Arc 4 · Liberating Passion · Lesson 16

Appreciating energy

Five intense emotions, met one at a time. Each one carries something other than what we usually take it to mean.

What this lesson asks

In this exercise you'll be invited to enter the bodily sensation of five emotions in turn: boredom, fear, anger, obsession, and shame. After each one, a brief reflection on what that energy might become if it isn't routed into the usual response.

These are only examples. Liberated emotions flow in unforeseeable ways — unforeseeable because they become highly appropriate to the context they're arising in. That's quite different from the comfortable, predictable ways we may be used to engaging with feelings.

Stay within your edge

These prompts may evoke intense feeling. There's no requirement to follow any of them. If a prompt feels unsafe, skip it — rest in open awareness instead. Don't push past your leading edge. The point isn't to get through every prompt. The point is to meet whatever you can meet, and notice what's there.

Settle first

Find your meditation posture. Sit for a moment with nothing to occupy yourself. When you're ready, press play on the guided sequence below.

The sequence

The video loops silently — a gentle ocean — while the steps cue you in. Eleven steps; about six minutes total. Each emotion gets a "connect with it" step and a "what it might become" step.

Connect with the bodily sensation of boredom. What does boredom feel like? Where do you feel it? If we refuse to turn away from this emotion, boredom can become so much more. Boredom can become the intensity of being awake and alive right now. Connect with the embodied sensation of fear. What does fear feel like in the body? Fear does not have to give way to paralysis or rage. Fear can become the energy you need to navigate through a difficult situation. Connect with intense anger. Embody it. What does anger feel like? The way you usually feel and act when you are angry does not have to be that way. Anger can become the clarity that directs your awareness to whatever is most important about a situation. Connect with the sense of being obsessed over something or someone. What does obsession feel like? However you usually think about the object of your obsession, however you act in response to that desire — this can become much more. Obsessive craving without fixation can become tender availability for connection. Connect with shame. Maybe you feel ashamed about something you did recently. Maybe a long time ago. Feel it in your body. Shame doesn't have to be miserable. Shame can become the solidity of the ground — the ground that makes it possible to move forward with life. These are only examples. Liberated emotions flow in unforeseeable ways — unforeseeable because they become highly appropriate to the context in which they arise. Let the last impressions settle.

Settle again

After steeping in intense emotion for a stretch, things can feel stuck. Opening Awareness is especially helpful here. Two minutes.

Find your posture. Rest in Opening Awareness. Don't focus on anything, don't ignore anything. Let everything be included. Two minutes.

Reflection

The reflection below has a wide-open prompt. There may have been a single emotion that surprised you most — the one that transformed in a way you didn't expect, or the one you couldn't get inside. Either is interesting.

Where this is going

The final lesson is about power — the kind of power that becomes available when energy is allowed to flow rather than be managed. We'll close the course there.

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