Healing The Inner Child: A Journey To Wholeness

Within every adult lives the child who still longs to be seen and held.

This profound guided meditation helps you reconnect with your inner child — the part of you that holds innocence, wounds, and love. By meeting this child with compassion, healing and integration naturally arise.

Transcript

So,

The inner child.

Before we go into our subject,

Let's still,

Let's see if we can come into the present moment.

Ground into our bodies.

Take a few deep breaths.

Feel the air coming into the body.

Start to feel the senses beginning to enliven.

With our breathing.

Become aware of any sounds that might be in your environment.

Dispassionately.

Breathing.

Feeling the breath.

Feeling the body respond to the breath.

The eyes can stay open or close whichever you prefer.

But your attention is inversed.

Is inward.

So feeling the body respond to the breathing.

Still aware of the sounds,

Any sounds that might be in your immediate environment.

Sounds that are near or some sounds that are far,

Like the sound of traffic perhaps.

The sound of the breath.

Just opening to these sounds.

In fact,

Opening is a really good word.

Becoming open to the sounds.

To the feeling of the breath.

Open to the stillness.

The sense of stillness.

The feeling of stillness.

And the resistance.

The resistance to stillness.

Maybe that the mind is busy.

It wants to think.

It has a certain momentum.

It doesn't know how to stop.

The mind on its own doesn't know how to stop.

It has a certain momentum.

Feeling the body.

Opening to the feeling of the body.

Sensations,

Pulsations,

Vibrations,

Tinglings.

The feeling of cold or heat.

Opening to the feeling of the weight of the body.

To the breath again,

Opening to the breath.

Any sounds.

Just staying open.

To the sense of self.

Staying open to the sense of myself.

And the mind.

My thinking,

The thinking.

Being open.

To the voice in the head.

Being open to the momentum of this voice.

Just seeing it.

Just another few more breaths taken deeply.

Opening to the sense of the inhale.

To the exhale.

And just staying in this open state.

In this open,

Non-contracted state.

Non-contracted state.

Being open to what is as it is.

Not wishing anything to be different.

Being open to the feeling of the body.

The sense of myself.

I try to keep this state of being open.

Feeling myself and staying open.

And I try to listen in this open state.

Whether I understand or not is irrelevant.

What is relevant is that I try to maintain this open state.

This being open to what is.

Even to the resistance.

So we wanted to talk about the inner child tonight.

To see if anything can be said about it.

Whilst maintaining this inward state,

This open state.

What can we say about the inner child?

One of the contemporary ideas about the inner child is that it relates to issues and hurts and pains that have carried on in the memory.

And feel unresolved.

And as a result,

They continue to have an action in our lives long after their reality.

And so we have the sense that they somehow cause us to feel diminished in some way.

Or they take away from our ability to enjoy our lives or to be at peace or to be creative in some way.

We have the sense that the inner child must be responsible in some way or is interfering with our ability to be at peace,

To be fulfilled in the now.

And if we feel insecure or uncertain in some sense.

Or if we feel overwhelmed by an emotion in some sense,

We can always attribute that to something that we call the inner child.

But it is just a concept.

The question is,

Beyond it being a concept,

Is there something else beyond the concept of the inner child being the repository in a sense of my past hurts,

My past woundings,

My past unresolved issues that have not been addressed or and that have built up over time to be a hindrance to my happiness?

Is there something beyond this being a concept?

Is there something actually?

And if so,

Where is it?

And where do we find it?

In other words,

Is there something in me that really is an inner child?

And when I look inside myself,

What do I find?

Do I find an inner child?

What do I find?

Can I find anything at all,

In fact?

And yet I complain about something.

I complain about being overwhelmed or feeling overwhelmed in some way,

Being restricted or feeling restricted in some way,

Being diminished or feeling diminished in some way.

I complain about these things.

And I attribute them with this inner child.

So at first,

It seems that there is something there that I'm dealing with,

That I'm attributing to.

