A Gentle Place Beneath Self-Blame

You settle your body somewhere it can rest, find the surface holding your weight, and let your breath do what it already does. Then attention turns to the harsh sentence you have been repeating about something you wish you had handled differently. The details stay outside. You listen to its tone, and you place a kinder sentence beside it. Honesty and warmth can share these minutes.

Transcript

Hello and welcome. Settle into a shape your body can keep without holding itself up. A chair, The floor, Or lying down. Whichever one is easiest to reach from where you are. Take a few seconds to make it better. Rock your weight gently from side to side, Let your shoulders drop, Let your jaw come loose. Rearranging yourself is allowed at any moment from here on. Let your hands land somewhere easy, Your thighs, Your lap, The surface beside you, Anywhere your arms can stop working for a while. Now your eyes. Closing them suits many people. Leaving them open, With your gaze low and unhurried on the floor, Suits others. Pick one and keep it for the whole track. Feel the places where you're being held, The chair or the bed taking your weight, The surface under your hands, Your feet on the floor if they reach it. That holding is here for the length of this track, And you can lean your attention on it whenever you want. It'll still be there after the track ends, Wherever you happen to be. Let the next breath come and go at whatever pace it arrives with. Your body is already taking care of it. This track is about to turn towards self-blame, So take this with you. The details of what happened can stay outside these minutes and you'll never be asked to walk back through them. If this starts to feel like too much, Let my voice carry on without you and put your attention on the surface holding your body. That by itself is a whole practice. Closing the track and returning another day is a good choice too. You may have come here with something you keep going back over, Wishing you had handled it differently. Keep the details outside this practice. We are staying with the way you have been speaking to yourself about what happened. A harsh sentence about yourself may be running right now. Something you've said to yourself more than once since it happened. If a sentence like that is here, Listen to the tone of it, Cold or impatient or flat. Name the tone and leave the words alone. If your mind is quiet, Stay with where your body is being held. Sometimes a sentence like that is sitting on top of something else, Something you wanted or somebody you wanted to support. Have a gentle look underneath and if no answer appears, Let that be the answer. Let the surface under you hold some of your attention. Here is what I most want you to have. You can look at what happened honestly, Whatever the honest answer turns out to be, And speak to yourself with care while you look, Both at once. Today can remain open. If the words fit, Say this once inside your own mind. Listening is equally welcome. I can look at what happened honestly and speak to myself with care. Let that sentence rest beside the harsh one. Keep part of your attention on the support beneath you and leave both sentences where they are. The hard words may return later. If the hard words return, Find where your body is supported and try the kind sentence again. Let the practice stop here. Bring the room back around you and feel the surface still holding you up. Let your breath grow fuller if it wants to. Wake your fingers up and your feet. The eyes can open now, Slowly. A low gaze can lift and take in the room. Be gentle with yourself today.