Self Inquiry

In today's session, Hilary Jackendoff invites you to join her for a self-inquiry meditation to foster a sense of curiosity and grounded presence. Self-inquiry is simply the practice of objectively observing and reflecting on your thoughts, emotions, beliefs and experiences to gain insight into who you are – and why you are the way you are.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to Day 29 of Insight Timer's Building Healthy Habits Challenge.

Let's take a moment to get settled,

Close your eyes,

Take a deep breath in,

And exhale out.

Let's dive into today's healthy habit.

Hello and thank you for joining me for the Building Healthy Habits Challenge here on Insight Timer.

During the challenge,

You've been introduced to a wide range of wellness techniques and self-care practices so that you can craft a routine that works for you.

My name is Hillary Jackendoff and today I'll be sharing the practice of self-inquiry.

Self-inquiry is the practice of objectively observing and reflecting honestly on your thoughts,

Emotions,

Beliefs,

And experiences to gain insight into who you are and why you are the way you are.

By bringing greater awareness to all aspects of your being,

You can identify patterns and habits that may be holding you back or causing suffering.

Because you cannot change what you do not see and you cannot move forward on your path if you don't know where you're starting from.

On that note,

Let's practice a simple meditation with threads of self-inquiry woven throughout.

Take your time getting comfortable and settled in whatever position feels best for your body today.

And as you settle in,

Notice if you have any desires or expectations for your practice to be a particular way.

Take a moment to consciously acknowledge that there's no such thing as a good or bad meditation practice.

Instead,

Each time you sit,

See if you can meet yourself exactly as you are with full awareness.

And when your present moment experience meets the transformative power of your awareness,

You find the answers you seek and you become your own greatest wisdom teacher.

Begin to consciously arrive,

Connecting to a sense of ease in this present moment,

Giving yourself permission to let go of any inner attitude of doing or striving,

And allow yourself to simply be,

Witnessing and welcoming whatever comes.

Start to notice if there are any areas of tightness or tension in your body,

Recognizing that where there is tension,

There is space for expansion.

Invite your body to soften,

Allowing yourself to take up a little more space,

Releasing that pattern of holding,

Of clinging,

Trusting that it's safe to let go.

And gradually,

Begin to arrive more fully through your breath,

Taking a slow,

Soothing breath in through your nose,

And a slow,

Gentle breath out through your mouth,

Letting your out-breath be a little longer than your in-breath,

Twice more like this.

Now,

Allowing your breath to be completely natural and becoming deeply present in your body,

Begin to observe sensations.

Let your awareness wander around your body from sensation to sensation,

Witnessing and welcoming whatever is arising.

Perhaps there are sensations that feel distracting or frustrating.

And as you meet these sensations,

Can you notice if there is a desire to change your present moment experience?

Or can you embrace an opportunity to simply be with what is?

See if you can notice the difference between sensations that create a desire to move,

Versus sensations that communicate the need to move.

Reflecting for a moment on the difference between being ruled by the preference of your mind and being deeply attuned and responsive to the wisdom of your body,

Letting go of sensations and shifting attention to any sounds around you.

And listening to all of the different sounds outside,

As well as the sounds inside.

Notice if any of the sounds are creating strong reactions on any level of your being.

Perhaps a particular sound is creating a thought or a wave of emotion.

Perhaps you are telling yourself stories about the sounds,

Taking the sounds personally.

Allow your out-breath to become a little longer,

A little more gentle.

As you remember that external conditions are generally neutral,

And there is no need to take them personally,

Or try to control that which is outside of yourself,

Continuing to listen to the sounds,

And asking yourself gently,

Can I welcome the sounds as wisdom teachers?

Shifting your attention to your natural breath,

Simply noticing your body breathing.

Nothing to do,

Nothing to change.

See if you can follow your breath with a beginner's mind,

As though noticing it for the first time.

Notice if you trust your body to breathe on its own,

Or if there is an impulse to control your breath,

To shape it.

Allow yourself to deeply accept each breath,

Just as it is.

What if you accepted yourself in the same way?

As you surrender fully to the natural process of breathing,

Sense that you are creating space to allow the intuitive rhythm of the breath to reveal itself in its own time.

What does it feel like to trust and allow in this way?

Do you feel connected to a sense of allowing in your daily life?

With each in-breath,

Feel as though you are drawing in exactly what you need in this moment,

On this day.

And with each out-breath,

Feel as though you are easily releasing any patterns or beliefs that no longer serve you.

Each breath,

A new beginning.

And now,

Preparing to end the practice by deepening your breath.

You might like to gently place your hands over your heart as you notice how you feel in this moment and reflect on anything that came up,

Perhaps remembering how you felt before you sat down for practice.

Has anything shifted?

Did your own inner experience guide you to any new insights?

And as you move back into your day,

Do your best to continue to practice self-inquiry,

Observing your thoughts,

Patterns,

And beliefs as they come up,

Holding in your heart all of the knowing,

All of the wisdom,

The light of your awareness has revealed today.

Thank you for practicing with me and for trusting me to guide you.

And well done on building healthy habits.

Reviews

Your tracks are so reliably great.😌

Thank you for this guided self-inquiry. Your meditations are some of my favorites 🙏🦋

I always enjoy spending time with Hilary! She is my yoga nidra guru. No one I can think get me more in tune with my body and the sensations of being incorporeal that her!!!

Thank you 🙏

Loved this. Made me relax. I just love your work and voice Hilary. You comfort me soo much. Many many Thanks.

Just what I needed tonight! Ahhhh ! Bookmarked and recommended. Thank you !!! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟✨✨✨✨✨💜🙏

Loved this meditation. Soothing and wonderful for building self awareness

Outside so much noise
Now moving toward Stillness
Carry inner calm

Lovely practice - total peace in this moment

Deeply nourishing and reflective practice. Thank you

Wow , Thank u so much 🙏🏻it was like flying inside myself 🤍

Beautiful practice. Soothing instruction. Thank you.

A beautiful and effortless practice… Simply wonderful guidance. Thank you 🙏

Amazing. Felt so aware and was able to connect with myself

Thank you🙏❤✨️

Beautiful! I was in awe about how many times you seemed to be saying exactly what I was thinking exactly when I thought it! Whoaaaaa

Brought me an awareness to follow.

Powerful. Thank you so much.

Surprisingly powerful
Came to the ‘l am not good enough’ belief being responsible for rejections of others that l have made. The rejections that have been deeply damaging in my life.
I am good enough to be around, l am a work in progress.
Wow! Thank you 🙏

This is just what I need to be working on. Thank you 😊