What can you do when intense emotions come up in a public situation? Privacy is not an option, yet you need a way to calm yourself and be present with what is coming up for you.

If we were in a session, I’d take you through a whole-body lead-in. This is a powerful process that grounds you in several layers of body awareness, creating a flexible, sturdy container to hold any strong emotions that come up.

But the whole-body lead-in takes a full five minutes, requires privacy, and takes some effort to memorize if you want to do it by yourself. So it isn’t a good “on the go” solution for dealing with unexpected intense emotions.

Instead, you can turn to your breath, using a practice of breathing into the heart that is quick, easy to remember, and can be done in any situation. Just as the sun bathes the lilac buds and causes them to bloom, your breath can bathe your heart and open it, creating a container of Presence that can hold your intense emotions in a compassionate way. And you can do this anytime, anywhere. In this 5-minute video I’ll show you how: