Sitting with sadness

Sitting with sadness. This track is for the times when sadness is here and pushing it away has not worked. Instead of fixing the feeling, you sit with it for a few minutes, the way you might sit with a friend on a hard day. You do not have to cheer it up. One thing before we start. If at any point this gets too much, open your eyes, look around the room, and come back to the day. Stopping is not failing. It is looking after yourself.

Sit or lie down, in a position you can stay in for a few minutes. Eyes closed, or open and resting on the floor in front of you.

Take one slow breath out.

Now, without going into the story of why, find where the sadness sits in the body. For many people it is the chest, the throat, or behind the eyes. For some, a heaviness in the arms or the stomach. Let your attention rest there.

Notice what it is like. Heavy or hollow, tight or dull. You do not need the right word.

Now breathe around it. Not into it, to push it out. Around it, to give it a little more room. Breathe in. And a long, slow breath out.

Again. In. And out, slowly, making space around the feeling.

And again, at your own pace.

If thoughts come in about why, or what you should do, let them go for now. They can wait. This is about being with the feeling, not solving it.

Now say something kind to yourself, in your own head. Something like: this is hard right now. Or: it is all right to feel this. Choose words that feel true, not words that sound nice.

Keep breathing around the feeling. It may change while you sit with it, or it may not. Either is fine. You are not here to make it go away, only to stop running from it for a few minutes.

Stay with it a little longer. The feeling, the breath, the kind words.

Now widen out. Notice the breath in the whole body, and the weight of the body on the chair or the bed.

If the eyes were closed, let them open. Look around the room.

Sadness is heavy. It is also, often, a sign that something mattered. You do not have to do anything with it now. Be gentle with yourself today.

If you are in danger or feel you cannot keep yourself safe, call your Weave clinician, or Tele-MANAS on one four four one six, any time.