This particular practice is about finding love for ourselves just as we are,
Acknowledging and appreciating who we are in this moment.
Come back to this practice whenever you need this reminder of worthiness.
Let's begin.
Come into a comfortable seated position.
Sit upright and alert,
Yet relaxed.
Roll your shoulders down your back.
Feel your chest opening.
Bring your hands on your thighs,
Palms face up in this gesture of receiving,
And gently close your eyes,
Starting with a few deeper than normal breaths to settle in.
Take a long inhale through the nose down into the belly.
Open the mouth and let it go with a sigh.
And again,
Inhale,
Fill all the way up.
Exhale,
Let it go.
And one breath all,
And open the mouth,
Let it go.
Letting the breath settle,
Coming into a natural rhythm.
There's no need to control or manipulate the breath right now.
Your body knows how to do this.
Focus on the breath in the center of the chest.
Imagine the breath passing down through the heart and up through the heart.
Inhale down through the heart.
Exhale up through the heart.
These relaxed belly breaths passing down,
Passing up.
If any thoughts come up,
Let them come and let them go.
You don't need to follow them right now.
You don't need to dive in.
You don't need to get frustrated by having them.
It's part of the practice.
Let them go and surrender into this moment.
Notice how your breath and your heart are connected.
Your heartbeat relaxes when you slow the breath.
You can soothe your heart through your breath.
And you can infuse love into your breath through your heart.
There's a relationship,
A connection between them.
Can you in this moment appreciate your breath?
This breath that keeps flowing for you.
You don't need to earn the breath.
Your body just does it.
You might say a silent thank you to the breath.
Self-appreciation is the gateway to self-love.
And can you in this moment appreciate your heart?
Beats for you,
Pumps blood around and keeps you alive.
You didn't need to earn this.
It just does it for you.
Saying a silent thank you.
Can you now appreciate your whole body?
All of these functions keeping you alive.
It's naturally doing things on your behalf to take care of you.
It puts up with judgments,
With self-criticism,
And it just keeps going for you.
It cares for you.
Can you say a silent thank you to your body for all that it does?
There's no guilt or shame needed for treating it a certain way in the past.
The body forgives.
As you bring in this appreciation for the body,
All of its complex actions,
Breathing,
Digesting,
Sensing,
Moving,
Thinking,
Feeling,
Can you feel the sense of love for yourself start to grow?
And feel this love energetically in your body.
Feel it start to spread throughout your body.
Maybe it starts in the place around your heart and it starts to spread.
Perhaps it feels like a warm,
Fuzzy feeling or a hug.
Maybe it feels like a certain color or energy spreading around you.
Maybe it's just the sense of peace.
See what it feels like for you.
True self-love is unconditional.
It's accepting yourself with wide open arms.
It's being able to say to yourself,
It's okay that you're feeling a certain way.
I love you anyway.
It's okay that you've made a mistake.
I love you anyway.
It's giving yourself permission to be human.
We'll now repeat a series of affirmations to solidify this self-love.
Repeat to yourself in your mind after me.
I am loved.
I am lovable.
I am worthy just as I am.
I am loved.
I am lovable.
I am worthy just as I am.
I am loved.
I am lovable.
I am worthy just as I am.
I am worthy just as I am.
I am worthy just as I am.
Feel the breath pass in through the heart and up through the heart.
We'll now start to close off our practice.
Know that you can come back to these feelings of self-love,
These affirmations whenever you need in your day.
Begin to deepen your breath.
Start to expand your awareness with a few soft blinks,
Opening up your eyes whenever you feel ready.
Thank you so much for joining me and thank yourself for taking time for this act of self-care.
Have a wonderful day.
I'll see you next time.
