Soften, Soothe, Allow - 6 Minute Self-Compassion Practice

Soften, Soothe, Allow - 6 minute Self-Compassion Practice
This self-compassion practice involves exploring difficult emotions through:
1) Softening - Bringing gentle awareness to that place of tension
2) Soothing - Offering yourself some comfort for this difficulty.
3) Allowing - Finding space to let the difficult emotion be.
If practiced, we can build this skill to be able to tap into whenever we need it to give ourselves self-compassion.

Thank you for practicing with me.

Transcript

Begin by settling into a comfortable position and take a moment now just to notice your breath.

Not feeling any need to change the breath,

Just letting it be natural and easy.

Now,

Bring to mind a situation that's causing you some difficulty at the moment.

Nothing overwhelming,

Just something mildly challenging in your day to day.

And,

Take a moment to look inward and notice where are you feeling those sensations?

Where does that difficulty sit in your body?

Perhaps it's a tension in your chest?

Tension in your throat,

Jaw,

Maybe there's a heaviness,

Perhaps a sinking feeling in your belly.

Once we've identified that,

We can bring a gentle awareness to that place of tension and try and soften.

You might place a hand there if that feels right,

But you can breathe into that area and just let it soften with each exhale.

Not forcing,

Just allowing it to soften naturally on its own and just softening.

Letting that difficulty diffuse away.

And then we can soothe,

So offer yourself some comfort for this difficulty.

You can place both hands on your heart or hold them tenderly in your lap,

Whatever feels soothing for you.

Feel that warmth of your own touch.

You might say to yourself,

I'm here for you.

This is hard right now.

This is a really difficult time.

And just let yourself be held by your own care.

And then finally,

Allow.

Just let that difficult feeling be there just as it is.

You don't need to fix it or push it away.

Just try and make a little bit of space for it,

Letting it come and go in its own time.

This is part of being human.

And just take a few more breaths here,

Softening,

Bringing gentle awareness to that place of tension,

Soothing,

Offering yourself some comfort,

Holding yourself compassionately.

And then just allowing,

As difficult as the feelings might be,

We're not able to change that experience of being human.

We all suffer through difficult emotions.

Just trying to make some room for that experience and let it be.

And when you're ready,

You can take in an energising breath.

Maybe you want to just move your head around and start to come back into where you are today.

Finishing the practice and gently opening your eyes.

Thank you for practising with me today.

And I hope you can use this technique of soften,

Soothe and allow whenever you need to use it throughout your day.