Sometimes,
We forget how much self-agency we have.
We forget that there is a world inside of ourselves,
There is a body in our body.
And the second we truly become aware of that,
All else fades away and we realize that we are not the body inside the body,
We are not the heavy emotions that won't seem to go away,
We are not the rumination,
We are not our inner critic,
Our inner worrier.
And you might have heard this before but have you truly embodied it?
Have you truly been able to feel this and not just understand it?
And when we realize that we are not our pain,
We can take it a level deeper,
One step further.
Our pain is actually a version of us that desperately needs our love,
Our attention,
Our compassionate presence.
And that makes it really,
Really hard to be angry or to resist your anxiety,
Your grief,
Your pain.
It makes it really difficult.
Because you start to see it as this helpless little child that actually just really needs a hug,
That really needs you to be there for them.
And that is how we develop self-compassion.
It's not feeling sorry for ourselves but it is understanding that the root of our pain is trauma,
Is that somewhere in our lives something has happened that was too much too soon or that was too little for too long or a combination of both and our body almost is a library or a museum of all these past experiences and for every experience that we didn't get to process,
There is a version of us still waiting,
Still waiting for the end of the suffering.
And that's what people talk about when they talk about inner child healing or the inner child wound.
It's nothing and no one else but you that needs the version that you are right now.
So let's dive into a practice today.
We are going to be working with a part of ourselves,
Something perhaps that's been on your stomach,
On your liver,
On your heart,
On your chest,
On your throat and we are going to approach this today from that lens of self-compassion.
So if it helps you can start to feel in your body where this part of you is present and you can imagine that this is one of your inner children.
So imagine this feeling that you've been trying so hard to numb,
To resist,
To push away,
To just get over with.
Imagine that is your 5,
6,
12,
13 year old self and they are in dire need of you.
Start to feel your heart opening up as you are rooted in self-compassion and as we gently approach this part,
As you gently let them know about your existence.
Hey,
I am here.
I am here for you.
I am listening to you.
I am right here for you.
Just see if there is any sort of response or how they react and you can let them know that you understand their pain and that it's ok,
That you are here to help them,
To lighten the load.
This is your chance to be that person that your child truly needs,
That you wish you'd have around and you get to show up as them,
Right here and right now,
From that place of deep unconditional love for your little one.
You can say the words that they never heard but needed to and it's interesting that our fears are directly the opposite of what we need to hear.
For example,
You are aware that you have a fear of abandonment.
Very soothing words,
Almost like medicine,
That your inner child needs to hear can be ëI will never leave your sideí,
ËI am always right hereí,
ËI am always here with youí.
Perhaps your inner child needs someone to cuddle up with,
To have a shoulder to cry on and that's all ok.
You can be strong.
You are the rock.
Let them cry on your shoulder.
Let them be held in your arms.
And perhaps that's it,
That's all it takes.
You can stay here with your inner child for as long as you want.
And even during the day,
I recommend that just sometimes you do a little check-in with your inner child,
However you want to visualize it,
Whichever age you want to make contact with and tell them those words or give them that hug and let them know that you've got them,
That you're thinking about them and that you always carry them in your heart.
These deeper practices are very beautiful but what is truly beautiful is if in the moment of a trigger or whenever you don't have time to sit or lay down for 20 minutes,
You have the emotional intelligence,
Emotional awareness to send love to that part of you which is needing that self-compassion.
You are a powerful transmuter.
Never ever forget that.
You came here to love,
To cherish,
To nurture.
And if we all start showing up like this for ourselves,
Imagine how we would treat one another.
It all has a ripple effect.
And you can close up this practice however you like,
For example,
I love to imagine that I take my inner child and I put her in my heart and I keep her there,
Warm and cozy.
Or perhaps you want to leave them where they are and say goodbye.
That's up to you.
And whenever you are ready,
You can gently bring your attention back to your body,
To the room that you are in right now,
To the space in front of you and behind you and the surface below you.
Gently coming back into this present moment.
Thank you so much for diving deep with me today.
My name is Anais and as always it's a true pleasure and a deep honor to meditate with you.
I'll see you soon.
