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Hello, hello. This is the first episode of the summer season of The Feelings Pod, and

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you might be wondering, oh what feeling are we going to talk about today? Actually you're

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probably not wondering because the title of the episode is on sadness, but what you may

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be wondering is like, ah, Sabrina, why? Why sadness? It's summertime. Why did you go

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to sadness? Because you know what? You know why. There's a lot of power in being with

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sadness, and yes, summer is joyful and light and fun and sexy, but also sadness comes up

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in summer and that's okay. The key is to be able to be with all of it because the more

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deeply we can be with our sadness, the more exuberant we can be in our joy, the more

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willing we are to hold all of the emotions, the more deeply we can experience everything

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in the emotional landscape, and you might be like, oh I'm not sure I want to experience

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deep sadness, but there are deep lessons in the deep sadness, and the great thing about

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emotions is they will never cause you any harm. You can feel the most difficult, the

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most heavy feelings, but they won't kill you as long as you're able to give them space

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because the more you try to fight these feelings, the more you try to pathologize them, the

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more you try to push away feelings of sadness or anger or depression, the more it wants

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to be felt and seen, the more it will pull you down, the more it will sink you, and that's

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when feelings become dangerous, when they go unseen and unaddressed and unheard. So this

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week a bit of sadness came up for me and that's what I want to talk about, even though it's

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the summer season and that's okay. Just because it's summer doesn't mean we're not experiencing

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the hard feelings, and I really notice that when I let the sadness kind of be here, when

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I let it wash over me, I just feel lighter. When I notice the sadness is here, I remind

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myself, you know what, it's okay that I'm feeling this way. Everybody feels this way

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sometimes, it's only temporary. I get curious, hmm, what is this sadness trying to tell me?

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And I also try to tune in to the wisdom of the body because emotions live in the body

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and I try to track where is the sadness manifesting itself in my body. And I breathe into that

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space, maybe I put my hand over that space gently. For me sadness feels like it's in

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the heart space, so I'll put my hand over my heart and maybe offer myself some supportive,

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loving touch. And I'll have a nice cry if it's accessible. There's nothing like a good

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cry when you're sad. Let yourself cry, let it out. It's like if you have ever interacted

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with a child who's in some kind of emotional turmoil, the worst thing you could do is try

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to dominate the situation by getting the child to stop. That's the thing that causes harm.

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If we're able to kind of see a child, see that they're in some emotional turmoil and

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create a safe container for this child to like feel whatever feelings are moving through

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them, they're able to find safety in themselves more quickly and also move through the big

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emotions with more ease. If we're not shaming or punishing or trying to manipulate a child

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out of the thing that they're feeling, that's a pretty great gift. Emotions don't really

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make sense all the time and sometimes it's not cognitive work when big emotions come

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through. It's not necessarily about trying to figure out the meaning. What does this

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mean? We're so obsessed with intellectualizing everything. Just feel it out. Just let it be

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whatever it is without having to explain it. Instead of explaining, explore. The body

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and mindfulness is a very accessible place to start because you just notice sensation.

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It's really just about noticing and cultivating awareness and curiosity. Just like, oh, this

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sadness feels a bit swirly in my heart space. It's neutral. Sadness is not good or bad.

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It's one of the many phenomena of this rich human experience. So my invitation for you

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this week is if you notice sadness coming up, give yourself some loving, compassionate space

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to be with the sadness. It is easier said than done. I just want to acknowledge that.

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I've been working on this for years in many different ways with talk therapy and somatic

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therapy and mindfulness and movement and connection, community. There are so many ways

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to alchemyze emotion, to move through emotion, to observe emotion. It's one of my biggest

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passions in this life is to explore feelings because there's such great wisdom in the feelings

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and the emotions that move through the body. So when we keep ourselves busy, when we keep

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ourselves distracted, when we shut ourselves down, when we run away from the emotions,

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we move further and further away from ourselves and we become lost. Being with emotions, being

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with any emotion that comes through us is a means of coming home to ourselves. And believe

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it or not, something I've learned is we don't just tend to run away from the hard emotions,

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we don't just run away from sadness and like big difficult emotions. We also tend to run

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away from big intense exuberant joyful emotions because sometimes that's scary. Sometimes the

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joyful, happier feelings, the excitement, sometimes those feelings bring about fear because it's

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like, oh, I am so happy about this thing but I don't want to be too happy about it because

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what if it goes away or what if I lose it or oh my God, I'm feeling this amazing feeling

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and then all of a sudden, boom, you're in the space of fear because you're like, this

