When strong experiences such as fear, grief, shame or desire become predominate in our awareness, we can meet them with mindfulness and interest. Asking “what is happening?” rather than “why is it happening?”. With mindfulness we can feel emotions as ripples of sensations within the body that arise, peak and fade when we dont feed the story in the mind. At times we need to fortify mindfulness by turning to other parts of the body such as feet or hands to allow for more space around intense sensations. This helps us not get caught in aversive tightening in response to the emotion.
This guided meditation explores the third foundation of mindfulness—awareness of mind states. We bring kind, steady attention to thoughts, emotions, and moods, while gently investigating our relationship to them. Seeing how mindfulness can know these experiences without being defined by them, the practice opens space, clarity, and a more compassionate way of relating to the mind.
