LETTING GO: A MEDITATION ON THE EMOTIONS

I have been working on a practice intended to find freedom from emotional suffering. It goes like this:

Start, as always, with the breath; take a few deep, conscious breathS, watching the full length of the inhalation and the full length of the exhalation; be sure not to let the attention wander before the full completion of each breath. Make it smooth, with no perceptible transition between in- and out-breath; and no perceptible transition between breaths.

Once you are comfortable with the breath, use it to walk the mind through the full range of familiar emotions: sadness, fear, anger... gratitude, elation, joy. Determine which of these is the dominant emotion right now, in the present moment; if it's a mix of more than one emotion, be with that mix; if it's a confusion of emotions, be with that confusion.

Breathe deeply into that current emotional state; from the safe refuge of the observing mind, use the breath to find its predominant location in the body, and breathe into that place; rest quietly in attention to that emotional state.

Still from that safe refuge of the observing mind, allow that emotional state to slowly expand from its predominant location; to fill the lower torso... the chest and heart... the head... the neck and shoulders... down the arms to the fingertips, and down the legs to the tips of the toes. Using the breath, allow that emotional state to expand throughout the entire body.

If it feels safe, exaggerate the emotional state with the breath to maximum intensity. Experience it throughout the body, to the fullest extent possible, and as intensely as you can.

No need to find the cause; no need to find the object of the emotion. Enough to experience in full, in its raw state. 

Now, using the breath, begin to let go of the emotion. Breathe it out from the lower torso... from the upper torso, chest and heart... from the head... from the neck and shoulders... from the arms and out through the fingertips...  from the legs and out through the tips of the toes. Breathe it all out, watch it drain from the body.

Once you have fully let go of the emotion you were holding, use the breath to replace it with the feeling of goodwill, compassion, equanimity. Breathe it in. Follow the same pattern through the body, lower torso, upper torso, chest and heart; head; neck and shoulders, arms and legs... filling every nook and cranny with the new emotion until the whole body is breathing it in.

Now breathe it out. Breathe our all the goodwill and compassion, all the equanimity; feel it radiate out from every part of the body with the exhalation. Send it out. Dedicate it, first, to those closest to you, family, those your love... then, slowly, in ever expanding circles out to every living being in the universe, north and south, east and west, above and below, all the way out to infinity.

May all living beings find true happiness in their lives.