So just as we begin to assemble,
Just giving yourself that moment to just arrange yourself in your space.
And 7am,
Here we are again,
Our Friday morning little bubble,
And you might notice that I'm sitting here in,
You know,
Just candlelight this morning,
I think you can see the glint of the screen off my glasses.
And the reason for that is because what I feel is so important for us is to recognise if we really want to break this habit of beating ourself up,
Break this habit of not giving ourself credit,
Then we might need a bit of help.
And often the two things go hand in hand,
We find it hard to accept help.
So earlier this week,
When I've been struggling with a bit of body pain,
And I had an acupuncture treatment,
I feel like I was really visited very powerfully by the goddess Kuan Yin,
This figure from real ancient history that was,
You know,
Androgynous,
Masculine,
Feminine.
And Kuan Yin,
If you don't know,
Really embodies this energy of compassion.
And they are said to have shed,
They witnessed the suffering of humanity and witnessed tears,
Because they could see our suffering.
And from those tears were born White Tara,
Which is this very peaceful deity,
She's often seen being very serene,
Very peaceful,
Embodying wisdom and presence and this profound compassion of stillness.
And the other tear is Green Tara,
Who in Asia is like probably one of the most revered goddesses and prayed to with the Om Tare Tu Tare Tare Svaha,
Because she is the one who is so swift to respond with protection.
And these are the energies of compassion,
It's this ability to witness what is happening without pushing it away,
Without minimizing it,
Without trying to swipe it away to really feel it.
And then to respond with what's necessary.
So I don't know why I sound so serious when I'm saying this,
Because it's such a beautiful thing,
But it can be so hard for us.
So this is what we're going to welcome in,
Actually,
We're welcoming in Kuan Yin,
And that's why I'm sitting here in the dark,
Because I need a bit of support from your back.
So as we begin,
As we always do,
We'll start with a bit of breath.
So we're going to breathe in,
We're going to lift our arms over our head,
Or if you're in a public place and you can't,
Just nice deep breath in,
And then breathing out,
Lowering the arms.
We're going to do that two more times.
In.
Last one.
Breathing in,
Energizing the body,
Breathing out,
Releasing tension,
And allowing stillness to come into the body.
And take a moment to perhaps make little circles with your shoulders.
And take a moment to really allow any movement in your body that you recognize releases,
Soothes,
Eases whatever pains or tensions you have that might get in the way of your practice.
All the time,
Allowing the breath to flow in and out easily,
Without restriction.
And in the next two breaths,
Just allow yourself to come to stillness.
And just take a moment to really notice what serves you most today.
Eyes open and soft,
Or eyes closed.
And with your next out breath,
Just allow a wave of relaxation to flow over and through body and mind.
And welcome in this energetic being of Kuan Yin.
Feel this warm energy of compassion entering the space here.
Thank you,
Thank you,
Thank you,
Kuan Yin,
For your presence.
And just recognize this little bubble of space and time that we have carved out for ourself and know that you are worth it.
And perhaps feel the weight of gravity pulling you down through your sit bones.
And feel the rebound of energy that comes up through your spine.
And really allow yourself to receive the support of whatever it is that you're sitting,
Or even perhaps lying on.
And feel yourself expanding into that support.
Feel the tension in the lower back,
Hips.
Widening,
Softening,
Releasing.
And the same in the mid-back,
The upper back,
The neck and the head.
And if not already,
Just allow your palms to face upward.
To allow yourself to receive.
And as we begin,
Just notice the flow of breath.
Feeling your body in this space and this time.
And then knowing that you're completely safe.
Allow yourself to rise up out of your physical body.
Allowing your awareness to almost,
You stay connected by a string,
But you allow your awareness to rise high above you.
And from this realm,
Where you're safe and you're protected,
You look down upon your human form.
And see yourself in your humanity.
You see the joys,
Also the pain and the struggles.
And here,
High above your human form in this realm.
