Welcome.
Take a moment to arrive here just as you are.
There is nothing you need to prepare,
Nothing you need to do correctly,
Nothing you need to fix.
We're just going to begin exactly as you are.
Simply let your body settle into the position it is already in.
If it feels comfortable,
Allow your attention to move towards the sensation of being supported.
The chair beneath you,
Or the bed or the floor.
Notice how the body naturally softens when it feels held.
Let your breath come into awareness.
Not as something to control,
But as something to notice.
A gentle rise,
A natural fall.
Let the breath be exactly as it is,
And let your awareness rest with it.
You might already feel self-judgement tugging at you,
Telling you that you should be calmer,
Should be better at this,
Should be different in some way.
If those thoughts are here,
That is okay.
Self-judgement is simply thought appearing believable in the moment.
Not truth,
Not identity,
Just a passing movement of mind.
Let yourself feel the body again.
Feel the simplicity of being here.
As you notice the breath,
You may sense the mind beginning to slow.
You do not need to push anything away.
You do not need to replace one thought with another.
Simply allow this moment to be what it is.
Self-judgement often speaks with urgency.
It tells you something is wrong,
That you must try harder,
That your worth depends on how well you perform or how well you feel.
But in the quiet of a moment like this,
You can gently see that urgency lives in thought,
Not in you.
Take another easy breath.
Let your attention drop into the body again.
Feel the contact of your hands resting where they are.
Feel your shoulders.
Feel your stomach.
Notice how the body responds to being witnessed with kindness rather than critique.
Whenever the mind wanders into self-judgement,
Gently guide your awareness back to the breath.
Back to the weight of the body.
Back to these words.
Each time you come back,
You reconnect with something steadier than thought.
You may begin to sense a deeper layer of calm beneath the surface activity.
A quiet presence that does not move with every fluctuation of thinking.
This calm is not something you have to create.
It is already here,
Waiting to be noticed.
It is the place within you that remains untouched by pressured thinking.
Let yourself rest here.
Feel the simplicity of this moment.
Feel the ease of not needing to manage or control anything.
If self-judgement tries to pull you back into old patterns,
Notice it and then gently return to presence.
To breath.
To the body.
To the stillness underneath.
Take your time.
Let the mind soften at its own pace.
Let the body find its own ease.
You are simply witnessing what is true beneath the stories.
Beneath the pressure.
Beneath the comparisons.
As you settle,
You may feel a sense of spaciousness.
A little more room around your thoughts.
A little more softness in your body.
This spaciousness is your natural state.
It is what remains when self-judgement begins to lose its grip.
Before we close,
Take a slow,
Easy breath.
Allow yourself to feel the calm that has been here all along.
Not because you tried to make it happen,
But because you stopped following the noise of the mind.
You can return to this space whenever you need to.
You can come back to your body,
Your breath and the simple truth of this moment.
Calm is never far.
It is always within you.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for meditating with me.
