Morning Meditation: Take Time To Be Kind To Yourself

Take a moment to breathe, soften, and learn a simple way to be kinder to yourself. This practice helps us slow down and be present and kind to ourselves and to others whom we care about in our lives. Relax and get back in touch with the kindness that's already within you.

Transcript

So take a second and get comfortable.

You can take a seat,

You can lie down if you want.

If you're lying down,

Maybe draw your feet up so they're flat on the floor and your knee is pointing to the ceiling.

That tends to help if you have a tendency to fall asleep during meditation.

And whether you're sitting or lying down,

Now just take a moment to pay attention to those bits of you that are in contact with the floor,

The seat,

And let yourself sink.

In particular,

Just take a moment now to let go about five percent more.

Sometimes we hold on to a little bit of energy,

We're controlling the body a little bit,

Even when we're seated or lying down.

See if you can sink into the floor and really let gravity do the work here.

And as you do that,

Let the rest of the body relax.

If you're seated,

It's good to have a straight spine,

But the most important thing is that you're comfortable.

And as you get comfortable,

Just either close or if that's too much,

You can lower your eyes and you can maybe have a defocused gaze a few feet in front of you,

Whatever you prefer.

Now with your eyes either closed or hooded,

Just become aware of how you feel.

We have this image,

A concept of what the body is.

See if you can become aware of the feeling,

The sensations in your body right now.

And that's really all you have to do at the moment.

Become aware of yourself,

Become aware of your body sitting or lying here.

And for the moment and for the next few minutes,

There's nowhere you need to go,

Nothing you need to do,

Nowhere you need to be.

And as you get a sense of the sensations of your body,

You will also notice how the body is moving with the breath.

So just notice the breath now coming in and out.

And again,

You don't have to do anything with the breath,

Just allow it to be there.

In through the nostrils,

Into the throat,

Into the chest,

Into the belly,

If that's there for you,

Doesn't matter.

And gently out.

Now take a long deep breath,

See if you can feel and expand the torso,

That area of the body breathing in deep.

And relax into that expansion as you exhale slowly.

We'll do three of these,

So take this next one in,

Expanding on your in-breath,

Gently releasing on your out-breath into any areas that could use a little more relaxation.

And again,

When you're ready,

In,

Expanding into the rib cage,

The stomach,

You can imagine the rest of the body expanding if you like,

And then gently relaxing out.

And now one more in your own time just for you.

And now pay gentle attention to your breath.

Your attention can be very light,

You really only need to use 25-30% of your focus here,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

And noticing the sensations of the breath and the sensations of the body.

You might want to play with expanding that gentle sense of expansion on the in-breath and relaxing into the body on the out-breath,

If that's there for you.

It might be enough for you to just sit here,

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

And now bring your attention to the area of your heart.

Just notice that area of the body,

How it feels,

What the sensations are.

And can you imagine what it would be like to breathe right into the middle of that area,

Breathing into the heart?

Take a moment to imagine that,

However it works for you,

That feeling of breathing into the heart and relaxing on the exhale.

And again,

Gently filling the heart with your attention and your breath,

And exhaling.

We talk a lot about kindness and we talk a lot about being kind to yourself,

And this is actually one of the ways we begin to be kind and caring towards ourselves,

Because one of the first signs that we care about someone or something in our world is that we pay attention to it,

Or to them.

So pay attention to how you feel now and pay attention to the area of your heart.

As you inhale,

Imagine the heart expanding on the in-breath.

Just gently,

No need to push it just as much as is comfortable for you.

And on the exhale,

Allow yourself to relax into that expansion,

That extra space.

And breathing in,

Expanding into the heart,

And relaxing out on the exhalation.

One more time,

Breathing in,

And relaxing and expanding into that heart area on your exhalation.

You can gently keep breathing into your heart now,

Just notice how you feel right now.

If you can,

Stay focused and just be with your breath,

Your body,

Your heart.

