So settle yourself in.
To a comfortable position.
You want to be sitting up.
To do this.
Your spine's kind of straight and you can breathe well.
But get comfortable.
So support under your knees,
Under your back.
So you can be relaxed but upright is probably the best way to be.
And just take a minute to get yourself comfy,
Get yourself nice and stable.
And just take a moment to notice what's comfortable about the way you're sitting.
Just anything.
Sensation wise.
It might be the feeling of the seat underneath you.
It might be the feeling of your clothes under your hand or your hands resting on your knees or your lap.
Might be the softness of the cushion.
Might be the warmth of the clothes around you or a smell in the room.
Just notice where comfort is available to you right now.
And allow your attention to.
To settle on.
Any comforting,
Comfortable sensations that you're currently experiencing.
Allow yourself to sort of drop into it.
Feeling it a little bit more.
So really give attention to,
So my hands are on my knee right now and I've got a very soft pair of trousers on.
So I'm just allowing my hands to stroke my trousers a little bit because they feel really soft and comforting.
Just allow the sensation of comfort in.
And allow it to.
.
.
Sort of infuse all of you.
Take it into your feeling state.
Take it into how you are right now.
And then bring your attention to.
.
.
Just to sort of deepen this feeling of comfort.
Deepen your sense of reassurance.
Just bring to mind.
A place or a person or a thing that feels particularly cosy,
Welcoming,
Safe,
Comforting.
It might actually be the place that you are right now.
It might be your home.
It might be somewhere else.
And again,
Just allow yourself to revel in the thought of it,
Revel in the feeling of it.
Just enjoy the feeling.
Enjoy the sensation of welcome.
Of safety.
It might be something as simple as stroking your cat.
So you're really just looking to find.
.
.
A feeling in your body,
A feeling in your being.
Of being really safe.
And focusing on this for now.
Even though there may be many things that feel chaotic and out of control,
Not what you want.
You don't need to focus on any of that right now.
We're going to ground this in a feeling of well-being.
So just notice how it feels in your body.
To bring your attention to the.
.
.
Sensation of welcome,
Of safety,
Of well-being by thinking of these specific things.
So now you're going to turn your attention to yourself.
Coming from this place,
This starting point of well-being,
Of things being well with the world.
You're just going to turn your attention to yourself now.
Your body.
Your feeling state.
And you're going to do this with a sort of half smile.
And your mouth.
In your heart.
So you're gonna turn towards yourself with kindness.
So kind of,
Hey you.
Hey.
What are you doing?
You're just gonna give yourself some loving attention.
You're just going to notice how you are.
But not with the energy of fixing anything.
With the energy of self-improvement.
Just giving yourself a warm welcome.
As if you're sitting down next to a really valued friend and putting your arm around them.
Accept that you are the valued friend.
How you would welcome a loved animal into your lap.
Hey!
Let's see.
You're welcoming yourself.
Into your awareness.
And quite often this will allow a loosening in the breath as you sort of relax in your own company.
And you'll probably find that you still have kind of antsy,
Uncomfortable feelings swilling around as you do this.
And that's fine.
We're going to begin to attend to those in a minute.
But the first thing.
.
.
Is to really bring your loving attention to yourself.
Hey.
Hey!
How are you doing?
How are you doing?
There's something very powerful in just deciding to be with yourself.
With a welcome.
So often the time that we spend with ourselves is self-evaluatory.
This is a more celebratory.
And pray it.
So now that you've really anchored yourself in a kind,
Loving,
Welcoming,
Resourced place,
You can begin to turn your attention to what might be troubling you right now.
You can begin to attend to yourself and soothe any of the specific hurts,
Discomforts that are coming up right now.
So you can drop into your breath.
And again,
You're just going to notice how the life force is coming in and out of your body.
You're not trying to do anything with your breath.
You're going to drop almost like a kind of liquid gold.
Warm.
Loving quality into each breath.
Quite often when we feel off track.
It tightens and contracts the breath.
We find it hard to take in.
You find it hard to let go.
And you can soothe this,
You can soften this.
With a kind of golden.
Warm dripping golden.
Quality running.
In the heart of the breath.
And you can see it as a liquid or feel it as a light or just a kind of quality,
A felt quality of golden warmth.
Rich,
Abundant.
Loving energy.
In the heart of each breath.
Just resting there in the heart of each breath.
I'm not forcing anything.
But just adding that quality in.
And feeling that warmth perhaps running down into the arms.
Into the heart.
Dropping into the tummy solar plexus.