But what is that something?

What is the nature of my complaint?

What is the nature of my hurt,

My hindrance,

My dissatisfaction?

And if I look for it inside me,

Where do I find it?

And if I start with the belief that it must be there,

But I can't find it,

Can I at least feel my complaint?

Is it a frustration?

Is it a sadness?

Is it a fear?

Is it an anger?

Is it a jealousy?

Is it the feeling of shame or of guilt?

What is it for you in this moment?

What is this feeling that we could attribute and we would attribute to the inner child?

A sense of being wounded and consequently I feel what?

What is this underlying feeling?

What is this underlying feeling of the inner child?

Is it disappointment?

What do you find right now?

What is the arising feeling?

What is this anger,

This sadness?

Is that the inner child that I'm feeling?

And can I meet it directly without the label?

If I could,

What do I find?

What do I feel?

What do I sense?

What is the primary feeling of discontent?

Because if I'm using the concept of the inner child,

Then I'm saying that there is an overarching reality which is responsible for my discontent,

My lack of fulfillment.

So I want to get a sense of this overarching entity that I call the inner child.

What is the fundamental feeling that it is made out of?

If this inner child could present a face,

What would it look like?

What would it feel like?

Is it a sad face?

A sulking face?

A gloomy face?

Feel it.

Connect with it directly.

Not with the face,

But with the expression of the emotion that that face represents.

The sadness or the anger behind the face.

For me it's sadness.

What is it for you?

Don't intellectualize it.

Let yourself just drop into it.

Feel it.

Feel it in your face.

Feel it in your eyes.

Feel it in your body.

Don't think about it.

Don't interpret it.

The disappointment.

The loss.

Don't interpret it.

Just feel it.

Meet it.

Touch it.

Let it take over you.

Is it the face of futility?

The feeling of helplessness,

Hopelessness and hopelessness?

Keep meeting it without fear.

Touch it.

Let it take over you.

Better still,

I can go even one step further.

See if I can touch the energy behind the emotion.

Behind the anger.

Behind the sadness.

Behind the disappointment.

Behind the helplessness,

Hopelessness,

Dejection,

Rejection,

Abandonment.

All of these things that I usually ascribe to the concept of an inner child that I'm looking for,

But all I can find is a feeling,

A sadness or whatever it is for you.

And going one step further,

I can try to see what is the energy behind this feeling.

What does it feel like?

Is it a sensation of heat?

Is it of cold?

Is it a sensation of tightness?

Is it a bubbling?

Does it present somewhere in the body more than somewhere else?

In the back,

In the legs.

Going behind the emotion to the sensation in the body.

Sensing.

Feeling.

Feeling the overwhelm at the level of energy and just allowing it to be there.

And I discover if I can do this,

When I do this,

I discover that the overwhelm,

The emotion,

The energy changes.

It lifts.

It gets replaced by sooner or later,

A sort of calm,

A deepening,

A relaxation.

Coupled with the sweet sense of just being.

Feeling the energy behind the overwhelm.

So we have a situation,

We usually deal with it at the level of intellect.

We call it an inner child and we try to resolve its issues at the level of intellect.

We put up boundaries,

We change situations,

We learn strategies or what have you.

Or we can go direct to the emotion itself,

Much more effective way of dealing with the presenting situation.

Much more effective,

We just feel.

Allowing the emotion to do its thing,

To dissipate,

To lift,

To transform.

But we can go deeper still to the energy behind the emotion,

Because the emotion is an expression of energy,

Which may have gotten blocked,

Whose flow has become interrupted.

And this is what an emotion is,

An overwhelming emotion,

Energy which has been obstructed from motion.

We can go to the energy behind the emotion,

To the root of the obstruction,

But at the level of intellect we would have called the inner child.

And we can even go a step further without losing touch with the feeling,

The energy bubbling away.

We can say,

And what is it that is aware?

