Self-Compassion (Metta)

Self-compassion gives a practical as well as a necessary and skillful antidote to difficult mind states such as anxiety or anger, which may, at the time of their arising, be simply too strong to attend to via mindfulness alone (direct observation). In this practice of resting here in this field of loving-kindness, this embrace of loving-kindness, you will be offered some phrases to repeat to yourself.

Transcript

Finding yourself a seat where you can be comfortable yet alert for about 15 minutes And then as always you can choose whether you prefer to have the eyes open or gently closed Either one is fine. If you're feeling a little tired it Can be nice to just ever so gently open the eyes And Then We'll start with a few kind of deeper more conscious breaths inhaling in through the nose you'll feel the lungs expand and then the belly and then exhaling out smooth All the way to the end and then just waiting for the next inhale again feel the lungs expand the chest the rib cage three dimension in the belly and Then a long smooth exhale one more time in your own time Inhale experience that sensation of fullness especially in the side and back of the rib cage and then receive the breath in the belly And then exhaling out all the way And then just allowing your breath to return to its natural rhythm In and out through the nose take a moment to drop your attention now towards that place where your sitting bones are in contact with the ground Pillow whatever you're sitting on and notice how the weight of the body creates that sensation of pressure and contact there At the same time Feel how the crown of the head can lengthen up ever so slightly towards the ceiling so you get that sense of lengthening through the spine and then Again turning the attention towards the breath this time just following the natural rhythm of breath In and out through the nostrils through the nose Just finding a moment Not necessarily to still or quiet the mind, But just to notice the state of mind the quality of mind that we brought with us to this practice by resting your attention on your breath and Simply noticing when the attention drifts. Some days the mind is a little less busy some days the mind tends towards a particular type of thinking planning or worrying or imagining No judgment around any of this but just taking that moment to notice and when you notice again draw the mind back Towards sensations of breath just a few more moments here following the breath In a moment we will add in the self-compassion practice Which is a kind of variation on a traditional Buddhist method called metta often translated as loving kindness And we'll practice that towards ourself So before we begin just Realizing and taking a moment to acknowledge that I'll offer you some phrases to repeat towards yourself First of all if the phrases don't work for you find other phrases that do phrases that resonate and Hopefully make you feel something towards yourself now the feeling is more important than the words. That's the second thing So don't get so caught up in the words Just see if any kind of feeling arises, And if it does stay with that the words are just kind of to evoke the feeling For some people it helps to Imagine kind of seeing themselves sitting in a comfortable place Maybe your your happy place or your favorite place and with just a gentle smile across your face And then saying the following phrases to yourself May I be present May I be peaceful May I be joyful May I be present May I be present May I be peaceful May I be joyful May I be present May I be peaceful May I be joyful Continue repeating those phrases to yourself and As much as possible really wishing the words upon yourself You If any of the phrases don't work for you feel free to replace them with happy or healthy May I be loved Try though not to get too caught up in the choice of words or the phrases remember the feeling Is what we're going for for some people This is a kind of feeling around the chest area of warmth compassion You you If the mind wanders Or gets lost in thinking about the exercise not to worry. It's a very natural response Just gently draw it back to the phrases and as much as possible to Inviting that feeling of warmth goodwill compassion towards yourself You You Just staying with those phrases for a few more moments now Repeating the phrases to yourself and Focusing on any sensation or feeling that comes with them and also recognizing that some days there is no sensation or feeling that comes with them and that's fine, Too like Any other muscle the muscle of compassion and self compassion is one that we train? And Then for a few moments just letting go of the phrases or any focus on any feeling and allowing the Mind to just rest in open awareness with space for anything that comes up sounds sensations thoughts And Then drawing the attention back once more to sensation of the sitting bones The buttocks on whatever you're sitting on And then in your own time you can allow the eyes to open Just taking a moment to receive sights Come back into the space you're in

Reviews

Thank you for this short yet powerful practice to remind me to be more compassionate to myself 🙏💖🙏💖

Truly excellent. Many thanks.