Self-Compassion Break

With gratitude to the research, work, teachings and leadership of Dr Kristin Neff and Dr Christopher Germer I offer this 4-minute Self-Compassion Break meditation. It can be done formally or informally throughout your day in times of stress or emotional challenge. It follows the three components as taught by Drs Neff and Germer of being mindful of the difficulty, recognising how stress is part of common humanity, and finally offering ourselves compassion and kindness.

Transcript

This is the self-compassion break,

An informal practice that you can do at any stage in the day.

And it's based on three components of self-compassion,

Which is first of all mindfulness,

Common humanity and self-kindness.

And so you may have a situation that's alive for you at the moment,

Or it might be that you'd like to bring to mind a situation that has been challenging for you.

Either way,

Clearly visualising it,

Seeing yourself in that difficulty.

It might be a problem at work,

Challenges with people in relationships,

Health problems,

Financial difficulties,

Whatever it might be.

And the first part of the self-compassion break is just to acknowledge that this is a moment of stress.

This is a moment of struggle.

Feeling in your body how that struggle presents itself.

And there might even be some words that you have that validate this difficulty.

Words like,

This is tough,

I'm in pain,

This hurts,

This is a time of difficulty.

This is stressful,

Just naming it for yourself.

And so by naming it sometimes that gives us the space that we need just to gain some distance from it.

And then the second part is the recognition that this is part of common humanity,

That we all struggle,

And that it's part of everyone's life.

Remembering that when we're struggling we're not alone,

There are others in the same situation.

And just like me,

Other people struggle with this as well.

I'm not alone.

I'm not alone.

And then the third part is the self-kindness.

Giving yourself this opportunity to bring that compassion and kindness to yourself.

There might even be some words that you wish to say to yourself.

May I be kind to myself.

May I treat myself as a good friend would.

May I feel a sense of ease.

You might even like to imagine that there is a good friend of yours facing this same situation.

And that you have a moment or two to be able to express your care for your friend.

What would you say?

Would you say that I'm here for you.

I care about you.

I know this is difficult for you.

I believe in you.

I know you can do it.

I know you can do it.

I know you can do it.

And seeing if you can offer those same words to yourself.

Those same phrases.

Treating yourself with that same care and compassion that you would for a dear friend.

And that's the self-compassion break.

Reviews

Just what I needed. Thank you. ❤️