Self-Compassionate Coach Meditation, Moderate Guidance - 12 Minutes

This moderately guided self-compassionate coach meditation guides you towards getting in touch with a particular side of yourself, to experiment with motivation from a place of care and compassion, instead of self-criticism. In this practice, we experiment with letting go of any expectations of how self-compassion meditation should feel, or that it should feel like anything at all.

Transcript

This is a body scan meditation.

Finding a comfortable seat,

Alert yet relaxed.

Closing your eyes or lowering your gaze,

Whatever is more comfortable for you.

Now taking a deeper than normal in-breath with an audible exhale to mark the transition into formal practice.

And allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm.

Bringing attention to the whole body sitting,

Kindly,

Curiously,

Noticing what's already present.

Now shifting your awareness to the left foot,

Experiencing the raw sensory data entering awareness from the foot.

Moving to your lower left leg.

Sliding attention up to the knee.

Now attending to your upper left leg.

Sliding attention across your hips and down the right leg to the right foot.

Noticing the sensations present in the foot.

Being aware of the difference between experiencing raw sensory data and thinking about the foot.

Shifting attention to your lower right leg.

The right knee.

Your right upper leg.

And if your mind wanders,

Noticing the wandering and gently,

Yet firmly,

Directing it back to the sensations in the right upper leg.

Shifting attention to the pelvis.

Moving to the low back.

Bringing awareness to sensations in your upper back.

Noticing what happens when bringing attention to sensations without immediately trying to change them.

Wrapping around to the abdomen,

Noticing the movement of the breath,

Digestion,

Hunger,

Whatever else might be present now.

Up to your chest.

And shifting attention to your left hand.

Left forearm.

Your left elbow.

And moving to your left upper arm.

Now shifting to your right hand.

Your right forearm.

The right elbow.

And now your right upper arm.

Moving to the shoulders and the neck.

Bringing awareness to the face.

And shifting to the back of the head,

Noticing any sensations present.

The top of the head now.

And resting attention broadly on the body as a whole,

Noticing whatever sensory data is present.

And taking one deeper than normal in breath.

And with an audible exhale,

Opening the eyes and raising the gaze to orient to the room around you.

Taking a moment to thank yourself for the practice.

Nice work.

See you back here tomorrow.