Hello and welcome to this guided audio practice.
In this guided practice,
You're invited to follow along with two meditative practices from the Mindful Self Compassion training course developed by Kristen Neff and Christopher Germer.
We'll begin with about 10 or 15 minutes of affectionate breathing,
Befriending the breath,
And then move into the self-compassion practice for meeting difficult emotions and experiences by allowing,
Softening,
And soothing.
The key to self-compassion practice is to take good care of yourself as we go along,
So please make sure to give yourself whatever you need,
Regardless of what I'm guiding.
And now,
If it feels right for you,
Allowing your eyes to close gently.
And if that doesn't feel right for you,
You can also have your eyes open,
Maybe with a soft gaze downward,
Or maybe a soft,
Unfocused gaze toward the wall.
And begin by taking a few breaths.
Taking a few breaths to feel your body breathing.
Gently breathing all the way in,
And then exhaling as fully as feels right for you.
Feeling your body breathing.
And then releasing your effort there,
And letting your breath come back to its own natural rhythm.
And if you like,
You're invited to invite one or both of your hands to come up,
Placing them gently over your heart,
Or anywhere else where the touch of a hand feels connected and soothing or encouraging to you.
And just taking some moments to feel the contact of your hand,
And feel the warmth.
Letting this contact and this warmth be a smiling reminder that this is a time we're not just going to bring attention,
But we're going to bring warmth to the person who's feeling the contact of this hand.
The person feeling the contact of this hand is a human being.
And like all human beings,
This person also needs and deserves understanding and kindness.
You can leave your hand in this spot if you like,
Or allow your hands to rest gently in your lap or anywhere else that allows you to feel relaxed and present,
Knowing that you can bring your hands back to support you at any moment you need.
And now gently,
Intentionally,
Perhaps as if in slow motion,
Bringing the light of your awareness to find your breath.
Seeing if you can find a spot in your body where you most easily feel the movement of your breath.
It doesn't matter where that spot is.
It might be at the tip of your nose.
It might be the movement of your tummy.
Just whatever place you clearly feel the physical sensations of breathing.
It might also not be a specific location.
It might be a general sense of your whole body as you breathe.
Getting this sense of tuning in to your breath flowing.
Flowing in and flowing out.
Bringing your attention to rest there like a butterfly landing on a flower.
Just feeling the living stream of your own breath.
Perhaps noticing that there is a kind of wonderful rhythm to your living breath.
A rhythm like the ocean.
The waves wash in and out and the breath flows in and out.
You don't have to do anything.
Anything.
Just feeling each breath.
As you practice,
You will notice that your mind wanders.
Whenever you become aware that your mind has wandered,
Please smile.
Smile at your own human mind.
This is what human minds do.
They wander like little butterflies.
And who can get angry at a butterfly?
So just a little smile.
And whenever it feels right for you,
Very gently,
Lovingly cup the butterfly in your hands.
And bring it back.
Back to the breath.
Noticing this rhythm.
Even if only just for one breath.
Before the butterfly flitters off again.
And as you feel this rhythm of breathing,
Perhaps also noticing a very gentle kind of motion.
Maybe almost like a rocking sensation.
Almost as if your body is being gently moved,
Gently rocked,
Gently held by each breath.
Breath after breath.
Perhaps even inclining toward your own breath.
In the same way that you might incline toward a sleeping baby or a lovely puppy or a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
Inclining with tenderness,
With a smile if you like.
And now,
Allowing yourself to make a choice.
Perhaps,
If you like,
Staying with this practice of enjoying the sensations of breathing.
Just being with your own breath with warmth.
If that's what feels right for you today,
Maybe stopping the recording now.
Or,
If it feels right for you,
Choosing to open up to the practice of meeting difficulty notions.
Because sometimes in life,
Pain,
Difficult emotions,
Adversity are part of our lives.
It might be physical sensations or it might be emotions.
If you feel ready to practice meeting difficulty motions,
Letting go of the breath or letting the breath be in the background of your attention.
And bringing into mind something difficult that's present for you.
This might be something that's present for you right now at this moment or something happening in your life that's kind of lingering in the background.
And taking a moment to bring into mind some of the details of that situation.
Choosing a situation that doesn't overwhelm you,
But enough so that you'll feel the energy as you practice.
And of course,
Taking good care of yourself as you go along,
Knowing that you can stop and choose to stop at any moment.
And that is also self-compassion.
When you notice the energy of this experience manifesting,
Releasing your focus on external details and bringing your mind back and taking a moment to scan through your body.
Notice any sensations that seem to capture your attention,
Particularly ones that feel physically painful or emotionally difficult.
And when you notice something,
Taking a moment to locate a specific part of your body to focus on.
And just starting by labeling the experience you're having in that part of your body.
Naming it gently.
So for example,
If you notice that you have pain in your knee,
Perhaps saying to yourself,
There's pain in my knee.
Or if you're noticing that you feel anxious and afraid and there are butterflies in your stomach,
Bringing your mind to your stomach and saying,
Okay,
Here's my anxiety.
Hello,
Anxiety.
Whatever it is for you,
Bringing your awareness to that spot and gently naming the experience.
And as you do that,
Beginning by allowing,
Allowing this discomfort,
Allowing this pain to be there just as it is,
If only for one breath,
Making room for it,
Releasing the need for it to go away,
Releasing the need for feeling something other than this.
Perhaps visualizing a little bit of space opening up there in your body,
Around that spot,
And just letting these feelings be there in that space.
Allowing,
Allowing,
Allowing.
Perhaps beginning to add in a little bit of softening.
When we're in pain,
Our body becomes tense and tight.
So seeing if you might be able to soften that location in your body,
Perhaps allowing the muscles to soften and relax as if they were being dipped into warm,
Healing water.
You're not trying to change or control the experience,
Just holding the experience in a tender way.
So if that location itself doesn't soften,
Perhaps imagining around the edges,
The part of your body around this area,
Relaxing or softening a little bit as if it were a soft mattress,
Holding something fragile.
Softly holding this painful spot,
Allowing and softening,
Allowing and softening.
And now adding in,
If it feels right,
Some soothing yourself.
If you like,
Placing one or both hands gently on the part of your body that's holding this pain and feeling the warmth and gentle touch.
Perhaps imagining warmth and kindness flowing from your hand into this spot in your body.
Perhaps imagining the energy of your kind awareness like a golden light,
Gently enveloping and holding this spot and soothing it tenderly,
The way that a mother sometimes holds a crying baby.
Not to silence the baby,
But just to let the baby know that she's there,
Allowing,
Softening,
And soothing.
Allowing,
Softening,
And soothing.
Taking some additional time to work with these three elements,
Letting go of what's not connecting for you and just staying with whatever connects for you today.
And now gently releasing the practices and just coming back to rest quietly in your own body,
Noticing how the energy of your body and your mind are right at this moment.
Giving yourself permission for these practices to be however they've been for you today.
Giving yourself permission to be just as you are right now.
Giving yourself permission to be just like this,
Just this.
And then very slowly,
Very gently,
Tenderly opening your eyes and starting to move your body with the intention to bring just a little bit of this energy into your today and your tomorrow.