And down into the heart space of the pelvis,
Into the womb.
Maybe down into your root even.
Maybe down even into your legs and down into the ground.
This golden,
Warm,
Loving,
Easefulness.
In the way that life is coming into your body and going out.
Even if there's tension in the breath still.
It's okay.
Just nestling this warm,
Loving feeling.
Into each breath and into each moment.
So then you can begin.
To give your attention.
Little bit systematically.
To the way that your body is right now.
It's beginning to check in,
Ah,
Okay.
This is where I'm feeling a bit pinched.
This is where I'm feeling a bit owie.
This is where I feel heavy.
This is where I feel tight.
This is where I feel numb.
This is where I feel stuck.
This is where I feel antsy and want to get up and go.
This is where I want to reach for this thing or that thing to make me feel better.
So what you're going to do is.
.
.
Take whichever sensation is drawing your attention most.
And that could be a specific sensation in a single part of your body or it could be a sort of overarching feeling.
Throughout the whole of your system.
And you're going to bring this warmth of attention to this sensation.
Aww.
Okay.
Yeah.
I get this,
I get how this is right now.
This is how you're going to attend to yourself.
I'm here.
I'll be with you while you feel this.
This is the quality of attention you're going to bring to whichever sensation is drawing most attention right now.
So it looks like you're going to wrap.
The loving arms of your attention around the sensation.
And notice you're not trying to do anything with it.
You're not trying to transform it or change it or chase it away or integrate it.
Actually,
You are integrating it by giving it your warm attention in this way.
And right here.
This is what you're saying to yourself.
Right here.
And if you like,
You can bring the attention of your breath,
This golden,
Warm,
Kind,
Loving breath.
And allow this golden warmth to breathe into wherever you're feeling.
And tension or contraction.
Or pain.
And instead of trying to push it away,
Or run away from it.
We'll cover it up.
Or be better.
You're just going to welcome this feeling.
I'm just going to welcome it.
And you're going to offer it this golden loving breath as a balm.
As a resource.
As your greatest loving gesture towards this part of you that's been shut out,
Neglected,
Shamed.
Not going to do that anymore.
You're just going to wrap your loving attention around this feeling.
You're home now.
You're safe.
We're not going to leave you out in the cold anymore.
They're going to be with you.
And there's no rush,
There's no agenda.
Just tending to the hurt places,
Tending to the difficult feelings.
And you might find that whatever sensation you're dealing with just kind of dissolves.
You might find that it turns into something else.
Grief might emerge,
Insight.
You might just find a sense of relaxation.
If he gets stuck,
If you find.
.
.
Is it difficult to sustain your attention in one place?
That's fine.
Just come back.
You can let it go.
And just come back to all the lovely,
Comforting sensations that we began with.
The feeling of your seat underneath you.
Any things about the room that you particularly enjoy?
Sensation of your hands on your body.
If you find it particularly hard to maintain your loving attention,
It can be helpful to stroke your body,
Stroke your legs,
Stroke your arms,
Place your hand on your heart.
Place your hands on your face.
Or your head.
Or your womb.
Whatever brings you comfort.
Whatever brings you a sense of safety.
And you can come back to the warm loving breath.
And the quality of attention that says,
I'll be with you while you feel this.
I'll be with you.
And you can carry on working around your body.
The different sensations that you're feeling.
Or you can simply sit and tend to your whole being.
Just as you are.
This is really helpful if you wake in the night with fear.
Or difficult feelings or sadness.
And it's really helpful to do this last thing at night.
It's really easy to go through the day kind of tuning out.
And you might find that if you sit in this way at the end of the day,
And do this kind of audit.
Of all the hurts and contractions you've been glossing over in the daytime.
That actually your body can relax and your mind can relax and you might find that you sleep more deeply,
That you fall asleep more quickly.
And always come back.
To this quality of loving attention.
And if that ever becomes hard,
Simply come back to noticing what gives you comfort in the room.
Or in your experience,
Or even in your imagination.
Hmm.
Just being gentle with yourself.
Coming back to this smiling attention.
Hey you!
Hey.
I'm right here.
You know,
The way that you stroke a cat behind its ears.
And they just kind of rub up against you.
It's that kind of attention.
So you can stay with this.
Or you can.
.
.
Come to the end.
Just really giving thanks.
For the quality of your attention and also your courage.
And taking the time to attend to yourself and give attention to the things.
That have been difficult to attend to in the past.
And you can be thankful for your own kindness towards yourself.
Well done.
