Body Love Self-Compassion Meditation

Make peace with your body image and food in this soothing, self-compassion focussed mediation. Kali's calming voice will guide you through a body scan and gentle, loving affirmations to boost your body image and step into confidence.
Music by Teegan Gray

Transcript

Today we are going to practice a body love meditation.

This practice is a beautiful blend of self-compassion as well as a mindfulness exercise to bring some kind awareness and gentle noticing of what's going on in your body right now.

Let's begin by settling ourselves into a comfortable relaxed yet gently alert posture seeing if there's anything you can do right now to make yourself feel even 10% more comfortable,

10% more relaxed and at ease.

And gently guiding your attention now to your belly,

Feeling the rise of your belly as you breathe in and the fall of your belly as you breathe out.

Breathing in and breathing out.

You might also like to draw your hand or both hands if you prefer.

You can even imagine just doing this gesture by placing your hands across your heart in a gesture of self-compassion.

Feeling the warmth of your hand on your heart,

Soothing,

Reassuring and comforting you wherever you are right now.

And as you feel that reassuring warmth on your heart,

Taking a moment to reflect that no matter how difficult it can be to love our bodies,

The truth of who you are is right here.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Breathing in and breathing out.

In a moment,

I'm going to guide you through some classic loving kindness phrases.

These phrases are designed to firstly help you get in touch with a real sense of self-compassion for yourself and the struggles that you may be having and that all of us have at one time in our lives or another with our bodies and with our food.

So in a moment,

I'll say those phrases out loud and you can silently repeat them in your own mind,

Following along just as best as you can.

May I be safe.

May I be happy.

May I be kind to myself.

And may I be at ease.

Feeling the warmth of your hands on your heart,

Really caring for yourself as best as you can,

Almost like you were holding a small baby or tending to a pet that you love,

Offering yourself that real same caring concern.

May I be safe.

May I be happy.

May I be kind to myself.

And may I be at ease.

And if you have your hands over your heart,

You might want to just gently release them into your lap and just feeling in,

Checking,

Noticing with non-judgmental curiosity.

Does your heart maybe feel a little more vibrant,

More open,

More warm in some way?

There's no right or wrong way to feel where we're just exploring.

And as you sit here,

Just gently breathing in and out.

Very soon,

I'm going to guide you around this beautiful body that you've been given.

And maybe that body doesn't look or feel or maybe even work in the way that you would ideally want it to show up in.

Maybe you feel a little deficient or despondent or frustrated or critical with your body image.

And if you're feeling that way,

That's totally okay.

This is part of the human condition.

This is part of being human in this modern planet,

In these modern times.

And it doesn't make you wrong or a failure or failing in any way.

We're just here holding space for whatever feelings are here right now.

Really offering that self-compassion and caring concern towards those feelings just as best,

Just as best as you can.

And in a moment,

I'm going to guide your awareness,

Your attention,

And your focus around this beautiful body you've been given.

This beautiful body that may not look or do the things that you want it to,

But still allows you to experience life.

And we're going to offer gratitude just as best as we can for what our bodies do for us.

Just breathing in and breathing out.

Gently guiding now your attention down to your feet,

Reflecting on how many steps your beautiful feet have walked you throughout this lifetime.

How much your beautiful feet serve you each and every day in ways that we may not always consciously think about or recognize.

And really feeling the sensations in our feet and repeating this affirmation after me.

Thank you feet,

I love you.

And it's perfectly okay if that feels a little bit silly or inauthentic.

We're just offering that sense of love and compassion and gratitude just as best as you can for today.

Moving the focus of your attention up now into your legs.

Feeling that warmth of your attention flow through your ankles,

Your shins,

Your knees,

Your upper legs,

Buttocks,

And pelvis.

Reflecting again on how much these beautiful legs of yours serve you each day,

Regardless of whether you love them or not,

They keep showing up.

Repeating again our affirmation.

Thank you legs,

I love you.

Bringing the spotlight of attention up through your lower belly,

Your upper belly,

Ribs,

Chest,

And expanding that awareness through the upper back,

The middle back,

And the lower back.

Pausing here for a moment to notice how alive this part of our bodies can feel.

This is the center for where all movement comes from.

Really giving thanks for all of the vital processes that go on in this part of our bodies.

Our heart beats away without us ever having to think about it.

Our lungs breathe.

Our digestive system is literally taking that food that you've eaten to create new cells to become you.

Your body is a miracle.

And so as we reflect in this space of our bodies,

We say,

Thank you body,

I love you.

Bringing the warmth of your awareness under your arms,

Across your shoulders,

Down into the elbows,

Forearms,

Wrists,

Thumbs,

Fingers,

And your hands.

What a gift to have hands,

To have arms,

To have shoulders that work.

Think about the innumerable ways that your fingers engage with the world.

They write,

Cook,

Hold hands with the people we love.

Hands give and receive joy.

So feeling into this part of your body,

And as best as you can,

Offering yourself this affirmation.

Thank you arms,

I love you.

Bring your awareness through your neck,

Throat,

Face,

Temples,

Back of the head,

Top of the head.

Think of how much goes on in this space of your body.

How much electricity your brain is generating each day.

In fact,

The average mind thinks about 70 thoughts a day.

What a miracle is that?

Giving thanks for eyes that can see,

A mouth that can talk,

And ears that can hear.

Just really as best as we can,

Connecting with the miracle of experiencing life in these things we call bodies.

And breathing with me now in and out.

Offering too this part of our body,

An expression of our love and gratitude.

Thank you body,

I love you.

And to seal off this meditation,

I'm going to invite you now to draw your hands back across your heart and your chest in a honoring gesture of self-compassion and kindness.

Knowing that whatever came up for you in this meditation is perfectly okay.

There's no right or wrong way to feel about our bodies.

But by offering ourselves a practice of kindness,

Appreciation,

And real genuine care for the suffering that so many of us experience around food and our bodies.

My hope is that this creates more joy,

More ease,

More grace in your one beautiful precious life.

And please know that as you go about your day today,

If you're feeling some pain,

Some tightness,

Some suffering around your body,

You can draw your hands back across your heart and say to yourself,

Thank you body,

I love you.