What are you feeling?

What are you feeling?

Let’s continue exploring our awareness and its contents. In the Feel and Feeling Practice episodes we focused our attention on the sensations that we were experiencing. In the What Are You Thinking episode, we also paid attention to our thoughts. Now we zoom in on our emotions. All of these exercises are designed to give us greater clarity about the content of our awareness and how we experience it. As a result, it becomes easier to notice the difference between awareness and its contents.

Let’s get started.

Find a comfortable position conducive to feeling aware and relaxed. IF comfortable, close your eyes softly. Just for the time of this practice, allow yourself to set aside any current worries and concerns you may have… Invite yourself to dedicate this time to deepening your experience and understanding of your own being… no one else can do this for you…

Take a moment to think about the reasons you have for doing this exercise…perhaps it will help you release tension, or maybe it will offer you peace of mind, perhaps it will offer you insight into your own life…it may also make you more understanding of yourself and others….

For several rounds of breath focus your attention on your inhalations and exhalations….just noticing your natural breath… be curious to feel the sensations that unfold as you breathe in and out…
Be aware of the effortlessness of your natural breath…keep that ease as you make your breath longer…now let go of any control of your breath.

The focal point for this exercise is your emotions…please keep in mind the idea of validating what you are feeling, in other words, do not judge yourself for what you are feeling, just be curious to notice the emotions and to see the emotions you are feeling as valid, because they are here …
start by noticing what emotions are present at this time…

Is there an emotion that seems to set the tone of your experience right now? Or, is it possible that there are several different emotions present? Choose one emotion you are feeling and try to notice what are the specific sensations that this emotion is generating…are these sensations located in a particular area in your body? …be curious to notice the connection between these sensations and the emotion you chose… now notice, does this emotion contribute to making you feel comfortable, uncomfortable, upbeat, content, amused… how does this emotion contribute to your general mood?

Let’s pause for a moment… invite your mind to rest in open awareness…releasing all focus and opening to whatever is happening in this moment… invite yourself to relax… just notice the continuous flow of sensations… thoughts… sounds… noises…temperature…

Now return to attending to your emotions…choose one emotion you are feeling right now…notice what you feel…notice what thoughts or memories may be associated with this emotion…are these thoughts or memories uplifting? … boring? …draining? … sad? Interesting? … inspiring? Remember to notice and feel without judging yourself for what you are feeling… do you know where this emotion came from? … is it something that you generated on purpose? What happens if you decide to stay with the emotion, does it stay the same, does it increase or decrease…does it generate different thoughts from before? What is the role of the thoughts or memories associated with the emotion? Do they seem to feed the emotion? Is this enhancing the quality of your experience at this moment?

Let go of the inquiry…take several rounds of enjoyable and satisfying breaths…notice if any tension may have accumulated anywhere in your body…invite yourself to be relaxed and open… stay in open awareness…just being… no agenda…just rest in your natural open awareness.

One more time let’s return to the realm of emotions and how they manifest in your space of awareness…notice the emotions present right now… feel … notice the general mood you feel…if the mood you feel is positive or neutral, is it possible to expand the overall feeling tone of your experience…in other words, is there a way to adjust the dimensions of this experience? …for instance, is it possible to make the emotion grow and expand? …is there a way to minimize the experience of this emotion? …explore this and related options…there is nothing to get right or wrong… it is just a playful investigation of the emotions in your space of awareness …now notice if it is possible for you to release the emotion, can you let the emotion just go? … imagine the emotion like a balloon released into the air…

Once more return to open awareness, allowing the previous inquiry to soften and let go…just notice the general mood you are in as you witness all the different stimuli reaching your space of awareness …from outside….from within….as sensations…as thoughts…as emotions…as memories…just notice…

Take a few deliberate, long and satisfying breaths… Appreciate your willingness to engage in this playful exploration and be open to noticing any insights that may emerge as a result…

In this practice, we have explored how emotions manifest in our bodies through sensations, as well as the connections between emotions, thoughts, and memories. We have also explored the origin of emotions and our ability to modulate them and their effect on our overall mood.

Consider whether practicing this exercise, or even just recalling a portion of it, might be useful in becoming aware of your relationship to your emotions and your ability to modulate them to increase the quality of your participation and enjoyment in your daily activities.

If you prefer, you may listen to the podcast:

This is an excerpt from the book Unravel the thread: Applying the ancient wisdom of yoga to live a happy life

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