Welcome,
Mindful Writers.
Today we're going to practice a little bit of mindful self-compassion.
Let's begin by coming into a seated position where we can be upright and alert but still relaxed.
Closing your eyes if it's comfortable for you.
And the self-compassion practice is a little less formal than inside practice,
So if you have an itch or you need to adjust your posture,
Please feel free to do so.
But we'll start by getting comfortable,
Noticing ourself in this space,
Feet on the floor,
Bottom on the cushion,
Adjusting our posture if we need to.
Dropping the shoulders down and away from the ears,
Relaxing the belly.
Beginning with a nice deep breath and letting it go in your own time.
Taking a couple more,
Letting the exaggerated sensations of breathing bring your attention inward as we start to let go of our worries about the future,
Thoughts about the past.
And once you've taken those few deeper breaths,
Letting go of any control around the breathing,
Letting it find its natural rhythm.
And then asking ourselves that question,
How are you today and how do you know?
Using that awareness that we cultivated with the breath,
We check in with the body as a whole,
With this little judgment as we can muster,
Just to notice,
How are we today?
What's the weather like in our body?
Keeping in mind that there's no wrong answer.
You are however you are.
Sometimes we sit and we feel good,
Sometimes we sit and we notice that we don't feel so good.
That's all just part of being human.
And having checked in with the body,
We can also bring in a bit of gratitude for everything the body does for us.
The things we're aware of,
The things we'll never be aware of.
Even when things aren't as we wish they were,
We can still take a moment and appreciate all the things that are good enough.
And say thank you body,
For making it possible for me to just even sit here and take a few deep breaths.
And notice if the gratitude practice shifts your awareness of the present moment at all.
Sometimes when we bring in some gratitude,
We'll feel lighter or there's a sense of opening.
Sometimes not.
And then we'll let go of the gratitude practice as well.
And our anchor for today's meditation will be the self-compassion practice.
For those of you who haven't practiced before,
This is a fairly simple in concept practice.
Here's some phrases,
I will say them for you a few times and then I'll let you just repeat them to yourself either quietly out loud or in your mind.
And where this practice gets interesting is how your brain reacts to it.
So let's get started.
May I be happy,
Truly happy.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be free from suffering.
May I live a life of ease.
These are the phrases.
And just notice how your brain reacts to saying them.
Sometimes these feel really good and we can revel in it.
And other times we'll have in our head that maybe we don't deserve these things.
That's okay.
Notice all that.
Just let those thoughts come and go and come back to the phrases we say them again.
May I be happy,
Truly happy.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be free from suffering.
May I live a life of ease.
May I be happy,
Truly happy.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be free from suffering.
May I live a life of ease.
And I'll say one more time through and after that,
I'll let you go on your own.
The important thing to remember is that you don't have to get it just right.
Don't worry if you can't remember the phrases exactly.
Work with what you can remember and do your best.
Anyone who practices this for very long starts to come up with phrases that are unique to them and that work for them.
These are mine.
I share them with you in the hopes that you will find a variation that is right for you.
May I be happy,
Truly happy.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be free from suffering.
May I live a life of ease.
And I'll let you take it on your own for a few minutes.
May I be happy,
Truly happy.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be free from suffering.
May I live a life of ease.
May I be happy,
Truly happy.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be free from suffering.
And may I live a life of ease.
May I be happy,
Truly happy.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be free from suffering.
May I live a life of ease.
May I be happy,
Truly happy.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be free from suffering.
And may I live a life of ease.
