This meditation is to help silence your inner critic.
The meditation can be done with your eyes closed as an internal inner work experience.
You may also choose to do this meditation as a form of written practice with your eyes open with a pen and paper.
The choice is yours,
You might try it both ways.
Regardless,
We will start together in a silent meditation by closing our eyes,
Finding a seat that's comfortable,
Erecting your body where your head is pulling up towards the heavens,
Your seat is firmly planted in your chair,
And we're going to take four power breaths.
And we're going to take four power breaths.
A power breath means inhaling deeply through your nose and allowing your stomach to protrude as much as possible on the inhale and then as you exhale in a quicker fashion you're going to retract your belly and exhale all the breath at once.
It will be sounding something like.
.
.
So take four deep power breaths at your pace,
Invigorating the stomach,
Let the stomach blow out and then retract it back in as much as possible to expel all the air fully.
We are igniting and energizing the solar plexus and sacral chakras,
The stomach region of your power center,
Your core.
You might feel a little like you're about to take on a task after you do this breath work.
And when you're finished,
Just return to normal breathing in your chair with your body erect.
Each inhale your head is pulling towards the heavens and each exhale your body is sinking into the earth,
Allowing your full relaxation,
Inhaling the breath up and exhaling,
Allowing inhaling the breath up and exhaling,
Allowing your body to surrender.
And then return the focus back to the tip of your nose,
Feeling a gentle and smooth breath flow in and flow out.
Bring your attention back into our stomach region,
This area that we draw from for our intuition,
This area that responds to life with nerves or butterflies,
Hunger,
Anticipation.
Keeping your breath calm and smooth,
But still energized from the power breathing.
We're going to connect into the core sense of ourself here and begin to listen to our inner critic.
This is that voice that pulls us into the shame and guilt.
If you are doing this meditation in your mind,
I want you to imagine that you have a piece of paper and a pen.
Otherwise,
You may use a piece of paper and a pen now.
With eyes closed,
I want you to listen fully and intuitively to what's going on in your mind.
Imagine that you have a piece of paper and a pen now.
With eyes closed,
I want you to listen fully and intently to the voice of your inner critic.
It may say things like,
You're terrible at meditation.
You need to lose weight.
You need to call your mother.
You should have taken the job in Colorado.
It's a voice that second guesses,
Criticizes,
Questions,
And puts pressure and guilt on any type of your existence from your looks,
Your weight,
Your income,
Your job,
Your relationships.
So one at a time,
I want you to imagine writing the voice of this inner critic on the piece of paper,
In your mind or on a physical piece of paper.
Your legs are fat.
Your hair is not thick enough.
The wrinkles are not even visible.
Your hair is not thick enough.
The wrinkles are really showing.
You don't make enough money.
You're worthless.
Whatever the voice is saying,
Take a couple of minutes now and imagine writing these phrases and words down.
Sometimes the voice is so stuck on one part of our shame or insecurities that we just keep hearing a repeated message.
And you can go ahead and write that repeated message over and over and over,
If that's what you hear.
You might notice emotions starting to brew in your body,
Anxiety,
Disgust,
Grief,
Fear,
The feeling that you want to run away or run into a closet.
Just sit with yourself and continue writing anything that you hear.
And when you're finished,
Imagine putting the pen down,
Returning your focus to your breath,
And we're going to do four more power breaths.
Inhaling deeply.
Exhaling.
Four times.
Three times.
And then we're going to take a deep breath in.
Four times.
Through your nose,
If you can manage.
Releasing some of that angst and energy.
Take in as much breath and release as much breath as you can.
And then return your breathing to normal.
Return your focus to your breath at the tip of your nose,
And relax your body.
So now we have in front of us,
Or at the forefront of our consciousness,
Some of the messages of our inner critic.
It's important to acknowledge them,
So that we have a place to work from.
Silencing the inner critic doesn't mean ignoring the inner critic.
It means learning to be aware of the being attentive to,
Acknowledging,
And then shifting the energy of how we work with that critical voice.
So many people in schools and in our developmental years have been taught to focus on improving things that we're not great at.
This meditation is to help focus on the things that we are great at.
To strengthen our strengths,
Not spend time trying to strengthen our weaknesses.
We hear the voice.
We accept and acknowledge our humanity.
And we apply our focus on recognizing and strengthening our strengths.
So next to the written words on your page,
Either imagine or take the pen again,
And I want you to focus on your strengths.
Temporarily moving the critic over to the side,
And connecting with that part of you,
Of who you are.
Maybe no one knows these parts of you.
Maybe you're a great storyteller.
Maybe you excel at being quiet and still.
Maybe you're an artist or a good friend,
Or you're a beautiful gardener.
Perhaps you have a knack for words or cooking.
Maybe you just have a beautiful smile that lights up the room.
Find all the things that you can connect to now that are your strengths,
Not what other people have told you.
This is coming from your place,
Who you are.
And visualize each word,
Writing them down on the paper,
Starting with I am.
I am.
If you have trouble with this exercise,
Try to connect with that part of yourself as a young child that enjoyed different elements of life.
And you can start there.
I'm a great roller skater.
I have a fun and boisterous laugh.
I have a cute button nose.
I am curious and adventuresome.
Just as important as it is to acknowledge and recognize the voice of the inner critic,
It's equally important to recognize and acknowledge the voice of your greatest champion,
To become your greatest champion,
To become your encourager,
To become someone who's on your team.
When that voice becomes strong,
The inner critic's voice becomes weak.
You can continue writing this exercise,
Imagining the words hitting the paper or journaling down on a piece of paper.
Any time over the course of today or the following days when your inner critic starts to voice,
You can acknowledge and say,
I hear you,
And I'm a great cook.
I hear you.
And I'm a fantastic athlete.
I hear you.
And I'm doing my best every day to care for my body.
Become your champion.
Before we close out this meditation,
Bring your focus and your attention back to your breath.
Connect with your body,
With your senses.
Keeping your eyes closed or closing them for the final few moments,
Letting the energy and the truth,
The acknowledgement of both critic and champion,
And the energy and the truth of your inner critic,
For the final few moments,
Letting the energy and the truth,
The acknowledgement of both critic and champion be present.
Which one feels great,
Strong,
Healthy?
And on your next inhaler,
Whenever you feel ready,
You can gently open your eyes.
