Headspace Studios.

Hi, it's Dora here, and welcome back to Radio Headspace.

So maybe you've had this experience where you sit down to meditate and instead of feeling

calm, something else shows up.

Maybe it's sadness, frustration, or a kind of restlessness that wasn't obvious before.

And it can feel surprising.

We often think of meditation as something that will make

us feel better, not something that brings up what feels uncomfortable. I remember the first time

this really stood out for me. I was on retreat, and up until that point, I'd mostly been

practicing, focusing on my breath, just noticing when

the mind wandered and bringing it back.

And then one day we switched to a different practice, loving-kindness meditation, where

you offer well wishes first to yourself and to people you care about, and eventually to people you find difficult.

And that's where I noticed something.

Offering kindness to people I loved, that felt easy.

But when it came to people I struggled with, something in me reacted.

There was this tightening, a resistance,

almost like I didn't want to go there. And after a few days of practicing like that,

something else came up. I was sitting there during one of these sessions and I felt this big wave

of emotion. I found myself getting tearful without really understanding why.

It wasn't what I was expecting, but it did show me something. Underneath that frustration

I thought I was carrying, there was something else, something deeper. There was sadness,

...