Find your comfortable seat for your meditation practice.
Feel your straight spine of dignity.
Allow the shoulders and the elbows to be heavy,
The chest to be open.
Make a conscious choice about the placement of one hand inside the other,
One palm supporting the other.
Bring an affectionate awareness to your shoulders,
To your chest.
To your jaw,
To your belly,
To your stomach,
To your legs.
Feel your whole body with loving attention.
Relax your whole body into your seat.
And now notice that you are breathing.
Let the breath settle into its natural pace.
Observe it for a moment,
Entering the rhythm of your breath and joining it again and again.
And if you find yourself judging your awareness or your attention or your meditation practice,
Release that thought and resume the awareness,
Resume the connection.
Enacting to breath with pleasure,
Feeling the breath fully and enjoying it fully.
And now think back to or remember a self-criticism you had today.
Or remember a self-criticism that was recurring for you this week.
Or think back to a way that you're often judgmental to yourself.
Remembering that judgment,
Bringing it to mind,
Really bring it to mind and bring awareness to how that judgment feels in your body.
Where is it in your body?
And what sensation is it creating in the body?
Is it one of sharpness or pain?
If you really take a moment to feel it in the body,
Place your hand on where you feel it in the body.
Notice the effect it's having as you keep that judgment in mind and come back to the intention to treat your mind with kindness and your body and your heart with kindness.
And now for a moment,
Now that you really have this judgment in mind,
Notice how it feels in your heart.
One layer deeper.
How does this judgment feel in your heart,
On your heart when you really have it in mind?
What does the heart do when you have this judgment in mind?
Bring all your focus there so you can just understand.
Feeling into the heart and coming back to the judgment and then coming back to the heart.
Feel what is happening with and at the heart.
Your heart,
Is it closing?
Is it rejecting?
And finally,
Keep this judgment in mind and notice the effect it has on your thoughts,
On your brain,
On your mind.
What effect does this criticism or judgment have mentally?
Just notice.
Is the mind panicking?
Is the mind becoming scattered?
Does the mind wanna escape?
And now that we've done this assessment,
This evaluation,
See what you wanna remember and change that judgment into a neutral statement or even a compassionate statement for yourself,
About yourself.
One human being having a human experience and put both hands on the heart in an act of self-compassion and wish for yourself.
Through all that happens,
May I be gentle with myself.
Through all that happens,
May I be gentle with others.
I can be kind to myself always.
I can give unconditional positive regard to myself always.
Everything flourishes of self-blessing.
From this stable place of acceptance,
I can grow.
Every day of my life,
I'm still learning.
My heart can open to my limits.
I'm allowed to make mistakes.
I'm not here for perfection or judgment.
I am here for joy and growth and safety.
I release myself from judgment.
My sense of safety is knowing that I will always treat myself well.
I will always be there for myself in this way.
Hold your hand to your heart and send the wish,
May this heart be peaceful.
May this heart be inclusive of all things.
May this heart connect.
May I be joyful.
May I be at ease.
May I be safe.
May I give myself warmth and gentleness in every moment.
And thank yourself for nurturing yourself with your meditation practice and for practicing mindfulness,
And self-friendliness.
Bring direct awareness back to your body.
Feel the body,
Put your hands down.
At your own pace,
Take a deep breath in.
Take a deep breath out.
Opening your eyes with great connection and ease and compassion for your experience.
Seeing the world in all its beauty as you come back.
