Welcome,
This is Allison with Mindful Pause Center,
And I'm so glad to bring you this practice today.
So choosing the posture that you would like for this self compassion practice.
And then beginning to feel how the posture offers you support.
Maybe gravity is helpful for you.
You can notice that dental tug.
You can see and feel where you're in contact.
With that which is supporting you.
Really noticing that it's on the other side of your body.
Gently pressing back.
Contact that we have with our world is made possible by gravity.
Already there's a kindness here.
That this physical force that's always with us,
Gravity.
Is a real living metaphor of how we're connected to our world and how we belong here.
And so this sense of gravity might be an anchor or a home base for you tonight.
If ever your mind gets swept away can bring your awareness back to gravity and the support that's here.
I also want you to explore breath,
The body breathing itself.
How do you know you're breathing?
How does the body move on the inhalation?
How does it expand?
Where does the air go?
How does the body move on the exhalation?
Where does it release?
Sometimes the image of a wave can be really helpful for feeling the breath.
Wave comes into shore.
And then it recedes once again.
And so maybe the breath will be your anchor or home base.
And choosing a home base is really important,
Not only for if your mind gets lost or distracted,
Then,
Of course,
The home base is a place that we can return our attention.
But sometimes doing a practice where we invite ourselves to notice what's painful.
That can be very challenging,
Like the nervous system might get really agitated.
So if you ever notice like the heart really racing or the breath getting really,
Really shallow.
Or if you're feeling,
On the other hand,
Numb and kind of checked out.
Then those are cues that your nervous system is giving you that you really need to pause the practice.
So the home base or the anchor can be a place to come back to when you pause the practice.
It's also helpful to open your eyes and look around the physical space you're in.
And if tonight pausing the practice is something that happens,
Then you can decide.
Whether you come back.
And pick up where my voice is.
Or maybe you just stay with the home base the rest of the time.
And if you pause the practice,
That is an act of self-compassion.
It's not like you couldn't hack it.
It's really beginning to practice exactly what it is that we're here to do,
Which is offer ourselves care and kindness when we're under distress.
So choosing the home base you'd like for the practice,
Whether it's the body under gravity.
Or the body breathing itself.
Just bringing your attention there now.
And then when you're ready.
There's no hurry.
I'm gonna invite you to bring to mind a situation that feels difficult right now.
There's some stress around it.
It's challenging.
Maybe there's an obstacle or two that's really hard to overcome.
Part of this practice is to use the imagination to make this difficult situation vivid to ourselves.
So you might bring to mind,
In this difficult situation,
If there's a place that it often happens.
Where are you when the difficulty presents itself?
What is in the room with you?
What is your posture?
Are you seated,
Standing?
Are you in motion?
You inside,
Are you outside?
Does it tend to happen at a particular time of day?
Are there other people here?
That are either part of the distress.
Or also experiencing the distress alongside you.
Just noticing where you're at in relationship to these other people are they close by are they far away.
As you bring the situation to mind,
You might notice that the body starts to feel some of the stress of the situation.
And that's actually something that we're we're looking for.
A sense in the body of where you're contracting,
Where things are maybe getting tight.
Or where you experience the pain of this distress.
You can check the chest area.
You can also check out the belly.
Sometimes the hands for people or the throat.
Could be the jaw,
Could be the eyes or the temples.
Could be the shoulders.
Just noticing as you imagine this.
Distress.
Where in the body the sensations show up.
And are the sensations that of tightness?
Hardness.
Maybe there's a temperature,
Or maybe there's a kind of energy,
Sensations like buzzing or tingling.
Might even have a color that you associate with distress.
One of the first things we do in our self-compassion practice is just to notice the pain that's here.
We ask ourselves,
Can I be with this?
In this moment,
Can I make space for it?
Can I acknowledge,
Ouch,
Or this hurts,
Or this is really difficult?
Maybe there's a word or a phrase like that that makes sense to you.
You can use your own words.
Or maybe being with the pain is a little bit more like sitting alongside it on a park bench or in a.
.
.
Another space that you can give it some room.
Way to observe rather than be caught up in the pain.
This hurts.
This is really difficult.
And then as the second part of our self compassion practice,
I'd like you to sense or call up the presence of another to sit beside you.
This is somebody you trust,
Somebody you feel safe with,
Somebody that cares for you.
And that might be an animal.
It might be somebody who's already passed on.
It could be a friend or a family member.
It could be a wiser version of yourself.
It could be somebody from a movie,
A character that you love.
All that matters is that,
This being.
Notices you're in pain and they've come to your aid.
They're not here to fix the situation.
They're here for you.
Because they notice.
You're hurting.
And they're here to keep you company.
To let you know you're not alone.
And as they come into the situation with you,
Just noticing like,
Where are they?
Are they sitting alongside you?
Does it feel good to have them standing behind you?
Maybe they're seated across from you,
Or if you're in motion,
They're walking next to you.
Do you prefer that there's some distance between you or does it feel good to have the being Like if it's a pet,
Maybe they're sitting in your lap or.
.
.
If it's a good friend,
Maybe they're holding your hand.
Just noticing how they arrive and how you.
Would like them to be.
In order to offer you the support you need in this moment.
And as you allow them to be alongside you,
To help you hold the pain,
Just noticing what,
If anything,
Shifts.
Does anything in the body begin to loosen,
To soften?
And it's okay if it doesn't.
You're just being curious.
Just noticing how having the comfort of someone alongside you.
Helps you be in a situation that's difficult.
And after you've let yourself absorb that,
Gonna ask you to release that person and to let go of the situation.
We're going to bring our attention back to our body.
Back to the body seated here or lying here.
I really want you to begin to notice that tug of gravity again.
The kind of weight of the body.
As it receives the support of whatever it is that you're lying on or seated on.
Really noticing.
The cushion,
The bed,
The floor,
The chair.
Feeling it,
How tangible it is,
And the way that it supports you.
And in a moment,
I'm going to ring the bell.
Again,
I'll ring it three times as a way to bring us back from this practice.
So as the sound of the bell fades,
You can start to move the body in a way that feels good.
Maybe that's hands and feet first,
But then you can make the movement as big as you like.
And as your eyes open or your gaze lifts,
Really take some time to look around the physical space you're in.
Especially important after we do practices with our imagination.
We want to really see the lights,
The colors,
The forms that are in their room with us to make it very concrete so our nervous systems know that we're back.
Thank you for your practice.
Did you feel supported by this practice?
Leave a short word or phrase in the comments to let me know.
I'd love to be connected.
Until next time,
Take good care.
