Healing Through Your Spacious Self

This meditation is inspired by Tara Brach’s RAIN meditations, which offer a compassionate way of working with difficult emotions, experiences, and parts of the self. The meditation starts with a body scan, inviting you to relax and get in touch with the spaciousness within you. When we can approach our challenges from a relaxed state, we have the wisdom within ourselves to heal.
It incorporates bilateral sound and is meant to be played with headphones or earbuds.

Transcript

Om Om Om Om Om Om Take a moment and settle into your body,

Sitting with a straight spine or lying down on your back.

Release any expectations for what this meditation might be and just allow it to be what it is,

An experience you are having in this moment,

Allowing all parts of your experience to be welcome.

Frustrations,

Doubts,

Wandering thoughts and sensations,

Even random noises,

Everything welcome in this experience,

In this moment,

And in the moments that follow.

Notice all the sounds you can hear inside and outside your space,

Allowing the sounds to exist in the background of your experience and setting the intention as much as you can to follow my voice,

To be in the present moment.

Bring your awareness to your body breathing,

Noticing the sensation of your lungs expanding and releasing as you breathe in and out.

See if you can bring your breath deep into your belly,

Allowing the soft part of your abdomen to expand and release like a deep sleeping baby.

Feel what it's like to be a body breathing in this moment.

Notice if there are any parts of you that feel tight or tense,

Any emotions or sensations that want to be released and send your breath there.

As you breathe in,

Imagine creating space between muscle fibers and cellular walls,

Releasing tension,

Allowing your body to relax.

And if there are parts of you that feel tight,

That it's hard to relax,

That's okay.

Allow those to be a part of your experience as well.

And just surround any tension or tightness that remains with love and compassion.

Now bring your awareness to the parts of your body that feel spacious,

Sensing into the parts within you that are spacious and expansive.

Sense into the space of your skull,

Bringing your awareness to the space from the crown of your head to the bottom of your chin and the crown of your head to the base of your skull.

Sense the space from your eyebrow center to the back of your skull,

The space from temple to temple,

From ear to ear,

The space of your eye sockets,

The space of your nasal passages,

The space of the cavity of your mouth.

Bring your awareness to the space at the center of your skull,

The space of your midbrain right at the center,

Right between your ears.

Now sense into the space of your neck and throat,

Feeling the space from the top of your throat to the pit of your throat,

From the base of your skull to the base of your neck.

Sense into the space from shoulder to shoulder and from the tops of your shoulders to your elbows down to your wrists to the tips of your fingers.

Feel the space of your hands,

The space from your palm of your hand to the back of your hand.

And bring your awareness back from the tips of your fingers to your wrists to your elbows to the tops of your shoulders,

Sensing into the space of your whole arms,

The space within both of your arms.

Sense into the space now from the pit of your throat down to your pubic bone,

From the base of your skull all the way down to your tailbone,

The length of your spine.

Sense into the space from armpit to armpit,

The space of your ribcage encircling your body.

Feel the space of your lungs fluctuating as they breathe,

The changing space of your heart pumping blood.

Sense into the space from waistline to waistline,

The space from sternum to spine.

Sense into the space of your abdominal cavity,

The space from belly button to spine,

And the space from your solar plexus to your pubic bone.

Sense into the space from hip point to hip point,

The space within your pelvic bowl.

Sense into the space from hips to knees,

From knees to ankles,

From heels to the tips of your toes.

Feel the space from the soles of your feet to the tops of your feet,

And again the space from the tips of your toes to your heels to your ankles up to your knees,

To where your thighs connect to your hips.

Feel the length,

The volume,

The space of both of your legs.

Bring your awareness to the spaciousness of your whole body,

Feeling the space within all of you,

The spaciousness of your entire body.

A body made of carbon and air,

Of water and tissues,

A body made of cells.

Sense into the spaciousness of your body,

Breathing,

And see if you can perceive the spaciousness of you that exceeds the boundaries of your skin,

The parts of you that imagine and envision,

The parts of you that create.

Sense into the spaciousness of the parts of you that love and ache and yearn,

The parts of you that hurt when you see another being in need.

Sense into the spaciousness of you that belongs to your family and loved ones,

The spaciousness of you that is a part of your community.

Sense into the spaciousness of you that is a part of all living things,

Of all life on Earth.

Sense into the spaciousness of you made of elements fused inside of stars before time existed.

Sense into the parts of you made of matter that has existed for eternity,

The parts of you that can never be destroyed.

Sense into your most spacious self,

The parts of you that are eternal,

The most spacious parts of you,

Your most spacious self.

Sense into the spaciousness of you that is a part of all living things,

The parts of you that are eternal,

The parts of you that are eternal.

The consciousness that exists within a body and consciousness that knows no bounds,

Your most spacious self.

Know that this part of you,

This spaciousness always exists,

Exists with the other parts,

Parts that feel anxious or angry or hurt.

See if there's a part right now that is calling your attention,

A part maybe that keeps coming up,

Derailing you in some small way.

And from your most spacious self,

Just allow it to be there.

See what it's like when you just allow it.

We're so used to pushing these parts away.

Notice what it's like to allow it to be there without judgment from your most spacious self.

Notice where this part resides within you.

Notice where you feel it in your body.

Sometimes a feeling like anxiety is a floodgate to a deeper emotion,

Like fear or anger or something else.

Sense into all the other feelings associated with this part,

Allowing it to be there from your most spacious self.

Maybe this part has an image that resonates with it.

See if there's an image that encapsulates and represents this part of you.

Maybe there's a belief tied to this part,

Like I'm not lovable or I'm not good enough from your most spacious self.

Notice if there's a belief tied to this other part.

What would it be like if you didn't believe that?

And sometimes these parts call back to earlier experiences of a younger self.

Maybe you could see if this part had an age,

How old would it be?

Allow your most spacious self to be with this part and see what it has to tell you.

What does it need you to know?

And from your most spacious self,

What is it that you want to tell this part?

From your most spacious self,

Can you offer it some nurturance?

It could be something so simple like,

I'm here for you,

Or of course you're worthy.

You could even place a nurturing hand on the part of your body where you feel it.

See what this part needs when you allow it from your most spacious self.

What does it need to hear or know to heal?

Sometimes a feeling of spaciousness starts to diminish when we bring up these smaller,

Hurt parts of ourselves.

And if you're having a hard time accessing your most spacious self,

Maybe you can think of a loved one,

Someone you trust.

What would they say to this part of you that hurts?

What would they say to this part of you that hurts?

What would they say to this part of you that hurts?

And can you use this experience,

The experience of this meditation,

As guidance?

Or when you notice this part arising within you,

No matter how subtle the feelings.

Can you use this meditation as guidance to recognize where this part arose from and what it needs?

Can you tap into the spaciousness within you and offer it some nurturance?

Stay with this part a few moments longer.

See if there's anything else that needs to be said,

More love,

More compassion that needs to be extended.

Anything more that needs to be understood.

And when you are ready,

Bring your awareness back to your body,

Breathing to this experience now.

Feeling all the parts of your body in contact with the surface,

Supported by the weight of the Earth's gravity.

Moving gently,

Take your time,

Carrying forward what you've gained.

Being gentle with yourself as you return to your external world and the moments that await you.

Reviews

This practice is a game changer! I am coming back to this meditation to tap into myself again more deeply. This practice gave me something today & I believe there’s more to receive from it. Thank you 🤍

I felt myself dissolve into conciousness. What a beautiful experience ✨

That was absolutely amazing! Thank you! I have never cried so much through a mediation while healing myself from within!

Absolutely beautiful. Thank you and many Blessings 🌻🐢🦋