Close your eyes and slow your breathing down,
Way down.
Settle into your breathing like waves rolling in and out.
Let your next inhale pull you inward into the center of your chest,
Right next to your heart.
See a door on the wall of the heart.
Notice its color.
Open the door and enter the heart room,
Your deepest,
Innermost place.
Once inside,
Just take it in.
Notice the walls around you,
Look above you,
Look down at your feet,
Feel what it's like to be in here.
When you're ready,
Ask the depression to come here.
And focus on it,
However you're experiencing it.
Maybe you see it as a form,
A character,
An image.
Or you hear it as a voice.
You sense it there.
How do you feel toward it?
Are you curious?
Or do you feel something else?
You might have feelings coming from another part of you.
Often,
A healer manager shows up wanting to fix it.
Or a part of you that's angry at it.
Or ashamed of it.
Or maybe a part defeated and worn out by it.
If another part is there,
Acknowledge it.
And ask it to please ease back for now,
So you can just be with the depressed part.
How do you feel toward your depression now?
If that other feeling is still really there,
Stay with this part.
It wants your attention,
So staying with it is your work in the inner world this time.
If you're curious about the depressed part now,
Ask it to really be there.
Really show itself to you.
You've come here for it.
What do you notice about it?
Is the depression holding pain?
Does it have a wound?
Is it trying to do something for you or to you?
Is it reacting to something?
How old is it?
Could it be a child part of you?
And is this child in a specific place or time,
Situation?
Take plenty of time now to be with this depressed part.
Ask it,
What do you want me to know?
Let it show you,
Tell you,
Or have you feel what it needs to.
Stay here with it.
Is there anything else it wants to share?
Does this make sense to you?
Let it know that.
Say,
I get it.
See how it responds.
Let the depressed part get a good look at you,
Just taking you in.
Feel the space between you and this one who is depressed.
Do you feel for the depressed part?
So let that flow directly to it.
Trust your instinct.
What do you want to do right now as you are with the depressed one?
Go ahead and do this.
Notice how it responds.
Notice again how you feel toward this part of you.
And if anything other than curious,
Loving,
Or understanding,
Anything else has come in,
Just ask it to please ease back again.
You can always tend to those other parts later.
Just see how the depressed one is doing.
Tell this part that you will be going soon,
But you can be back for it.
Tell it,
Thank you for showing yourself to me.
This is just the beginning of your relationship.
As you go inside more,
You will learn from your depressed part.
What does it need?
What would be helpful for it to hear from you when it's really there?
Would it like you to have a symbol of it that you carry or put somewhere?
You'll find out.
It takes time.
You may want to come here for it again and again.
As the depression shows you or tells you,
Or has you feel more,
As you understand more.
For now,
Say goodbye to it and thank any parts that eased back so you could focus on the depression.
Notice again the heart room where you are.
Feeling what it's like to be there in the huge presence of the heart.
And see this room around you lit up,
Filled with bright light.
Watch all of it funnel into your chest,
Becoming a little glowing ball right there in you.
See the door on the wall of the heart room.
Notice its color again and pass through it back out into the center of your chest.
And let your breath pull you up into your head.
Feel what that's like up in your head now.
Beneath the protective dome of cranial bone.
Breathe in and as you exhale,
Open your eyes.
And with your eyes open,
Sense the little ball of light still there in your chest,
Even now as you've returned to your outer world.