At the level of intellect there is this awareness,

At the level of the emotion there is this awareness,

Unchanged.

And at the level of energy this awareness is there still.

What is this awareness that is present in all dimensions?

The dimension of mind,

The dimension of emotion,

And the dimension of energy.

What is this awareness?

I don't try to answer it.

So this is one way we can work with overwhelming emotions.

This is one way we can meet the so-called inner child directly.

Not by way of concept or idea,

Not by way of intellectual grasping,

Labelling,

But the level of feeling,

Emotion.

And deeper still at the level of the energetic make-up of this emotion.

The emotion is an expression of energy that has been blocked from motion through an experience,

Perhaps,

That happened long ago maybe,

That the mind interpreted in a way that caused it to crystallise,

That caused it to coagulate,

To create a sort of energetic knot.

So the inner child at the level of energy is a knot.

Eckhart Tolle calls it the pain body.

Grigoryev calls it the chief feature.

It doesn't matter what I call it.

I have access to it directly.

I can meet it at the level of energy.

And in that meeting,

In that contact,

I can open up to myself as the field of awareness,

The observer or the observing awareness itself.

I am consciousness,

Expressing through this form.

You are consciousness,

Expressing through form.

Consciousness is the same.

Our form of expression is different.

And you can feel your form.

And if your form becomes blocked or clogged up in some way,

Then it can start to interfere with the expression of consciousness.

Our unity is at the level of consciousness.

Our bodies are separate,

But our consciousness is one.

It's the same consciousness,

Broadcasting,

If you like,

Through various forms,

Not just the human form.

The animal form,

The vegetable form,

The elemental form,

The mineral form,

Higher and lower.

It's all consciousness,

One consciousness that is the knowing awareness in you that you call I.

That is the I of consciousness,

Which can feel the body.

Go ahead and feel your vehicle at the level of energy.

What you're feeling is not you,

It's your vehicle,

It's your apparatus.

So it seems to me that the inner child is a concept that we use to describe unexamined hurts,

Aches and pains,

Which are the product of an experience or experiences that we interpreted negatively and that had caused our energy to coagulate,

To block.

And if we can meet the energy itself directly,

Any time an overwhelming emotion comes up,

If we can make that to be a practice that we do,

Then we become our own medicine,

Men and women.

Something happens,

We feel what we feel,

And we take a moment out where we connect with the feeling and see if we can get behind it,

Not by ignoring it,

Repressing it,

Rejecting it,

But by meeting it,

By feeling it,

Allowing ourselves to feel it without trying to understand it.

And in that contact,

We will see that behind the emotion,

Behind the feeling,

Is an uncomfortable energetic reality that we hardly ever touch,

But that can easily be released,

Energy blocked from motion,

That can be permitted to flow,

So we can make that our practice.

Instead of just accepting a negative feeling,

That's fine.

We can take that feeling to a quiet space and connect with it.

We can take that hurt to a quiet place and really connect with it,

Let it take over us,

Let it kill us,

And allow it to live out its time.

As a teacher,

The Buddha said,

Changing,

Nothing lasts.

So we can make that to be our practice.

When we meet with a situation,

Our course of action becomes where we separate and go sit in that feeling,

Allow it to bubble up and it disappears.

That's how we become responsible for our own healing,

Our own purification.

We become our own medicine men,

Medicine women.

This is the meaning of responsibility,

Choosing what course of action to take in the face of an uncomfortable emotion,

An uncomfortable experience that my mind is interpreting negatively and causing this emotion to flare up from the past.

Like putting fuel on a fire,

The question is what is behind that fire?

What is that energetic coal that keeps the fire burning?

Or that gas?

And then I can learn to conduct my life in a way where I am not disconnected from the energetic reality of myself.

Then I can open my eyes and I can return to the situation to see that suddenly with this release,

With the diffusing,

I have a now different perspective on the situation,

On the person,

On the event.

My thinking is now different,

It's higher.

