Hello and welcome to this 10-minute self-compassion break.
This practice was developed by Dr.
Kristen Neff,
A leading researcher in self-compassion in psychology,
And is a practice designed to help us respond to difficult moments with the same warmth and understanding that we would offer a close friend.
Often we can be so critical to ourselves,
And tapping into how we would treat a friend helps us bring that kindness back into our lives.
The technique uses three core elements.
Mindfulness,
So that's acknowledging what you're experiencing and trying not to add any additional judgment to that.
Common humanity,
Recognizing that struggle is a shared human experience,
Something that everybody goes through at certain times in their life and can connect us to other beings around us.
And the third component is self-kindness,
Actively offering yourself care and support to help you through this difficult moment.
So when you're ready to begin,
Find a comfortable position and take in a deep breath in through your nose and out through the mouth.
And you can do this a couple more times on your own.
Just bringing yourself into the moment,
Into this time that you've put aside for yourself today.
And then I want you to bring to mind something that's on your mind at the moment and something that's weighing you down a little.
Maybe a situation that's feeling difficult,
A difficult emotion that keeps coming up for you,
Maybe something physically causing you discomfort.
And as you bring that up in your mind,
Just try to acknowledge that it's there.
Notice where physically in your body that shows up.
Perhaps it's tension in your jaw,
Hunching of the shoulders.
And there's no need to let go of any of that tension right now.
Just simply notice that it's there.
And then you might say to yourself,
This is a moment of suffering.
This is really hard for me right now.
This is a stressful situation.
What feels true for you?
Simply naming what's present without making it mean anything about you.
And just come back to your breath once more.
Next,
Remind yourself that suffering is part of the human life.
Other people right now might be feeling the same way as you.
And in that,
Remember that you're not alone in your experience.
Suffering is part of life.
Everyone encounters difficulty.
And that doesn't mean that what you're experiencing isn't valid.
It just helps you connect to everybody else around you with that reminder that you're not uniquely broken or falling behind.
Suffering is what it means to be human.
And take another breath here.
Now,
For the last component,
Self-kindness and compassion.
May I be kind to myself in this moment of suffering.
Now,
You might choose to place a hand on your heart or wherever feels grounding and soothing to you.
Touch can be really powerful to connect to our self-compassion.
But do something that feels natural and instinctive to you.
That might be as simple as noticing your hands on your lap and just noticing the sensation of touch.
May I be kind to myself.
May I give myself what I need right now.
May I accept myself as I am.
And we might here feel a pull to start problem-solving.
Maybe we don't know what we need right now.
And that's okay.
Try and come back to that experience of just being there for yourself.
May I be kind to myself.
You deserve the same compassion you'd offer to someone you care about.
And let's take one more breath.
And out through the mouth.
You might choose to sigh a little.
So now that we've gone through each of the three components,
Let's just run through them once more.
And as you develop your self-compassion practice,
You might find phrases that resonate with you more.
And you might repeat for now the phrases I'm using.
But if there's something else that you'd like to say to yourself,
You can do that in your own words.
So bringing to mind something difficult for us.
And then acknowledging this is a moment of suffering.
Suffering is part of life.
It's the shared human experience.
And finally,
May I be kind to myself.
And just let that settle.
Now you can choose to return to these phrases as much as you need throughout the day.
But when you're ready,
Just slowly start to come back into the room.
Maybe you want to gently roll your shoulders and open your eyes.
Take in what's around you.
And take one final breath before we return to the day.
Thank you so much for practicing with me this morning.
And I hope that you can take a little bit of self-compassion with you throughout your day.
