People sometimes ask me if they can use the meditative practices I’m teaching to work with pleasurable feelings and bodily sensations? Yes, you definitely can, and I encourage you to do so whenever the opportunity presents itself. You may at times sit or lie down, while closing your eyes as you do these practices. At other you will find yourself incorporating these meditative practices as a part of what you naturally do while in the midst of whatever activity or interaction you are presently engaged in.

It’s the heavier and more unpleasant feelings that we have spent so much of our lives avoiding or suppressing that end up getting trapped within our bodies. Avoiding, suppressing or numbing out to our feelings causes them to take on a density that makes them very slow moving and difficult to process.

We will experience feelings and sensations of warmth, vibration and emanation flowing from within and in some instances a sense of timelessness and connectedness to a higher power as we continue to breathe softly and deeply, working our way further down through the many layers of emotion. And that includes the not so pleasant feelings such as sadness, grief and longing that we’re holding within our bodies.

The lighter feelings that we attribute to enjoyable experiences have a more fluid quality that enables them to flow more readily. Focusing our attention on our pleasurable bodily sensations and emotions such as joy, excitement, anticipation, happiness and the sense of love and connectedness that we experience within a healthy and loving relationship has a nourishing effect that helps us to heal the vulnerable and wounded parts of ourselves. These pleasurable feelings and sensations tend to grow stronger and expand within the body as we breathe into them.

There are four basic steps to working with pleasurable feelings and bodily sensations:

• Bring your awareness to the person or people you’re spending time with, the activities you’re engaged in or the physical space you are presently occupying or a combination thereof.

• Notice any feelings or sensations that arise within your body in response to any person you’re interacting with, interaction or activity you’re engaged in or natural setting you find yourself in.

• Bring your attention to where you find these feelings and sensations situated within your body.

• Breathe softly and deeply as you focus your attention on these feelings and physical sensations. Follow any feelings and sensations that surface as they go through their progression.

Be sure that you’re breathing as softly and easily as you can, inhaling all the way down to your abdomen if at all possible. Allow yourself to become fully immersed in any feelings or sensations that arise. Feel yourself dropping ever deeper into the full range of feelings and bodily sensations that emerge as you become more deeply relaxed.

An important distinction here is that you are not trying to force your feelings to do what you want them to do. Just follow any feelings or sensations that arise while breathing softly and deeply, allowing the innate healing intelligence residing within to facilitate its own naturally occurring process.

Breathe the warmth of the sun’s rays or the gentle breeze upon your skin. Breathe in the flowers that bloom in the spring. Breathe softly and deeply while fully immersing yourself in any feeling sense you have of the presence of the trees, rocks, mountains, rivers, lakes and oceans or whatever natural setting you happen to find yourself in. Breathe into all the feelings of enjoyment and connectedness you experience whenever you spend time with family and friends.

Our interactions with other people have a way of putting us in touch with our deepest vulnerabilities. We need to be learn to work constructively with the full range of feeling and bodily sensation. That’s why it’s also important for you to breathe into the unpleasant feelings that arise out of your fears, hurts or any conflicts that arise.

Breathing into the full array of feelings and bodily sensations helps you to bring the issues concerning you to resolution by increasing your capacity to process conflicted thoughts and emotions. Your communication will become increasingly more powerful as the message you have to convey is more readily heard and felt. Working with this practice while engaging with others will deepen your connections with those with whom you interact. 

Breathe into the many warm wonderful feelings you experience whenever you’re loving and being loved by another person. Breathe into all of the feelings of attraction and desire that you experience within your body while spending time with someone with whom you’re physically intimate. And breathe into all the warm wonderful physical sensations you experience when you’re lying in each other’s arms or making love. Focusing your awareness on these feelings and sensations deepens the bonds with those you love thereby increasing your capacity to give and receive love.

Breathing into the pleasurable feelings and bodily sensations enables you to develop greater presence, power and aliveness. Focusing your attention on the love you have for someone and the full spectrum of other feelings that you experience while you’re with them will help you to develop stronger and more meaningful connections. Breathing into the nurturing presence of the rocks, flowers, trees and other fauna, the mountains, rivers and oceans or any natural setting of beauty will deepen your connection to the Earth.

Breathing into the anticipation and the rush of excitement you’re feeling as you embark on a new adventure will increase your capacity for pleasure and enjoyment. Breathing into your desire and drive creates a feed forward mechanism that builds the momentum that will propel you forward while simultaneously drawing to you what it is that you desire most in life.

Breathing into pleasurable feelings and bodily sensations will at times evoke uncomfortable feelings such as fear, sadness and grief along with the memories of past events. These unpleasant feelings and memories would not be surfacing if you weren’t already holding them within your body. They are making their way to the surface because they need to go through a process in which they are digested so that wounded parts of you that are holding onto these emotions can heal. Breathing softly and deeply while fully immersing your awareness within the many feelings and sensations that arise activates the innate healing intelligence residing within that facilitates the digestive process I’m describing. Processing the full range of emotions will enable you to become more fully present in your body.

I discovered this means of working with pleasurable feelings and bodily sensations while developing a whole series of meditative practices that facilitate the awakening of the innate healing intelligence that resides within the body and mind. These practices have and continue to be a critically important part of my own ongoing process of healing and personal growth. I could only get so far with these and other forms of practice before hitting a wall. That’s when I began to realize that we need to make use of the most effective therapeutic interventions to facilitate the aspects of the healing process that we are not fully capable of doing on our own. I started receiving deep tissue body work and working with gifted healers whenever the opportunity presented itself. At thirty, I had a strong instinctual sense that I needed to return to Oklahoma to go on the vision quest, a traditional Native American healing practice that involves going out to fast alone in the mountains for four days and nights without food and water.

Training with a traditional Native American doctor (medicine man) and going through so many vision quests has made it possible for me to work as a conduit. I allow a greater presence to work through me during the individual sessions to facilitate the healing of the physical body and the deep emotional wounds. Grief, pain, sadness and other difficult emotions that are the underlying cause of people’s depression, anxiety and panic attacks are softened, diffused and then transmuted in such a way that they can be digested. These three hour one on one individual healing sessions can only be done in person. Click here to learn more about the individual healing sessions.

A whole range of meditative practice that facilitate the awakening of the innate healing intelligence residing within your body and mind can be taught over the phone, Skype or WhatsApp. Having me walk you through these practices will enable you to become far more proficient at working with the full range of your own feelings and bodily sensations. Working consistently with these practices will greatly potentiate any therapeutic modality that you are working with. Feel free to reach out to me if I can be of assistance (913) 927-4281.

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