Compassionate Movement

This guided movement meditation comes from the Mindful Self-Compassion course devised by Chris Germer and Kristin Neff. It is a short guided practice to discover what your body needs right now. Best to wear comfortable clothes.

Transcript

Compassionate movement.

Standing up now,

Just feeling the soles of your feet on the floor.

You might like to rock forward,

Backward a little.

Side to side,

Perhaps making little circles with your knees.

Feeling the changes in sensation and the soles of your feet.

Anchoring your awareness in the soles of your feet.

Now opening your field of awareness,

Perhaps scanning your body from top to toe,

Just noticing sensations.

Noticing both areas of ease as well as areas of tension.

Focusing for a moment on places of discomfort,

Perhaps tightness and tension.

Really mindfully,

Really noticing as you begin to move your body in a way that feels really good.

Giving these areas of discomfort what they need.

Compassionate movement.

You might find yourself doing some gentle head rolls,

Some shoulder rolls or scrunches.

Turning at the waist,

Some standing cat cows,

Perhaps dropping into a forward bend.

Whatever feels just right for you right now.

Giving your body the movement it needs.

As poet Mary Oliver said,

You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

And finally,

Coming to stillness,

Standing again,

Perhaps noticing the earth holding you,

Feeling your body,

Noticing any changes and going about your day.

Reviews

This has become my go-to meditation for chronic pain. It helps me move slowly and gently and with compassion to bring a bit more ease to my body. Thank you so much. 🌻

I love that line from Mary Oliver about letting the soft animal of the body love what it loves 💕