
I heard someone say recently that being with emotions doesn’t help. It’s a shame to hear that. Not only did sitting with grief during my mother’s passing bring a great relief and peace, it allowed a deeper heart connection with her.
Being conscious in the body is not talked about a lot in many teachings. It’s central to the Living Inquiries and Natural Rest for Addiction. This component was not put in there by accident. I have watched how being fully and totally conscious of the entire inner body all day, feeling everything as it arises intimately and directly, transmutes addiction, anxiety, anger and sadness. I’ve seen it work such miracles that when I hear someone diss body work, I just nod and think, “What an opportunity missed.” It is one of the richest discoveries I’ve encountered through the awakening process.
Feelings are meant to be felt. That’s why they are called “‘feel’ings. They are not called ‘thought’lings, nor are they called ‘aware’lings.
Thinking about emotions or just being aware of them from a witnessing awareness deprives us of the opportunity to let them reveal a greater peace and well-being that includes our humanness instead of trying to escape it.
Awakening is not some disembodied state of space or resting as the witness. Those are preliminary insights that just help us identify less with thought. We then get to embody that freedom. Embody means to be “in the body” consciously. Not to identify with the body and the emotions, but to fully meet them in a way that is unencumbered by thoughts, a way that shows us how inseparable we are with every flavor of life as it shows up moment by moment.
“The only way out is through” is not just a fancy spiritual cliche. It is a beautiful invitation to transcend our humanness by including every aspect of it. What a gorgeous paradox! Don’t miss that opportunity.