This realm of pure conscious awareness.
You find yourself,
A warm,
Healing presence just envelops you.
And you find that you're able to see yourself through her eyes.
Seeing yourself doing the very best that you can.
Seeing the unique challenges that you struggle with in your life.
And in this realm with her,
You feel her feel your pain.
You can feel her feel your hopes,
Your dreams and your desires.
She holds all of it.
And she smiles.
And she flows this so supportive energy.
No shred of beating you up.
For what you think is a mistake.
A kindly smile and an acknowledgement of how you did your best.
How you do your best to learn from every step.
And in this heavenly realm,
You the witness here with Kuan Yin,
You feel her completely embrace you.
Heart to heart,
Feel yourself flooded.
With this energy of compassion in complete unity.
Feeling this healing vibration of this red to orange kind of sparkling glow.
And then flow this down into your human form.
As you thank Kuan Yin.
You flow yourself down back into your human form,
Still connected to Kuan Yin.
Now feeling your physical body really flooded with this red orange.
Warm,
Pulsing,
Healing energy of compassion.
You might notice yourself particularly soaking it in in any places that you feel you need it.
You might particularly notice that you're soaking it in through your hands.
Infusing your hands with this energy of compassion,
This ability to witness.
And the willingness to practically provide support.
Feeling this energy really alive in your hands.
And as you breathe in,
Feel this energy flowing along your arms and into your heart.
And depending what's going on for you,
You might even want to place your hands on your heart.
And just feel this really strong infusion of compassion.
Literally burning away this critical inner voice.
Soothing away this critical inner voice.
Thank you,
Thank you,
Thank you for giving me opposition to push against.
Now you can rest.
Feel this red orange glow of compassion.
Really feel the kindness.
The love that has boundaries.
Love that says,
Actually no,
That's not right.
Breathe in this red orange glow and release any tightness.
Releasing fear.
And judgment.
And then feel that energy simultaneously flowing down through our solar plexus,
Lower belly,
Tailbone,
And also up through our throat and head.
And as you breathe,
Feel this flow of energy through your whole body and energy system.
Guan Yin showing us how we can witness and very calmly be with what is.
And her tears of serenity.
And her tears of swift action.
Liberating us from fear.
Providing protection.
Swiftly providing just what we need that helps us in the moment.
Thank you,
Thank you,
Thank you Guan Yin for teaching us how.
Witness.
Listen.
Listen.
And just allow this part of yourself that rushes,
Rushes to action,
To minimize,
Just get on with it.
Anyway,
Suck it up.
Smash through,
Keep going.
Allow this part of you to come forward.
And witness this part of you with compassion.
And maybe if it's a different part of you,
Let your inner doom monkey come forward too.
The profound compassion of Guan Yin.
And both flow this energy of compassion to them.
See how they're both so driven by fear.
The fear that we could never be enough,
That we're not enough,
That we're somehow wrong.
We've got this.
Fear needs soothing.
And a decision to make empowered action.
Empowered action that helps us.
Which usually isn't to hide.
Which sometimes isn't to do one more rep.
So allow this energy of Guan Yin,
Of really profound compassion to soothe you.
And allow to bubble into your mind.
What are you giving yourself credit for?
This second week of our streak.
What can you allow yourself to be proud of yourself for?
I wonder what have you learnt or realised about yourself in this past week?
What's one thing that you realise will help you have an easier,
More joyful.
.
.
And then zooming in a bit,
Just recognise what you might need most today.
And just acknowledge that and really make a promise to yourself to honour that.
And as we begin to bring this session to a close,
Just wiggle your toes.
Wiggle your fingers.
And very gently rubbing your hands together.
Make a little heat between your palms and then place your hands over your face.
Just giving your face a little rub.
Blinking your eyes softly open.
And then maybe inhaling our arms up over our head if you can.
Pressing palms together.
Thumbs down to the heart space.
Let's bow our head.
Namaste.
