Welcome.
Thanks for joining me.
Many of us have a fantasy that we can control life.
If only we do all the right things.
Eat healthy,
Exercise,
Meditate,
And enjoy friendships.
It doesn't save us from life's hardships.
This does,
However,
Help to create resilience,
A strong foundation in which to weather the storms we may be challenged with.
So what do you do when faced with overwhelming news,
A cancer diagnosis,
Or a chronic illness that causes many life changes?
We always have choices.
At first,
We may feel like it's just way too much to handle.
A thought of,
I can't do this,
May arise,
Or this can't be my life.
After feeling into these emotions,
We can create a wide base of acceptance.
This is my life at the moment.
How am I going to work with all of this?
Please allow and take time to fall apart a bit.
I truly think this can be useful.
Something like a good cry or a loud screaming session.
When this is expressed,
It will create room to then move forward.
With all this being said,
Let's create a place to settle in now,
Making yourself as comfortable as possible.
Gently closing your eyes or softening your gaze,
Experiencing the sensations of the body making contact with a chair,
Couch,
Or cushion.
Supporting yourself as much as possible.
Now bringing awareness to the areas that are tense,
Painful,
And invite the breath to enter these spaces with the intention of breathing in spaciousness and ease.
Exhaling slowly,
The tension and pain and sadness.
So rather than fighting with the discomfort,
You allow it to soften.
We tend to tighten around pain or sadness or anger,
Which only intensifies it.
So let's create an intention to soften these areas,
Wherever they may be in your body.
Gently riding the waves of your breath and welcoming in compassion to the areas of pain or sadness.
Allowing all sensations to arise as you meet them with great kindness.
Breathing in kindness,
Breathing out discomfort.
Breathing in,
Breathing out slowly.
Softening a bit more each time you exhale.
Noticing the inhalation occurring on its own.
Exhaling,
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
It's okay that your mind wanders to thoughts and feelings.
Don't attempt to try to understand them or figure them out.
Bringing a gentle acceptance to all that arises.
Is there fear,
Anger,
Doubt,
Gratitude?
Allow all to arise and welcome these emotions with great care and kindness.
It's okay to have these emotions.
They are part of our human experience.
And the most effective way to work with them is to acknowledge them and offer yourself kindness.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Nothing needs to be fixed in this moment.
Just breathing in,
Breathing out.
Breathing in and breathing out slowly.
Acknowledging the challenges you are facing.
Acknowledge all that arises as you breathe in kindness.
Exhaling and softening your body-mind.
Let's begin with bringing awareness to your eyes.
Inviting them to smile a bit with kindness for yourself and your situation.
Bringing a slight smile to your lips.
Gently smiling to yourself.
Breathing,
Smiling.
Now dropping down into your heart space.
Inviting a smile to be present here as you offer kindness to yourself.
Softening the heart as you allow self-love and compassion to be present here.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Softening the heart space with each exhalation.
Breathing in kindness,
Exhaling and softening the heart.
Notice what arises.
What thoughts arise.
Are they kind?
Even if anger or fear are here,
You can relate to them with kindness.
Rather than thinking it's wrong to feel this way,
It's not.
Breathing in and out.
Breathing in a smile to the heart as you exhale slowly.
Drops down to your belly.
Noticing sensations that are here.
Is there tightness?
Fear?
Anger?
Is the belly soft?
Inviting the belly to now soften on each exhalation.
Aware of any holding.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Breathing in,
Breathing out and softening the belly.
Sensing your left hand now on your heart space and your right hand on your belly just below your belly button as you gently ride the waves of your natural breath.
In and out.
Belly gently expanding on the inhalation.
Belly gently receding on the exhalation.
In and out.
In and out.
Taking a few moments to experience this now.
In and out.
In and out.
Feeling the breath moving throughout the entire body.
Perhaps even softening the edges of your being.
Imagining that your breath flows into your skin and exhales out of all your pores.
Whole body breathing.
Inhaling.
Exhaling.
Exhaling.
Exhaling.
Present moment awareness of our breath invites us to be here now.
With illness there is often a lot of unknown and most of us are very uncomfortable not knowing.
Mindfulness teaches us to live a moment at a time.
Stress increases when we're worried about the next moment,
The next hours,
The next day.
I encourage you to bring awareness to breathing whenever you feel overwhelmed or frightened.
The truth is no one knows what the next moment will bring so all we can do So as you come out of this meditation gently moving and stretching in a way that feels good for you.
Bringing compassion and kindness to each movement as you slowly open your eyes and return to your day.
May you be blessed with ease.
