When Dominik got here to me for his first meditation lesson, it was clear he was holding on by a thread. The strain in his jaw, the stiffness in his physique—it was all talking for him.
As I all the time do, I requested gently, “What brings you right here in the present day?”
He checked out me with drained eyes and mentioned, “I’m so rattling sick of my feelings.”
I put my pen down and gave him my full consideration.
That was the start of a journey—from feeling hijacked by his feelings to studying learn how to pause, select, and reply.
With Dominik’s permission, I’m sharing our path collectively within the hope that you simply, too, may discover the form of emotional therapeutic he discovered.
Half I: Creating Area from Feelings
I requested Dominik what he meant by being “sick of his feelings.”
He informed me it felt like his feelings have been instructions. If he felt anger, he needed to yell. If he felt unhappiness, he needed to cry. He didn’t really feel like he had a alternative—simply automated reactions.
What he was actually describing was emotional reactivity. And there’s a human cause for it.
Feelings advanced to really feel pressing—quick, bodily, and unavoidable. They come up within the physique as tight chests, clenched jaws, racing hearts. We’re not often taught to pause and query them. So we obey with out realizing it. However we will change that.
One of the crucial efficient methods to start is thru aware respiratory meditation.
Aware respiratory helps us create a small however highly effective hole between emotion and motion. That little little bit of area is the place emotional therapeutic begins.
Observe Aware Respiratory
- Sit comfortably along with your backbone straight.
- Shut your eyes or soften your gaze.
- Convey your consideration to the pure rhythm of your breath.
- Discover the inhale. Discover the exhale.
- If distracted, gently return to the breath.
- Let every breath anchor you within the current second.
For Dominik, this was step one in transferring from emotionally reactive to emotionally conscious.
Half II: Seeing Feelings with Vipassana
A number of classes in, Dominik was already extra calm, extra grounded. He laughed extra. His face had softened. However we weren’t completed but.
I launched him to Vipassana, a Buddhist meditation of observing ideas and emotions with non-judgmental consciousness.
Analysis reveals Vipassana helps the mind grow to be much less reactive over time by coaching us to witness feelings as an alternative of performing on them.
We practiced Vipassana collectively as soon as per week. He additionally did it on his personal, 20 minutes a day. In the future, he shared: “Somebody minimize me off in site visitors. I felt that previous surge of anger—however I didn’t yell. I simply sat with it. And it handed.” For somebody who used to blow up over small slights, this was a large shift. It was the start of actual emotional freedom.
Observe Vipassana
- Sit upright in a quiet place.
- Loosen up your physique and shut your eyes.
- Focus in your breath on the nostrils.
- Observe ideas and sensations with out reacting.
- If a sense arises, label it gently: “Only a feeling.”
- Return to observing. Don’t cling or push something away.
- Discover how all the pieces rises and passes.
Vipassana helped Dominik grow to be an observer of his feelings, quite than a prisoner of them.
Half III: Therapeutic on the Nervous System Stage
A month in, after simply 4 classes, Dominik mentioned, “I really feel like I’ve achieved what I got here for. I can lastly really feel my feelings with out reacting.”
I smiled and mentioned, “There’s one other degree to this.” As a result of emotional reactivity doesn’t simply come from behavior. Typically, it comes from an overwhelmed nervous system—formed by previous trauma, persistent stress, or unmet wants.
When the mind perceives menace—actual or imagined—it fires off fight-or-flight responses. Over time, this creates a system on excessive alert. The smallest set off can really feel like a life-or-death occasion.
To work with this deeper layer, we turned to somatic meditation.
Somatic meditaton helps regulate the nervous system by reconnecting you along with your physique. It creates a felt sense of security, which permits caught feelings to lastly transfer by means of and launch.
Observe Somatic Meditation
- Sit or lie down in a protected, quiet area.
- Gently carry consciousness to your physique.
- Discover sensations—tightness, heat, numbness.
- Stick with the sensation with out analyzing it.
- Breathe into the world, permitting area round it.
- Let no matter arises come and go naturally.
This was the following step in Dominik’s journey—studying not simply to look at feelings, however to course of them on the physique degree.
Half IV: Launch and Liberation
Fifteen minutes into our first somatic session, a tear got here to Doninik’s eyes. Not from ache—however from launch.
As a result of feelings don’t simply stay within the thoughts. They stay within the physique. And when the physique is lastly allowed to really feel, to guide, to let go—that’s when true therapeutic occurs.
We ended the session in silence. I all the time give purchasers the choice to easily sit after, with out phrases, to combine. Dominik sat quietly, however the shift in his vitality was seen.
A weight had lifted.
That was the day Dominik discovered freedom—not by avoiding feelings, however by studying to be with them absolutely, and letting them move.
We had completed half one in all his journey. Partially two, which I’ll share in one other submit, Dominik started to transcend regulating feelings to consciously shaping his emotional world.
However for now, we pause.
As a result of typically, the area between the breath and the sensation is sufficient.
Paul Harrison is a meditation instructor with 20+ years of expertise and a deep ardour for serving to others. Recognized for his empathy and genuine method, he’s devoted to guiding people and groups towards mindfulness, readability, and well-being.
