How to Sit With Difficult Feelings - Guided Meditation with Zen Master Henry Shukman #637

All through March, our community has been building a simple daily meditation habit — and if you haven’t started yet, there’s still plenty of time to join us. Here’s a beautiful meditation from Henry, just for the Feel Better, Live More community. It’s amazing how taking a few moments of stillness, where we put down the to-do list and just drop into being, can really shift how we feel. Meditation is an incredibly powerful tool for transforming our lives. But like any positive habit, it can be a hard thing to start and maintain. That’s why I love challenges — short, intensive commitments that help us to really kickstart a new habit or reinforce one we love. Throughout March, here at Feel Better, Live More, I’ve teamed up with Zen master Henry Shukman and his meditation app The Way, to bring you our first-ever Meditation Challenge, to help turbocharge your meditation practice. After meeting Henry last year, I've become a huge fan of his meditation app, The Way. I use it myself most days and really believe in what they're doing - so much that I've personally invested in the company. It doesn’t matter when you start, committing to 30 days of meditation has the power to not only improve your life, but the life of those around you too. Visit thewayapp.com/livemore to sign up, access 30 free meditation sessions and join the movement. Show notes https://drchatterjee.com/637 DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or qualified healthcare provider. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:03Rangan Chatterjee?

  Hey guys, how you doing? Hope you're having a good week so far. My name is Dr Rangan Chatterjee and this is my podcast, Feel Better Live More.

• 0:16Rangan Chatterjee?

  Today is another short meditation from the wonderful Henry Schukman to give you a flavour of what meditation is and what it can actually feel like. Now, all throughout March, my podcast community has been building a simple daily meditation habit together. So far, over 22,000 people have joined this free 30-day challenge from 178 different countries, which is absolutely incredible. And if you haven't started yet and want to, there's still plenty of time to take part. Now, just to give you a brief insight into how other people are finding The Way meditation app, which is Henry's app,

• 1:00Rangan Chatterjee?

  this is just one of the many incredible comments I've received over the past few months. "Hi Dr Chatterjee, I have recently started using The Way. I have tried dozens of times to meditate, but never found any other apps useful. Three months in with The Way, I have to say it's changed my life. I used to think of meditation as just another chore, but now I actively look forward to it and I love the benefits I feel from the practice." Guys, that is exactly how I feel and why I'm so passionate about trying to inspire more and more people to give this practice a go.

• 1:44Rangan Chatterjee?

  So, this March, why not join Henry and me and thousands, tens of thousands of other meditators on this 30-day journey? All you have to do to take part is go to thewayapp.com/livemore. You'll get practical tips, exclusive content, and 30 free short meditation sessions to get you going. I have also joined the challenge and I'm using The Way app every day throughout the month and I very much hope you decide to join me. And now, here's another short, relaxing meditation from Henry.

• 2:24Speaker 01

  Welcome to another meditation with me, Henry Schukman. In this one, we're going to be moving into a very important topic, actually, which is how to be with emotions that may come up when we're meditating. It's a critical thing, because meditation is this space where we sort of let go of the common ways that we hold ourselves together to move through our days. And we allow this deeper side of us to come forward. And we actually don't want to be pushing that away, but it may bring emotion with it. So it's really helpful to be able to host emotion,

• 3:07Speaker 01

  to be allowing of emotions that come up. And that actually helps diffuse them. There's a wonderful poem by the Sufi poet Rumi called "The Guest House", which I just want to share part of with you now, which expresses this so well. "The Guest House: This Being Human Is A Guest House. Every morning, a new arrival, a joy, a depression, a meanness. Some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all, because each has been sent as a guide from the beyond." So rather than rejecting feelings that come up,

• 3:52Speaker 01

  Rumi is encouraging us to host them, to welcome them, to allow them. So let's settle in for another meditation right now, where we'll explore how to do this. Yeah, get into a comfortable position.