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feels so good and I don't ever want it to go away. Oh my God, this thing is going to

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go away. Oh my God, how do I make it stay? And the nature of our emotions is that none

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of them stay for long and that's wonderful. That's a gift. We're always in flow. Things

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are always moving and our work is really to learn how to move with it, how to be in flow

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with the emotions that are up and down and left and right and front and back. It's a

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dance really. So my invitation to you this week is to learn to dance, expand your dancing

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skills, be with your emotions, all of the emotions, learn how to name them. Maybe you

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don't even need to name them. Maybe if you don't necessarily have a name for a specific

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emotion, you can be like, oh, I'm feeling this funny, fizzy, splashy feeling in my left

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knee. I don't know. Be playful with it. It doesn't all have to make sense. It doesn't

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all have to compute. Let yourself just be fully present to whatever shows up. I feel

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an immense sense of pride for how I've grown and my ability to be with sadness, depression.

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I remember I've been going to talk therapy for years and years ago I would, when my depression

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was much more of a struggle, I would go into therapy and I'd just say to my therapist,

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I'm so tired of being the sad girl. I don't want to come in here and be the sad girl.

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It was a time where I was overly identifying with my feelings of sadness and instead of

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saying I'm feeling sadness, I called myself the sad girl. I took on the identity of the

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sad girl and I pitied this sad girl and I also felt shame about being the sad girl.

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Now I'm just like, I'm a girl who gets sad sometimes. I'm a girl who knows how to be

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with my sadness. I'm a girl who sometimes feels sorry for myself when I'm feeling sad, but

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I also remember everybody feels sad sometimes and it's temporary and sadness comes and goes.

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Now being able to alchemize my sadness and be with my sadness and move through my sadness

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brings up feelings of joy for me and pride and like, wow, I'm able to move through all

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of it. I'm able to be with it and that's just beautiful and I wish the same for every

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human on this planet to be able to access the breadth and depth of their emotions. It

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is deeply healing. This work is transformative. The more we can face ourselves, the more we

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can be with ourselves, the more we can be with one another, the more we can hold each

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other with loving compassion, the more we can build a world that's softer and more caring

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and more just. It's deep work. It's important work. And with that, let's move into our mindfulness

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practice for today. Find a comfortable position, a restful position that feels easeful and

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if you like you can lie down, recline, sit, find any position that allows you to feel

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fully supported. Once you're settling into your easeful posture, start connecting to

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the breath. Take a deep breath in and let it go. Take a deep breath in and let it go.

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Allow the eyes to close as you go inward. I'm going to guide you through a body scan.

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Before we begin, notice if there are any prominent emotions present for you in this moment. As

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we move through the body, notice if the emotions are manifest in any particular spot. Take

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a deep breath in and let it go. Notice the top of the crown bringing your attention and

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awareness down to the forehead, that spot right between the eyebrows. Notice all of

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the muscles in the face and just allow them to soften. Let all expression leave your face.

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In the jaw, let the tongue rest in the mouth. Notice your neck and shoulders. Take a deep

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breath in and release. Notice the chest and the heart space and I invite you to gently

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place your hands over the heart and breathe in here. Imagine a loving white light radiating

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from the heart space. Imagine that glow extending outwards, just washing over your entire body.

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Seeing that light expand into this beautiful, shiny white orb that's holding you with

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love. Take a deep breath in and rest your hand on the belly. Notice the belly expand

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as you inhale. Notice it contract as you exhale. Allow your hand to rest just below the belly

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button. The pelvis, breathe into this space. Take a deep breath in here and let it go.

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Let the hands rest at your side or in your lap and continue breathing. Notice the thighs.

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Notice where your legs have contact with support beneath you. Notice your knees. Bring your

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attention to your shins and your calves, your lower legs. Notice the ankles. Notice your

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feet. Notice your tentoes and let them wiggle if they want. Take a deep breath in and let

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it go. As we close our practice, imagine drawing in one last deep breath from the arches of

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your heels below your feet and drawing that breath all the way up back up the body, all

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the way up to the crown of the head. And just let out a big deep sigh. You can continue with

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your inhale and exhale for a few moments as long as you wish. And whenever you feel ready,

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go ahead and let the eyes flutter open. Notice the space you're in, perhaps turning on that

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inner smile. And doing one last check in to notice what emotions are present in this moment.

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Take a deep breath in, let it go.

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Thank you so much for practicing with me today. Thank you so much for listening. If this episode

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resonated with you, feel free to share it with a friend. And I look forward to sharing

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space with you next time. Have a wonderful day.