Self Love Inquiry And Acceptance

This is a stress relieving meditation that allows us to notice and make space for how we perceive loving ourselves. We first calm the nervous system with mindful breathing so that we can more easily observe what is true for us with loving acceptance.

Transcript

Hi and welcome to this short meditation on self-love.

This is part one of a series of four meditations where we'll start by just exploring our own perception of what loving ourselves is and then going a bit deeper into different perceptions of self-love and how we can really encapsulate this feeling of loving ourselves,

Having a full understanding of it or a better understanding of it in our body,

In our mind but mostly in our heart.

So coming to know our hearts a little better,

That's the aim.

So in this first part we will find our comfortable position,

Making sure that it's truly comfortable and supportive for you.

Meditation isn't a time to be efforting.

So if being comfortable means that you're lying down,

Please do that.

If you choose a seat and you know you have back pain,

Support yourself against the wall or a chair,

Elevate the hips in your seat so sit on a cushion or a block,

It's much more comfortable.

If you're lying down,

Just settling into that position,

Tuck the shoulder blades under,

Tuck the tailbone and let the toes fall out.

If you're in a seat,

Lengthen the spine upwards,

Take a breath in,

Squeeze the shoulders up,

Back and down and find a comfortable position to rest your hands.

That's probably on the thighs for most of you.

I'll give you a few moments to do that and when you find your position,

Just looking around the environment that you're in.

So turning your whole body to look behind you if you need to,

Taking in everything that you can see in the room or maybe the space.

And if you see something in that space that catches your eye,

Just resting your gaze there for a moment.

Moving your gaze back to centre and choosing now to either close your eyes or just find a steady gaze out in front.

Starting now for all the sounds inside of the space that you're in,

If you are inside.

And then noticing if there's anything you can hear outside of the space that you're in.

And allowing all of those sounds to be there.

I'm coming now to focus inside instead.

Focus to the breath and it's preferable to breathe in and out through the nose,

But if you're congested please just breathe in and out through the mouth.

We're going to take a slow deep breath downwards towards the belly with your next inhale,

Lengthening it out for a count of four.

And when you're ready,

Breathing out slowly and smoothly for a count of four again.

Again breathing in for a count of four or longer.

And breathing out for the same amount of time.

The last one,

Breathing in for as long as is comfortable for you.

And the option this time is to hold the breath at the top of your inhale for the same amount of time.

No tension here as you breathe out for the same amount of time.

Really well done.

Letting go of controlling the breath now.

And as I mentioned each of the parts in or on your body,

Just moving your awareness to that space.

And finding a feeling of softening now between the eyebrows,

Behind the eyes,

Between the ears,

Between your jaw and your shoulders,

Either side of the back of the neck and into the lower back.

Softening down through the hips and the spaces between the toes.

Awareness moving back to the breath without control now,

Just noticing.

Noticing the movement of air coming in through the nose or the mouth,

Traveling downwards through your airways and following the passage of the air back out through the body,

Out into the space that you're in.

Noticing the first point where you become aware of the breath before it enters your body.

Following the passage of the breath in,

Repeating to yourself,

Inhaling and on the breath out,

Exhaling.

And keep following that guidance,

Staying soft in the body.

Your awareness might drift away,

This is completely normal.

If it does,

It's an opportunity to come back to noticing the breath.

And in the position of noticing,

There is no judgment here because there is no right or wrong way to meditate,

No right or wrong way to be.

Watching the breath rise and fall.

Inhaling and exhaling as if there is nothing beyond this moment,

Nothing that's coming after it.

The position of an observer.

And now staying in this position of observing and without effort,

Without judgment,

See what would arise when I ask you the following question.

What does self love mean to you?

How do you show yourself that you love yourself?

And we're not affording for an answer because there is no right or wrong answer and there may not even be an answer.

The response may be a physical sensation or an emotional one without words.

There's no right or wrong response to have.

When you've noticed that response,

Is there also a corresponding feeling in the body,

A sensation in the body that you connect with self love,

That's lit up in this moment.

And if you aren't sure,

Just take a guess,

That's okay.

With your awareness on this space,

We're going to imagine that we can breathe into it,

Make space for this sensation.

So another really deep,

Slow breath into that space and as you exhale,

Softening around it.

Two more like that,

Imagine that you can breathe into that space,

Expand and exhale,

Soften and settle in around it.

And when you're ready,

Last time deep,

Slow breath in,

Making space for sensation,

Exhaling to soften around it.

Beautiful work.

And again,

Letting go of controlling the breath and we'll come back to noticing the breath,

The position of observing,

Inhaling and exhaling.

So taking the time to come and do this meditation is an act of self love.

I have one more inquiry for you to make.

So noticing again what arises when I ask you what is one more thing that you could do today to show yourself that you love yourself.

And again,

That response may not consist of words.

It could be a sensation or a feeling or maybe there's nothing at all and that's okay.

Noticing now sensation in the body in relation to that inquiry.

And again,

Taking a guess if you're not sure where to direct your attention in the body.

Bringing your awareness to that space again,

We'll take one more breath in,

Make space around it.

Inhale,

Exhale.

Let go of controlling the breath.

And now please imagine if you can that you are looking at yourself from outside yourself.

So sitting in front of you or above you and noticing the position that your body is in,

The clothes that you're wearing and the expression on your face.

And noticing feelings of gratitude,

Gratitude for this person that you are taking time out to do something that is nourishing.

Sending that gratitude to this person yourself.

Noticing any other qualities in there.

Maybe there's warmth and kindness and maybe there's love as well.

Letting go of visualizing yourself,

Moving back to the breath.

Take a deep inhale through the nose,

This time sigh through the mouth.

Again coming back to the sounds inside of the room and the sounds outside of the room.

Take yourself one more time for exploring this meditation and I thank you for joining me with this self-inquiring meditation.

When you're ready,

Very slowly blinking the eyes open.

Enjoying the rest of what the day holds for you.

Thank you again.

I'll see you soon.