• 4:11Speaker 01

  Now, usually meditation is done seated, but it can be done lying down or reclining. You don't need really any special equipment. Your ordinary kitchen chair is just fine, your desk chair,

• 4:28Speaker 01

  edge of the bed, couch.

• 4:32Speaker 01

  Get comfortable.

• 4:36Speaker 01

  Now, check in with your body, is it comfortable? If it's not, adjust it.

• 4:46Speaker 01

  We're coming back to ourselves always in meditation. So that means helping ourselves to be at ease, comfortable, starting with the body.

• 5:02Speaker 01

  So let's just have a moment now of being with the body in whatever position it's in.

• 5:12Speaker 01

  Close the eyes if they're not already closed and lower the gaze if the eyes are open. And let yourself feel your body in the posture that it's in.

• 5:30Speaker 01

  And allow the whole body to become soft.

• 5:37Speaker 01

  Let a subtle softness pervade your body.

• 5:47Speaker 01

  And let's just check how we're doing.

• 5:53Speaker 01

  How are you feeling right now?

• 6:00Speaker 01

  Are you feeling open and spacious?

• 6:07Speaker 01

  Is there a certain kind of expansiveness present?

• 6:13Speaker 01

  Or are there subtle energies of tightness?

• 6:19Speaker 01

  Of contractedness?

• 6:26Speaker 01

  Or a certain trace level of stress, which is so common for us?

• 6:35Speaker 01

  Is there a way that rather than feeling we should be trying to fix emotions that are uncomfortable, instead, we can allow them? We can let them be present?

• 6:52Speaker 01

  Is there a way that we can be that welcoming host?

• 7:00Speaker 01

  As if our field of experience, our own field of experience is a kind of guest house? And whatever comes could be welcomed?

• 7:16Speaker 01

  What if we don't have to fix how we're feeling? What if it's actually okay

• 7:25Speaker 01

  to feel the way we feel?

• 7:30Speaker 01

  To welcome our emotional energies?

• 7:38Speaker 01

  You might see if you can bring a kind of warmth into your chest area, or perhaps into your whole upper body, your belly, your chest. Can you let them be warm and soft?

• 7:56Speaker 01

  Maybe you can even get a sense of your chest and belly being like warm wax,

• 8:06Speaker 01

  with a tenderness in them. And perhaps that warm tenderness

• 8:16Speaker 01

  can welcome whatever feelings and emotions may be present.

• 8:25Speaker 01

  And rather than having to do anything about them, we simply allow them.

• 8:34Speaker 01

  We welcome them.

• 8:38Speaker 01

  You know, after all, they are part of who we are.

• 8:44Speaker 01

  And actually, it may only increase stress to try to push stress away. What if instead there's a kindness, a patience in us already, that knows how to welcome them, how to be with them, how to welcome all of what we are?

• 9:19Speaker 01

  Resting with all of who we are. Allowing all of who we are. Turning a kind of a light of kindness onto ourselves. A compassionate awareness that we all already have.

• 10:00Speaker 01

  Just resting a moment more in a state of allowing and kindness. Okay, let's gently come out of the meditation, bring movement into hands and feet. Raise your gaze. Have a little stretch if that feels supportive and nice. And congratulate yourselves on having done another meditation.

• 10:38Speaker 01

  Thank yourself for giving yourself this time to be with who you really are. This is the heart of meditation, being with who we really are. Thank you very much for joining me.

• 10:55Rangan Chatterjee?

  So, how was that for you? How do you feel now compared to when you started? You see, just a few minutes of meditation each morning helps me start off each day feeling calmer, grounded, and more present. So, if you want to join this free 30-day meditation challenge, all you have to do is go to the way app dot com forward slash live more to sign up and receive practical tips, exclusive content, and 30 free meditation sessions to get you started.

• 11:36Rangan Chatterjee?

  If you enjoyed today's episode, it is always appreciated if you can take a moment to share the podcast with your friends and family, or leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful week and always remember, you are the architect of your own health. Making lifestyle changes is always worth it, because when you feel better, you live more.