1. Preparation: Begin by taking a moment to relax into your body and focus on being positive and content in the moment.
2. Clearing a Space: Start by asking yourself "How do I feel?" and "Why don't I feel great right now?" Then, make a mental list of the problems that are currently affecting you, both long-term and immediate. Focus on being mindful of these problems in your awareness for a minute, but don't delve into them further.
3. Finding the Felt Sense: Ask yourself which problem is the biggest, heaviest, or worst, or choose one to focus on. Hold that problem in mind and pay attention to the sensations in your body. Try to get a holistic sense of the problem and your body's response to it. Look for a vague, fuzzy, unclear feeling that corresponds to the whole problem. This feeling is called the "felt sense." Stay with the felt sense for a minute, but don't try to break it down or think about it intellectually.
4. Finding a Handle: Try to find a word or short phrase that captures the entire feeling of the problem. This should arise naturally from observing the felt sense and is not something you should generate intellectually. Keep trying different words until you find one that feels accurate and clicks with the entire felt sense. When you have found the right handle, observe the felt sense through the lens of this handle until it stabilizes.
5. Asking: Directly ask the felt sense "What is this?" "What is it about this whole thing that makes me so [handle]?" "What is the worst of this?" "What does this felt sense need?" Use the handle to keep the felt sense present in the moment and wait for an answer. Ignore any intellectual answers that come to mind and wait for a response from your body. Repeat the question if necessary.
6. Receiving: When an answer comes, you may get a word or phrase that captures the new handle. Don't worry about believing the answer or thinking about its implications, just focus on the new handle. Sit with the new handle and the felt sense together for a minute.
7. Stopping or Continuing: Imagine stopping the process and see how it feels or imagine continuing and see how that feels. Do what feels right to you. If you stop, remember the previous handle and how it shifted to the new one for later recall. If you continue, start again at "Finding the Felt Sense," but use the current handle to interact with the felt sense.