Slowing Down Is A Practice In Self Worth

This meditation takes the time to support getting into a relaxed space so that we may reflect on the need to slow down from the bustle of our lives. Hold gratitude for yourself as you slow down to support grounding and your most empowered self.

Transcript

I invite you to notice your breath,

To observe the flow of it,

Notice how it's coming in.

Is it shallow or deep?

Place one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly,

So we may start to deepen our breath.

As you do so,

Allow that breath to continue to take breaths in and out.

If your hand is on your belly,

Notice if it moves up and down with your breath.

Intentionally call to your breath to fill up the core of you,

To reach your belly and fill it with oxygen.

This breath is called to cleanse,

To relax,

To nourish.

Continue to allow this breath to deepen,

Going in and out.

Slowing and deepening this breath is our opportunity to begin our first check-in with our body,

To fill up our lungs,

To understand their purpose,

To feel nurtured by this sweet breath that we are able to bring into our body.

Take a few more deep breaths in and now allow your breath to move into a relaxed pace that will sustain you as you hold space for you in this moment.

As your breath moves in to this relaxed pace,

Shift your focus to your body.

Observe any areas of your body that may hold tension.

As you observe these areas,

Begin to move your body where you are.

If you feel called to,

Stretch your arms up,

Roll your neck,

Roll your shoulders back.

Release your eyebrows,

Remove your tongue,

Relax your legs,

Allowing them to rest in a way that you are not using your muscles.

This is a practice of listening to your body.

If your body is calling to stretch or to move to support the release of tension,

Follow its guidance.

If your body is called to release your muscles with stillness,

Listen to it.

Allow your body to settle into peace.

Continue to scan any areas that still may hold tension after you have moved and stretched your body.

As you breathe,

Fill up these areas with your breath.

Imagine your breath filling up this area of tension.

Oxygen circulating through your muscles,

Winding itself through the crevices of tension like a sweet breeze on a summer day.

Allow your body to get heavier and heavier as your muscles release further.

Continue your breath at a sustainable pace.

As your body connects with your breath,

Let us start with gratitude.

Taking a moment of gratitude for our bodies and for showing up for yourself.

Thank you body for carrying me here.

Thank you lungs for filling up with air.

Thank you self for showing up to ground and hold space for me.

Thank you breath for nourishing me with oxygen.

In holding this space for ourselves,

We are taking an important step towards our own empowerment.

Slowing down,

Noticing our breath,

And bringing focus to our bodies is a practice in self-worth.

We live in a world that is often bustling,

Moving with quickness,

Filled with pressure to do the next productive task.

We can find ourselves moving on these bullet trains of life,

Images whirling by,

And struggle to take stock of our needs and our bodies.

When we take the time to slow down and check in on ourselves,

We are focusing on ourselves in a way that the fast-paced life does not allow for.

At first,

It can feel uncomfortable to slow down to the point where we can truly check in with what our body,

Mind,

And soul need.

It can even feel frightful or triggering.

Even as we sit here,

We may find ourselves thinking about all the things we need to do,

And all the things that we haven't done.

All the pressures in our lives.

You may even find yourself stating narratives that this is not a necessary practice,

That this is silly,

That you don't need this slower pace to assess your needs.

Or you may find that even in this space,

Your to-do lists continue to pop in,

Or that person you forgot to call back is lingering in your mind.

Let us have patience for ourselves as we understand that it takes time and practice to cultivate a space of self-focus.

Let us have kindness towards ourselves as we understand that the practice of slowing down and checking in with self may initially feel foreign.

Let us provide acceptance to those thoughts.

Acknowledgement of their existence rather than judgment.

Let us hold flexibility with ourselves that our minds are adjusting to this quiet moment.

You are in the practice.

You are participating.

You are already succeeding.

It is so meaningful when we can show up for ourselves,

To take a moment of quiet,

Of slowing down,

Of tuning in to self.

Our needs for productivity can sometimes feel like a challenge to our need for rest.

So we will continue to hold gratitude for this moment of slowing.

It is in these moments of slowing down that we can truly understand ourselves.

In this quiet space,

We can begin to explore our empowerment.

Focus on understanding what empowerment is.

What does it truly mean to access our most empowered self?

And why is this an important part of living?

Our ability to understand ourselves,

Our needs,

Our desires,

Our interests,

Our emotions,

Our response and reactions is movement towards our most empowered self.

Our ability to operate from a place of secure grounding in who we are blended with belief in our inherent worth.

Accessing empowerment is a practice in valuing whatever comes up for ourselves and feeling worthy to tend to it.

When we have difficult emotions,

We often want to shun them,

Avoid them,

Repeat messages of shoulds and shouldn'ts,

Rather than understanding that all of our emotions hold meanings and are attached to needs that are in need of meeting.

Our life experiences can bring disruption to our empowerment.

It can bring messages of shame,

Guilt and confusion.

It can have us disconnect from who we are.

In accessing our most empowered self,

We are asking ourselves to become in tune with our most basic of needs.

It looks like beginning with the questions that we often feel called to as children.

What is your favorite color?

What foods do you enjoy eating?

What activities bring you happiness?

These questions then evolve to deepen our understanding of how we want to engage with the world.

How do you like to be communicated with?

What brings you peace?

How does your body respond to stress or trauma?

As we increase our understanding of ourselves,

We are increasing our ability to engage with our world from a rooted place.

We are understanding of our needs,

Our emotions.

In identifying these pieces of ourselves,

We can then place value on them.

Placing value on what we discover about ourselves is an important step in the process of empowerment.

We only tend to the things that live in the category of worth.

Have you ever noticed that if you tell yourself an idea or thought you have is silly or one that you should not have,

How quickly it moves out of your priorities?

The feeling of unease may continue to sit with you,

But your body stops tending to it as it was placed in the category of not worth.

We can be mindful in adding value to these pieces of ourselves so that we may operate from the foundation that they create.

As you breathe,

Allow value to settle into these pieces you have identified for yourself.

Your needs are valuable.

Your interests are worth investing in.

Your emotions are worthy of being tended to.

As we hold space for this value and we breathe in our worth,

We can further our understanding that empowerment includes our right to feel the spectrum of emotions.

Our emotions stretch over many hills and valleys,

Showing us the heat of anger,

The buoyancy of excitement,

And the calm of neutrality.

We are deserving of experiencing all of these emotions,

As our emotions are the valid responses to our experiences.

As we claim our empowerment,

We are also claiming our right to feel this spectrum.

We are not judging these feelings.

We are welcoming them to inform us of what we are experiencing and giving ourselves the permission to tend to them.

There are things in our life that are full of pain.

And when we give ourselves permission to feel that pain,

When we validate that pain's existence and understand why it has emerged,

We can then use that validation as fuel to understand how we need to tend to that feeling.

We can take the time to tell ourselves,

All of my emotions are valid,

Even the ones that do not feel good,

The ones that hurt.

I validate myself.

Validate my experience.

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