Meeting Emotions Mindfully
For the Mindful Monday guided meditation sessions I am drawing on the wisdom of this book: The
Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a path to freedom by Willa Blythe Baker. In this blog I describe
the framework of this somatic-oriented approach.
(It isn’t necessary to buy the book, although you may want to look at a copy from the library. If it “speaks to you”,
you may want to own it.)
Mindfulness involves being aware of the present moment in a deliberate, focused way. Our experience
of the present moment is felt through the body. This includes input from our five sense doors (smells,
tastes, sounds, images and sensations), and the information we receive internally that informs our
movement, posture and ability to register input from our subtle, energetic body.
Lama Baker invites us to deepen into these experiences as she shares her evolution as a meditator and
as a yoga practitioner. At first these disciplines were separate, then she realizes over time how they
overlap. She presents this mind/body spiritual path through Tibetan Buddhist teachings (which is what
she studies, practices and teaches).
The topics fit into a framework she created under the acronym GROUND. We are invited to consider our
“conceptual body” which is how we think about the body vs. our “experiential body” which is our
embodied sense of self, our present-moment, sensory, energetic experience. We are often more in
touch with our conceptual body than with our experiential body.
G is for “ground”: ways to be grounded in the physical, Earth body, the place where we begin and end,
where we can go for refuge. Pausing in the midst of our busy lives allows us to access our present-
moment experience. The sensations we experience are happening NOW, not in the past or the future.
Paying attention to the feelings of heaviness, contact with the floor and the seat help us connect with
the force of gravity, and encourage the mind to draw into the body (like salt dissolving into a vase of
water). Can you experience your body as an extension of the earth?
R is for “relaxation” S-L-O-W-I-N-G down supports our ability to be curious, to notice things with fresh
eyes, to have a different experience. Taking time “off” electronic devices (even for an hour or two) can
support the intention to relax into your day. “Letting go” of tension in the muscles of the face and jaw,
the neck, shoulders and belly invites letting go of rigid thoughts and ideas. Noticing where and how the
body holds tension reminds it to relax and find ease.
O is for “open” Here we begin investigating the subtle, or energetic, body. It is the invisible force that
moves through us and which “moves” us. It requires sensitivity and receptivity to explore, and to
experience the joy that is available through deeper connection with the body. The subtle body is
sometimes called the “prana body” which refers to the “life force”, or energy, that moves around the
body through various networks or pathways.
One of these pathways is “the mother channel” which is the largest, and extends from the crown of the
head to the base of the spine. You can experience it by closing your eyes and dropping down into the
core of the body. Float down into your core so that you are inside your energy light body. Imagine a
column of light from the crown of your head to the base of your spine. As you enter that column, you
can encounter an open, endless sky in the core of your body. Can you connect to the feeling of your
breath as you see/feel/experience that core? Can you breathe into the sky-like mother channel in the
core of your body, and breathe out into that channel? Continue taking long, slow, deep, gentle inhales
and exhales into the core of the body for two to five minutes. Then rest with eyes open, heart open,
mind open. Notice what you are feeling.
To be continued:
U is for “untangling”
N is for “nurturing”
D is for “dissolving”