Allowing difficult feelings, thoughts, sensations, and inner experiences means that we let them remain in our awareness, without trying to change them or wish that they be other than they are.
Rather than fighting with life, we allow ourselves to be open to our experience of it.
Week 5 -Allowing / Letting Be
This week we....
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Practiced a 30 minute sitting meditation (Awareness of the Breath & Body, and sitting with the Difficult)
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Reflected on the home practice for Week 4
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Practiced a Three Minute Breathing Space with extra instructions
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Read and reflected on Rumi's Poem "The Guest House." Is it possible to develop a welcoming / friendly attitude to all experience, even that which we fear or find difficult?
Home Practice
Before starting this week's home practice, please read through the session notes by clicking on the notepad icon below. These notes will provide you with some background information, and some hints and tips to support your home practice. There is also a record sheet that you can print off to keep notes of your experiences of the practices.
This week's home practice:
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Sitting Meditation - Practice the “Working with Difficulty” meditation on days 1, 3 and 5.
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Sitting with Silence - Practice "Sitting with Silence" and guiding yourself through a period of meditation, including exploring a difficulty (unguided practice) on days 2, 4, and 6 for up to 40 minutes. To support your silent practice, an audio file of bells recorded at 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 minutes is included below.
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Three-Minute Breathing Space - Practice the regular Three-Minute Breathing Space 3 times a day.
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Responding - In addition, you might like to experiment with responding to difficult/strong emotions, unpleasant or stressful events in your day-to-day life by taking a 3-minute responsive breathing space (with extra guidance) whenever you become aware that difficulties are present.
Complete the ‘Practice Record Form’ each time you do any of the practices. Make a note of anything that you notice.
To find out more about why we suggest these practices, follow this link:
Pressed for time? Shorter practices are available via the green play buttons. Please see the instructions below.
Session Notes
There is the option to practice this shorter 'Exploring Difficulty Meditation'. We suggest you try to make time to gather yourself with the short mindfulness of the breath and
