Self-Care Parachute

Recently, I read that ‘repetition shapes life more than intention’ and I think I would agree. I had intentions of self-care at various points in life, but only after practicing it by sitting every day for many years did it become a ‘shape’ of who I am. The default ‘old’ me relied on self-criticism and when the going got tough, get tougher or, harder. Today, when I hear myself thinking ‘this is hard’, I use it as a wake-up bell to soften. This meditation uses the metaphor of a parachute to emphasize the support that self-care can provide. Though we may never have tried skydiving, I think most of us look at a descending parachute as graceful and supportive. The landing is gentle and easy on the bones.

Background Music courtesy Narek Mirzaei/Music of Wisdom

Transcript

Self-Care Parachute Hello again,

And thank you for joining me for another guided meditation.

When we're caught up in the trials and tribulations of this fast-paced world,

And if we've had any sort of childhood trauma or troubling life experiences that we push away and pretend doesn't exist,

All it takes is stress to feel overwhelmed,

To feel like we're falling into the depths of despair.

I've never tried skydiving,

So I don't have first-hand experience with parachutes.

I do know the feeling of falling,

However,

Literally and figuratively.

The idea of something supporting me,

Something that looks quite graceful and gentle when you watch them floating down to the earth,

To me,

Is a great metaphor.

Mindfulness and meditation can have that same dynamic.

Let's settle in and start with a few nice,

Slow,

Deep breaths.

Close your eyes if that feels comfortable for you,

Or leave them open if you prefer.

On the inhale,

We awaken the senses and welcome new energy.

On the exhale,

We settle and invite a sense of calm and ease,

A letting go.

Many of us have a loose checklist of places in the body where we hold tension.

As we settle into a meditation,

We flow through these regions with an observing,

Questioning attitude.

My tongue,

Without thinking about it,

Will press up against the roof of my mouth,

Not aggressively,

But it's also not relaxed until I let go,

And then it rests gently in the lower palate.

The neck and shoulders are common for that subtle retention,

Too.

When we check in there,

Especially with a nice,

Long exhale,

We can invite a sense of letting go and relaxation.

As we do so,

We may feel the whole body settling down into our seat just a little more.

And for me,

The belly is another region that I try to remember to check in on.

I've heard similar from other people,

Too.

Eating is something we have to do every day,

And when we're processing the stress of our daily lives,

It's only logical that as the food goes down into the belly,

The stress goes in with it.

So,

Letting the belly expand out on the inhale,

And then letting it deflate on the exhale can help to deflate the bubbles of discontent that may be stuck there.

Go ahead and check in with your usual suspects,

And see if you can invite a bit of relaxation and letting go.

If any parts don't want to,

That's okay,

Too.

We aren't going to force anything.

We can trust the process of sitting and being kind to ourselves to be enough.

Right here,

Right now.

Nowhere to go,

Nothing to do.

Finding our home base is another relief.

It's a stress-free home to place our attention.

You're doing great.

When the mind wanders from that place,

We simply return with kindness,

With love for this practice.

I sometimes wish I had found meditation when I was 10 years old,

Even 20.

I get that if-only idea,

Looping around,

And think of how different life might be today if I had established a daily practice way back then.

Awareness helps me see how this takes me away from the here and now.

No amount of wishing is going to change it.

So,

Returning to the practice as it is right now is returning to the present.

And that's a gift.

I'm grateful for the experiences,

Good and bad,

From all of my past.

And that serves my well-being today.

This process is one of radical self-compassion and self-care.

It can feel strange,

Foreign,

And inauthentic.

But that's only because it hasn't been practiced.

Everything new feels clunky at first.

Practice makes progress,

Slow and steady.

When we make the conscious decision to sit each day,

We aren't using meditation to fix anything.

It isn't a pill we can take on a whim of desperation.

Meditation is being in it,

Sitting in it,

For the long game.

I've made a lot of mistakes,

And I'm guilty of behavior that I'm not proud of.

I've hurt people.

I pushed a lot of that away,

And I sought relief through addictions.

I pretended,

I denied,

And I escaped into other worlds and states of being.

But as my practice grew,

And as I repeated this pattern of self-care,

Day after day,

Month after month,

Year after year,

The parachute appeared.

Slowly,

The demons that I buried began to surface.

Only now,

I had the resources and strength to meet them.

Often,

This means self-forgiveness.

When we're able to embrace that inner child that didn't know any better,

That was influenced by generations of anger,

Or fear,

Or simply patterns of innocent,

Misguided behavior,

We can forgive.

Instead of these things pulling us under,

Or having us crash land,

The parachute of self-care lets us rest down gently.

We land safely where we're able to move on,

To go forward.

Thank you for practicing with me today.

Thank you for skydiving with me.

May you land safely in peace and love.

Reviews

I loved a parachute meditation. I was able to float with John’s calm words, and get deeper into medication than I have in quite some time. My body is fully relaxed, my mind is calm. I feel like I want to stay in this state forever.