Thoughts and feelings will come and go,

That's natural.

They'll arise,

They'll be there for a few moments and then they'll pass away.

And you are here and gently remaining with your breath.

Now as we're working with this practice,

We can recognize that many of us would like to be a little happier than we are.

Maybe we'd like to be a little kinder to ourselves.

Continuing to breathe into the heart and breathing out,

We can say two very simple phrases.

Breathing in,

We can say,

May I be well?

Breathing out,

May I be happy?

Breathing in,

May I be well?

Breathing out,

May I be happy?

Very gently saying this to yourself as you inhale and exhale.

This silent but very powerful message of kindness.

Breathing in,

May I be well?

Breathing out,

May I be happy?

Still breathing gently into the area of the heart.

If it helps you,

You can continue to expand on your in-breath and release more deeply on your out-breath.

But you might want to just sit here with this feeling and this experience.

Feeling your heart as you breathe in,

May I be well?

Breathing even further on your out-breath,

May I be happy?

And you might find that some thoughts come and go,

That's okay,

That's part of the practice.

When you notice that,

That's actually a moment of mindfulness and a moment of awareness.

You can just let them be there and pass away.

And gently return your focus to your breath into your heart.

You might notice a little more relaxation.

You might notice a couple of areas of tension.

See if you can breathe with those as well as you inhale,

May I be well?

Relaxing and expanding into those areas,

May I be happy?

Now,

If this is where you'd like to stop the practice or if this is your first few times doing it,

This is a good place to end and to keep working.

And if that's the case for you,

Then we'll finish here or if you'd like to continue,

We'll do a second stage.

If you're finishing now,

Please allow your focus to come back to your breath in through the nostrils,

The throat,

The chest.

Just three,

Four,

Five rounds of normal breath.

Noticing how you feel now.

And this is a practice you can continue with as often as you'd like to build up this connection with yourself.

If you're continuing,

There's a second stage.

Loving kindness has several stages.

We're going to do the first two today.

As you continue to breathe into the heart,

Now please bring to mind somebody in your life who you love,

Who you have affection for,

Who you wish well.

It might be somebody who's alive.

It might be somebody who's no longer with us,

But somebody for whom you have great affection.

And bringing that person into your memory,

Into your mind in whatever way works for you and continuing to breathe into the heart.

And with that person's name in the front of your awareness,

You can simply breathe in and say,

May you be well,

May you be happy.

Breathing in,

Experiencing the well wishes that you have for that person.

May you be well.

Breathing out,

May you be happy.

It might also help for you to mention that person's name if that works better for you.

You can inhale,

May their name be well.

Exhale,

May they be happy.

Be aware now of a very gentle holding that's taking place as you breathe in,

Holding your thoughts and feelings and affections for this important person in your life and relaxing into those feelings as you breathe out.

May they be well.

May they be happy.

And being aware of how your sensations in your body might change,

How your feelings might shift.

It's all part of this practice.

You can keep going with both of these practices as often as you like,

As long as you like.

For now,

We're going to bring the practice to a close.

So a final well wishing of the person who you've chosen.

Release their image,

Their memory and allow yourself to bring your attention back to the breath as it comes in through the nose,

The throat,

The chest,

Still softening into the exhale.

Taking three breaths here.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

And as you're ready,

You can now start to open your eyes,

Not because the meditation has ended,

But because you're now able and ready to take this state,

This wellbeing for yourself and others into your next moment and into the rest of your day.

Reviews

Gently awakening a deeper compassion and connection with myself. Thank you

Lovely presentation and delivery
Very easy to be both relaxed and aware
Nice easy to end, or not, giving an option for a longer
Practice
I feel grounded and alert
Thank you

Wow thank you really needed this

I liked the option to end or keep going after the first level of practice. Very calming

Very close to my soul and comfortable

Hypnoticly soothing voice, calm & steady pace and clear guidance. I've listened to this many times now. Thank you.

Excellent! Love the way Craig guides you through it