You can start with the first two steps of the breathing space with kindness.
You can return to it any time while you practice.
The first step,
Simply reminding yourself of being mindful,
Noticing whatever arises.
And the second step is to reconnect with the soothing breathing rhythm,
Grounding yourself in the body.
Now in this practice,
We invite you to work with your imagination.
You do not need to work hard.
Just let yourself be surprised by what spontaneously emerges,
Mindfully noticing the effects it has on you.
So imagine.
Imagine being at a place where you can feel secure and at ease.
A safe place where you can be just the way you are,
Without anybody else around.
It may be a place coming up from memory,
Or from fantasy,
Or a mixture of both.
Perhaps a place outdoors,
At a seaside,
In a forest or a garden.
Perhaps indoors,
In the cozy corner of your own home for instance,
Or anywhere.
Allowing the senses to come alive when you imagine this safe place.
What do you imagine there is to see?
What shapes,
What colors?
What do you see nearby?
What do you see in the distance?
What do you see in the distance?
What do you see in the distance?
Don't worry if there is no clear visual image.
Perhaps your imagination shows what your other senses would notice,
Being at a safe place.
What is there to hear?
What sounds?
Near or far?
Perhaps you are aware of the silence.
What is there to smell?
Do you notice any fragrances?
And how does the contact with the surroundings feel?
What's the temperature like?
Do you feel a particular touch?
A texture?
Support?
It may be just a subtle sense of an atmosphere.
Observing the details as well as the overall sense of the experience of safeness.
And while you imagine yourself in a safe place,
Also noticing what resonates in the body and the mind.
What physical sensations arise?
How do your muscles feel?
Your face?
Your chest?
Your belly?
What feelings,
Emotions,
Thoughts do you notice?
What is there to smell?
Images can be fleeting and different places can pass by.
That's all fine.
It's how our minds work.
Just acknowledge whatever arises.
There are no wrong experiences here.
It's at the same time a practice in mindfulness.
Welcoming all experiences,
Pleasant or unpleasant,
With playful curiosity,
With a nonjudgmental mind.
Including all the reactivity of your mind and body to what you experience.
And imagine this safe place welcoming you with whatever you experience right now.
Accepting you however you are.
Including the parts you perhaps find difficult to accept yourself.
And then as an extra invitation,
To imagine the place is really appreciating you.
To imagine the place is really appreciating your presence.
That it somehow lets you know it finds joy in welcoming you.
That it wishes you well.
Wishes you the very best.
How does that affect you?
How does that affect you?
I may end this practice by finding a way of saying goodbye to the place.
Knowing you can always return to this practice.
Wherever you are,
However you feel.
Imagining a place to come home to again and again.
In whatever form it will reveal itself.
Thank you.
Thank you.
