Feelings Are Not Of The Mind
Most people think that feelings come from the mind and that we can resolve them by talking or thinking our way through them.
But feelings are not of the mind, they are physical sensations that originate from, and are felt in, the body. They are signals for us to pay attention to something, telling us that something is happening within us, that energy is moving. This feeling of sensation is generally known as somatic awareness and it simply means how your body feels on the inside.
Feeling Bodily Sensation
Right now, if you are in a space to do this, can you feel the sensation of your feet on the ground or your body standing or sitting on a surface? These sensations are your bodily sensation awareness and this is what is known as ‘sitting in awareness’, simply noticing the sensations without allowing the mind to analyse them.
Now try to go deeper inside your body. Can you feel any sensations inside your body? Can you feel heaviness in your abdomen, belly or chest? Can you feel a movement of energy in your torso or upper legs? Maybe muscle tension in your face? Are there any hot or cold areas in your body? Areas of tightness or tension? Don’t try to focus on the sensations, what they are or where they come from, just notice them, just be aware that they exist.
Can you ‘sit’ in this awareness? Be aware that you are noticing these sensations but that are not actually part of them? You are the watching awareness of your body. Watching the thoughts, the emotions, the feelings that are occurring in your body.
What usually happens with most people is that we get pulled into the story that caused the particular feeling, the reason that the feeling is there in the first place. But the story itself is not important, it is the feeling of the sensation that is the point of this exercise. It is the mind that tries to get into the story, the awareness that we truly are is not interested in this or that story, it simply observes.
Sitting with a feeling is just that, ‘feeling’ the feeling and not engaging with any thoughts about the story behind the feeling. Just allow your thoughts to come and go without engaging in them. Let them drift by as if on a cinema screen. This is ‘sitting’ in your feelings and this is where true healing begins.
If you engage in this process regularly, you may notice that the felt sensations change or move, become more or less painful, become intensely uncomfortable and then ease. You my even experience periods of tears, grief or other releasing emotions. This is usually because the trapped feeling is softening and releasing.
Feeling That Something Is Off
Sometimes you may wake up in the morning with the feeling that something is ‘off’, that things are not right. Don’t try to push this feeling away, allow it to rise even though it may feel intensely uncomfortable. Allow your body to naturally process these sensations at its own pace, these are old feelings wanting to be released. And do not worry if the sensations become much more intense before they release. This is the time to be kind and gently with yourself. Tell yourself that you are safe, you are ok and all will be well soon. If possible, allow yourself to take the day off from life. Just be with yourself and allow the process to happen, naturally.
The whole point of this process is to feel whatever feelings arise, to just feel, not think. No story, no because, no interaction with the mind, nothing, just pure sensory awareness. You may have to try this process a number of times before you start to really feel it. But when you do finally start to feel it, it can be incredibly powerful. So proceed softly, this is not something to be rushed into. This practice can release depths of feeling from within you, that you were not even aware were there, and it can be overwhelming if not done slowly.
When Feeling Becomes Overwhelming
If you start to feel really uncomfortable or overwhelmed, pull your awareness away from the feeling, pull your attention off it as if you were moving away from the feeling and it was receding into the distance. When you have moved to a more comfortable distance you can lightly touch off the feeling, or you may prefer to leave it alone for another time. Taking small steps is the key to successfully, and safely, releasing old feelings.
Many people prefer to sit with someone when they are going through this process and this is where I come in. I sit as the witness, the guide to your journey and I can be as involved or not involved as you feel comfortable with. Sitting in company with a resonant frequency being is a wonderful way to allow this process to progress without becoming overpowering.
Self Healing
During this practice your body will start self healing, allowing old feelings to be released bring relief to your body and allows it to start a true deep healing process.
This may sound like a really simple practice, and, at its core, it is. Just sit back and relax and allow your body to feel any sensations or feelings that arise. When something arises, don’t allow your mind to fix attention on it. Don’t allow the mind to investigate the reason the feeling exists in the first place. Just be aware. Aware that a sensation has arisen. Allow the sensation/feeling to unfold without interference and let it naturally become what it needs to be so that your body may release it. Your body is perfectly capable of performing this act without the interference of the mind. In fact, any activity of the mind in this process will impede the progress of release.
Can you just sit in awareness and not attach your mind to any particular sensation? Try it! You may find that your mind keeps trying to become involved, to pull you into a closer connection with the feeling. When you see your mind do this, gently pull your awareness back out of the feeling and just sit in awareness again. Pull your awareness gently away as often as you need and eventually the feeling will release. The more you do this the easier it becomes.
As you sit in the awareness you may notice that the sensations of your feeling become more intense, this is because you are allowing your body to feel fully, you are no longer suppressing the intensity of your feeling. Or the sensations may start to shift, move around, change. Again this is perfectly normal as your body starts to ‘look at’ and process what is happening. When doing this, many people experience an upwelling of emotion – let it come – this is the release. You may also experience a sudden uprising of heat, palpitations, tightness in your chest, numb sensations (particularly of hands and feet). As your body starts to relax and release, you may experience literally anything, every experience is different.
This process can often be very subtle, a soft shifting of energy, almost too soft to be felt. Anything that happens in your body is exactly what your body needs to happen, so keep sitting with it being guided by your inner intuition of when to go deeper and when to pause.
These trapped feelings are like bubbles of air trapped at the bottom of a pool of sludge. When they start to move, they slowly move upward, you can feel this movement, and eventually they come to the surface and break – Pop!! And this is when you can really feel it! But once that particular bubble has popped, its gone, forever. There may be plenty of other bubbles, but this particular bubble will never be seen/felt again.
The more you practice this, the quicker the process becomes. You will find yourself becoming very very aware of the subtle energy movements inside your physical body and this process will start to happen by itself, more gently and naturally.
I’m Geraldine and if you would like me to help you on your emotional release journey, contact me, email me at geraldinefay@mail.com or call/text me 00353 86 4554748.
I meet clients in my therapy room near Louth Village, outside Dundalk west in Co. Louth. We can also meet online via zoom or whatsapp video or telephone call. Call me to talk and we can go from there with no obligation.