Winnie

Houston, USA

Reem Musa

Cape Town, South Africa

Michael

Brisbane QLD, Australia

Áine McGuckian

Louise

Reading, United Kingdom

Brisbane, Australia

Tari Mund

Nairobi, Kenya

Observe your resistance with curiosity and hold it with compassion to understand its protective purpose.

Compassion Meditation

Spirituality

Acceptance

Health & Happiness

Consciousness

Visualization

English

Join me on this gentle, trauma-sensitive guided meditation to expand our capacity to sit with resistance. Instead of pushing through it, we make resistance the object of our attention and we hold it with compassion. By exploring the somatic, emotional, and psychological reverbs of resistance with curiosity, we begin to honour it and discover in what ways it's trying to protect us. 

This practice can be very helpful for anyone struggling with restlessness or numbness in meditation.

Honouring Resistance

Hi, today we'll practice with resistance, especially when it comes to meditation. When most of us begin meditating, resistance can be a frequent guest in our practice. It can show up in many ways. For example, you might recognize it as thoughts, like what's the point of this, this doesn't work, this is stupid, or I can't do it, this is not for me. Your body might also feel unsettled or uncomfortable, and you might move a lot, or you might just fall asleep. It's important to recognize these signs as resistance entering the space of your practice. As with anything difficult, once you make it conscious, resistance has less power over you. Instead of being an obstacle to plow through or an excuse to judge yourself, you can start turning a kind, compassionate attention towards resistance, making it the object of your meditation. And that's what we're going to play with today. So if you haven't already, find your comfortable seat, with a straight spine and a long, tall neck, and you can close your eyes or lower your gaze, allowing your eyes to take a break for the next few minutes, and begin by taking a few deep breaths, breathing in through the nose and slowly breathing out through the mouth, giving your nervous system a chance to switch gears and relax, allowing your shoulders to come down from the ears just a tiny bit, sending the breath all the way down into the belly, softening it with your exhale, and feeling the points where your body makes contact with the chair or the floor, inviting a sense of support or perhaps safety, knowing that you're in complete control of this practice and you can take a break or come out of it any time you feel like it's getting too much. So now allow your breath to return to its regular rhythm, breathing in and out of your nose, following the sensations of each in-breath and each out-breath, breathing in and breathing out, feeling the air move through your body. Now I'd like you to raise your left hand just a bit and make a fist. Now this hand's job is to stay closed, that's all it has to do. Just take a your fist tightening up and breathe normally. And now your right hand will try to open the fist, while your left hand is still holding on to its tight grip. So as your right hand is attempting to force this opening, just notice how this feels. Notice how your fist has to tighten even more to resist the force of the right hand and just how much effort you have to make in this moment. Okay, now let's try something else. Take your right hand away for just a second and gently place it under your left fist. So just holding the fist without trying to open it, allowing your right hand to hug the fist, holding its weight with gentleness, not trying to change anything, just supporting, being here. And again, notice how this feels in your body. Maybe your left fist has relaxed a little bit and if not, just notice the lack of effort when resistance is honored. You can let go of the fist if you want, however, if this feels comforting, feel free to maintain this pose with your hands. And turn your attention back towards your breath, tuning into the sensations of each in-breath and each out-breath. Stabilizing your attention here, and notice if any resistance to being still and focusing on your breath comes up. Maybe your body is starting to shift a lot or you're feeling annoyed, just take a moment to see what resistance feels like for you in this moment. Without changing it or trying to fight it, where do you feel it in your body? Maybe it's in one place or maybe a few different parts of your body are tensing up in response to the practice. And then look at what emotions are associated with this resistance. Do you feel annoyed, angry, bored or maybe sleepy? Again, just noticing with curiosity without judgment, allowing the resistance to be here, like that right hand holding the fist without trying to open it and without beating it up. Just see if you can allow your resistance to be an honored guest in your practice today. Inviting it to take a seat, make itself at home, trusting that resistance has its own purpose and honoring its wisdom. And you may start to notice that you and resistance are not one and the same. You, in fact, are the one observing it, holding it with care. And resistance is just a small part of your experience in this moment. Once resistance doesn't feel so loud anymore, maybe you can start to inquire into its purpose. Why is it here? Is it trying to protect you from old feelings of sorrow and grief? Or maybe there's a part of you that doesn't want you to change, a part that doesn't know how to feel peaceful or calm or settled. Maybe, even if this doesn't make sense to your cognitive mind, these unfamiliar states feel dangerous. See if you can listen openly with curiosity to what resistance is here to do for you. Holding it with care and seeing if there's anything this resistance might need from you right now. It could be that you honor its boundaries until it feels safer, bowing to its wisdom. Or that you hold it with curiosity and compassion rather than judgment so that it can slowly unravel, nourishing it so that it can open in its own time. Or maybe it's an invitation to bring in a sense of playfulness to your practice, not taking it so seriously all the time, giving yourself permission to experiment and have fun with it. Just listen to the wisdom of your resistance, trusting the process and knowing that most worthwhile things in life take a bit of effort of showing up over and over beginning again. And that your meditation practice is unique and will evolve at its own pace. So even if things feel difficult right now, knowing that with each sitting you're making a bold step towards meeting your true self. And that, well, is quite something. So now bring your attention back to your breath, taking in a bigger inhale through the nose and sighing it out, letting go of this practice. And coming back to your senses, paying attention to any sounds that you hear, becoming aware of any tastes or smells that are present, feeling your feet on the ground and the weight of your body supported by your seat. And then in your own time you can open your eyes and come back to the room, giving yourself a few seconds just to take in the space again, noticing the colors and the objects around you. Thank you for taking the time to practice with me today and I will see you soon.