Hello and welcome.
My name is Kimberly Johnson,
And I will be leading you during the next few minutes on this journey.
I want to invite you to begin by just letting the body get comfortable.
And as the body gets comfortable,
Maybe also your eyes shut down.
And if that doesn't feel good,
Maybe just finding a gaze on the floor or the wall in front of you.
And just really give yourself permission to fully relax the body,
Relaxing the facial muscles,
Letting go and relaxing the shoulders,
The chest,
The upper back,
Letting the arms hang heavy,
Letting the belly relax,
And letting the hips and the legs let go of anything that they're holding for just the next few minutes.
Just this simple practice of letting go of the body's tension can trigger the parasympathetic nervous system to just turn on,
Saying,
It's okay,
You are safe.
And as the body relaxes,
Go ahead and bring the attention to maybe the belly or the chest and just begin to notice the breath right here in the body.
And if you're feeling any tension or having a hard time relaxing,
Knowing that that's okay and normal and that even showing up here is impactful.
Just noticing the inhale and the exhale right here at the chest or belly.
It might even be helpful to place a hand over the belly or chest and feel the body breathing.
And as you keep the attention on yourself,
Moving closer to the self,
Maybe just begin to tune in to what brought you to this meditation,
What brought you to this moment of desiring,
Soothing comfort.
Maybe you bring to mind the things that are feeling hard or tough,
Letting them join us in this space.
Keeping the hand on the belly or chest,
Staying close to the self,
To the breath.
And just notice what emotions are present right now.
Not judging the emotion,
Just noticing.
And what thoughts are right here with that emotion.
Same thing,
Not judging the thoughts,
Just noticing.
And right here,
Maybe ask yourself,
What would be the most encouraging,
Soothing,
Comforting thing I could hear right now?
And I want you to begin whispering it to yourself,
Keeping the hands on your body,
Fully being with yourself as you practice self-soothing,
Self-comfort.
Knowing what you need to hear as if your life depends on it,
Like you mean it.
A sob.
For just a moment,
Give yourself permission to truly feel these words in your body,
In your heart,
Feeling the truth and the strength of your own ability to comfort yourself.
Now take a deep breath and just get really still and silent with yourself and just notice what's here.
Knowing that at any time you can come back to this meditation,
You can come back to these wise words that came right from within you.
Taking a deep,
Deep clearing breath and I'll end with ringing the bell three times.
