentration, whatever is true.
Just connecting with it.

And, if you ever become aware of a painful emotion, or a difficult emotion, really see if you can turn towards it, welcoming it in, as if you are inviting it in for tea.

So, whether it's sadness, or anger, jealousy, any sort of negative emotion, first, acknowledge it.

“Ah, hello, my old friend, sadness. Come in.”

And then invite it into the body, and connect with the body.
See how that emotion feels in your body.

What are the physical manifestations of this particular emotion?
You can even use a soft phrase, “Ah, so this is how sadness feels in the body.”
“This is how anger feels in the body.”

And really connecting with the physical feelings.
Maybe tight shoulders, or an empty pit in the stomach, whatever is true for you.
Just allowing any emotions to be there.

Bringing your awareness to any feelings or emotions that arise.
Not turning anything away.

Practicing a non-judgmental awareness.
Just being kind to any emotions that arise.

When you notice a strong or painful emotion, just greet it, as if it were an old friend, “Ah, hello my old friend. It's good to see you, come on in.”

We can also understand that all of our emotions and feelings, even the painful ones, are there because they are trying to help us.

They're trying to protect us.
So, even if they're misguided, the intentions are good.

And so, just sending some gratitude, you can just say, “Thank you for trying to help me, and protect me, but I don't need you right now.”

And then, to end this meditation, just taking a moment to notice how you feel.
Connecting with any emotions that are there.

Then we can take a deep breath to end.
So, breathing in deeply, and breathing out slowly.

Allowing the eyes to open, and reconnecting with the room, with your senses.
So, great work in dealing with difficult and painful emotions.

Tomorrow, we're going to be working with how to deal with pain in the body.
This is a really important one.

So, looking forward to doing that.

So, I'll see you back here tomorrow for day 11.