Giving and receiving compassion by the leader Turkovich.
This is the third core meditation of mindful self-compassion Sit comfortably and just give yourself some space to arrive Gently closing and opening your eyes Just to see what is right and what feels is inviting you into affectionate awareness You may place your hand over your heart,
Your belly or rest your hands in your lap and offer a soothing touch whenever it's necessary through the meditation.
The soothing touch is a reminder to engage in affectionate awareness to bring loving awareness to your experience and to yourself.
So begin by taking a few deep breaths Just allow the breath to become the focus of your attention Gently,
Kindly,
Warmly Let the breath in,
Fill your each cell of your body and let your out breath bring ease and relaxation.
Giving space for your breath to find a natural rhythm Just like waves keep coming to the shore letting your breath come in and out of your body You may also notice this gentle rocking and caressing of your body as each breath comes in and goes out noticing the rhythm of breathing.
Take time to savor this breath and the next one and the next one.
And now gently releasing the attention of the out breath and letting the in breath become the focus of your attention Softly Gently letting the out breath move to the back of your awareness and the in breath become slightly more present and savoring this in breath,
Letting it fully come alive,
Resting your ribcage You may notice how the in breath energizes your body,
Bringing nourishment,
Sense of newness and as each breath comes in,
Letting the intention of kindness and compassion be directed towards yourself,
Opening up to sensing the quality of kindness and compassion within yourself as the breath comes in and nourishes each and every cell of your body.
You may bring an image that represents kindness and compassion or a word,
Let them come and fill in your body with each incoming breath,
Letting kindness and compassion fully envelop your lungs and your belly.
And now gently shifting your focus to your out breath letting the in breath move to the back of your awareness.
The out breath come forward,
Letting yourself fully sense of the ease of breathing out,
Noticing the sense of release as you breathe out.
Now bring into your mind a person,
Someone who is dear to you and you know they're struggling in their life at the moment,
Let the image of that person clearly appear in your mind and with ease and loving kindness letting the out breath find them,
Gently directing each exhale offering the ease to their suffering.
And you may offer kindness and compassion to this person with each out breath,
One after the other.
If it is easier for you you may also offer your out breath,
Kindness and compassion to a group of people,
Your community,
Nation,
The whole world,
All humanity.
Letting it be easy and effortless.
And now letting both inhale and exhale come to your attention gently,
Kindly,
Lovingly.
Open up to each in breath and out breath and offering in breath to yourself and out breath to the other.
Let yourself explore and find the rhythm,
What feels right.
One for you,
One for me,
Out for you,
In for me.
We're just offering the breath for yourself until you get recharged and then when you feel that you're filled with loving kindness,
Compassion,
Offering the out breath to the other,
Letting go of any unnecessary effort.
Just letting this meditation be easy and effortless.
Just like breathing.
Breathing in,
Nourishing yourself with kindness and compassion.
Breathing out,
Letting the breath take kindness and compassion to anyone who might need it right now.
Letting this rhythm of in breath and out breath create a circle of goodwill.
In for me,
Out for you.
Gently,
Kindly,
Lovingly.
Creating an ocean of compassion,
Just like waves of the ocean coming in and out of the shore.
Anytime you may drift with your mind away,
Gently coming back and offering kindness,
Compassion to yourself.
Offering a soothing touch,
Gently sensing this circle of goodwill.
Easy and effortless,
Just like breathing.
Whenever you're ready,
You may open your eyes.
Perhaps even with your eyes open,
Continue to sense and feel how your in breath and out breath continue to provide this circle of goodwill.
Enjoy.
