Question: Fear arises in my body. Anger arises in my body. Anxiety arises in my body. But while at times overwhelming, many times they arise from a more loving space .

As a first pass, one can say that “fear [as well as other emotions] arises in my body” (my emphasis). It’s true, at this level of understanding, that all emotions are “stored” in “my” body and thus that they’re also felt within “my” body. Accordingly, it can be said that all emotions, when surfaced, are gently “released.” 

This formulation isn’t wrong. However, it would be good to go beyond this understanding.

How?

Steps In The Direct Path

1. In the first step, I realize that I am witnessing awareness. Disentangling myself from the content of objective experience, I see that all experiences are naturally appearing to me, witnessing awareness.

2. In the second step, I explore a simple fact: I, awareness, have no objective qualities. I’m, for instance, neither perceivable nor conceivable.

3. In the third step, I “return” to objective experiences and see that they’re rising within me.

• This is a subtle superimposition: for now, we allow that awareness has a “space-like” quality–even though it really has no objective qualities at all. This upaya is allowed because it facilitates clarity insofar as it deconstructs the habitual belief that there is an “inside of me” as well as an “outside of me.” Hence, the teaching, at this level, states that all experiences are appearing within the “space” of awareness.

4. In the fourth step, I see that every experience is made only of awareness.

• At this point, I may re-formulate experience thus: awareness freely assumes “the name and form” (namarupa) of all experiences in order to experience itself in this way.

Step 3: The Space-like Quality Of Awareness

Go back to your question, then.

Is it true, if you stick with your actual experience, that emotions are rising in your body? Or isn’t it really the case that emotions are rising in the space of loving awareness?

Can one sensation–what’s left of fear when there are no labels attached to the experience of sensing–arise within another sensation–the “total body sensation”? Is that what is evident in your actual experience?

When it’s clear that emotions are arising within loving awareness, then emotions are no longer a problem. They’re like gently unfolding waves in the ocean of awareness.