- Begin to focus on a difficult feeling that you have experienced recently. Allow yourself to experience that feeling deeply and sincerely. Tell yourself that every feeling is valid. Ask yourself, “What feeling is coming up in me?” Name that feeling. Maybe it is anger, sadness, jealousy, or bitterness. Magnify this feeling, and allow yourself to acknowledge it, gently, with compassion for yourself.
- In the next step, ask yourself, “Where do I hold this feeling in my body?” Locate the feeling. It definitely has a resting place in your body. We are able to experience a feeling because it registers as a physical sensation somewhere in the body.
- In the next and very important step, receive this “holding” in your body with compassion for yourself. Encompass the physical sensations in your body with the embrace of your soul. From your heart, send love and mercy to this physical holding. Talk tenderly to yourself; cultivate a gentle rapport with yourself. Tell yourself, for example, “I’m sorry you feel this…This is difficult…Let me tenderly support you…” At this time there is no need to fix or analyze the sensations, simply a need to be present with the holding for as long as you want. This is the process of “sacred trembling.”
- Now ask yourself some questions. Does your feeling have a color? Visualize it. Does it have a shape? Visualize it. Does it have a texture? Feel it. Does it have a temperature? Feel it.
- How does the feeling sit on you? Is it a heavy burden, a sharp stab, pulsating? What sensations are you experiencing?
- Does it have a mother? In other words, have you ever felt these same feelings before? Remember when….
- Now ask your feeling, “What is your hidden message for me? What is your secret?” Listen carefully to the reply, with compassion for yourself.
- Finally, ask your feeling, “How may I love you, embrace you, touch you, heal you? How may I know you?” Listen carefully for the reply, with compassion for yourself. This is the process of integration and healing.
- In the final step, focus gently on the holding in your body and intend to inhale and exhale through that part of you. Allow divine breath to caress you there. Slowly, deeply, breathe in and out through this sensation.
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