My anger has been replaced with understanding.

My austerity has been replaced with humour.

My resentment has been transformed into likeness.

My helplessness,

My hopelessness,

My frustration,

All are now given a different perspective.

Somehow they have been reframed simply by allowing the energy to diffuse.

Then I can learn not only to practice this in the situations,

But I can learn to exist in this continuously connected,

Inwardly connected state.

Looking out,

Feeling in,

Existing in the world without losing contact with my deeper dimension.

At first,

The deepest I can go is the dimension of energy.

But this will lead to awareness of awareness.

And then I can learn to live in the world without losing contact with this awareness,

Knowing myself as awareness,

Pegged to awareness as my life is conducted,

As my life is lived.

The living happens without losing contact with the knowing of myself as awareness.

I am the animating light of awareness,

Presenting through this form.

So let's stay for the next ten minutes quietly now.

Feeling your vehicle.

It's not yourself.

Feeling your vehicle,

Allowing it to soften and to release,

To open up to awareness.

And you can scan your body,

Your vehicle,

Go down to its legs and to its feet.

Go up back.

Visit its arms,

Back of its head,

The neck,

Front face.

Go ahead to these different regions and feel.

Or if you prefer,

Simply feel the entirety of your vehicle as it presents in space and time.

When you notice your thinking,

This incessant voice,

Notice it.

Rpm Notice your thinking.

Now notice your feeling.

Notice this incessant voice.

Allowance.

Allowing.

Being absolutely open.

None contracted.

Don't resist anything.

Let your experience be a continuous softening of your rigidity.

A continuous surrendering.

Just another moment or two.

Start to bring your awareness back.

To your breathing.

To your body sitting in your chair,

Wherever you are.

The space around you.

The sounds.

And when you're ready,

Get your eyes open to end our meditation.

Reviews

Profound, this is!! 2 suggestions: 1) Listen intently. 2) Repeat

I’ve never heard a better explanation of the “inner child”… this helps so much! I feel a pressure release immediately available to me now. Deep gratitude to you Bassam
🌈🙏🏽❤️

Beautiful, relaxing and deep healing inner child meditation. I was able to access deeply held emotions and my inner child. Thank you for helping me on my journey.

Bassam,
I really appreciate that you started by guiding us into connecting with our bodies. Like all of your talks, this is supportive for the work of self realization and awakening. Thank you

Thank you so much for this session. It was very helpful to release blocked energy behind painful emotions . I am following you now as I see great benefits in your teaching. Namaste🙏

thank you for your calming voice and gentle wisdom 🙏

Thank you for sharing your wonderful clear voice and your precious loving wisdom

SUPER helpful! I like how you described an emotion as an expression of energy obstructed from motion. Thanks so much, Bassam🙏

Lovely thank you!

Beautiful inner child journey within oneself. Thank you, I will certainly come back to it 🙏🏻

Awesome. Absolutely wonderful. I hear this interpretation of inner child as "a concept made up by my false self/ego." I embrace this practice of self realization whole heartedly.

Another very important talk Bassam, thank you so much! Returning to the body to realise the emotion that brain brought up, and releasing, being aware. Very grateful to you. 🙏🧡💛🐛🌱🌺

Made me self aware 🙏

This was deeply relaxing. I was able to surrender and felt at peace. Thank you Bassam for your gentle, insightful guidance. 🙏🥰🌻

This made me come deeper than ever before. Really sensing where my inner child comes from. Thanks!

Thank you for helping me connect with my sadness, it’s exactly what I need to heal 🧘‍♂️

Highly recommend if you are looking for clarity and understanding of the inner child

Wow. This takes work, but it the most eloquent means to release and grow and rise. Thank you! 🙏

This showed me how to be with the feelings and energy as I do with my clients. I heard your wisdom in a way I allowed myself to receive. Some beautiful subtle observations from your own practice. Thank you.

one of the best if heard about inner chilx.thank you