Welcome.
I'm Lisa and I'll be your guide for this meditation practice.
You're invited to find a posture that feels most supportive for you at this moment.
This practice will be dedicated to exploring expressing love to your partner with the three simple words,
I love you.
Although this practice is written in a way to dedicate partners to be together to share the practice,
You can absolutely still practice alone if you're not able to be with your partner.
Instead,
You may simply bring to mind your partner.
If you are with your partner,
Turn towards them whether you're sitting or standing.
Let's begin to settle into this space together.
Take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Let's take two more like that.
Breathing in,
Letting it go.
Last one.
Breathing in,
Letting it go.
You're welcome to find a way to feel connected during this practice,
Whether that's holding hands,
Facing one another,
Or turning your gaze to your partner from time to time.
Go ahead and first share with your partner out loud those three simple words.
Say to them,
I love you.
Notice what it feels like to offer it and what it feels like to receive those words back.
Next,
We'll explore what it would be like right now to think of a conflict or disagreement that you've had with your partner recently or something that you're navigating currently.
A conflict that feels very real but perhaps for this practice,
One that would be more around a three on a scale of one to ten.
Something not too overwhelming to bring to mind and work with right now with your partner without having additional support like a therapist or another professional.
Go ahead and notice what it feels like in the body to bring this conflict to mind.
You don't have to get too detailed about the conflict.
Bring it back to the sensations you might feel in your body,
If there's any sensations at all.
Go ahead and come back to the breath.
See if you can slow the breath a bit more by taking some deeper breaths in.
Can you think of this conflict from your standpoint?
From points like I feel or I felt or I understand that.
Instead of from a blaming or critical standpoint like you did,
You don't or you should have.
That can come very natural in conflicts.
Speak from your perspective in your mind as you reflect on the conflict.
There's no need to share right now.
Noticing if you weren't already reflecting from your standpoint,
If there's any shifts in the language that you would use to describe the conflict.
Let's come back to the breath.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
As we continue to draw awareness to the breath,
Allowing those thoughts of the conflict to settle.
Allowing the breath to be an anchor and if at any point the breath doesn't feel like a supportive anchor for you,
Perhaps your anchor is where your feet land or where your hands rest down.
Now bring back to mind those three simple words we expressed at the beginning.
Thinking of your partner once again.
I love you.
I love you.
What would it be like to first say I love you to your partner before thinking about a conflict or better yet before bringing it up with your partner.
I love you.
I love you so much and this issue feels important or felt important to me.
I love you and I want our relationship to thrive so it might be helpful to talk about this.
I love you and I hope that we can work through this together.
As you hear these suggestions without judgment,
Bring awareness to any sensations that arise in the body.
What is your breath like?
Is it shallow?
Is it deep?
Is it edgy,
Smooth or steady?
Next,
Releasing the thought of this conflict and bring to mind something that you appreciate about your relationship with your partner right now.
It can be something very simple like something your partner has said that you've appreciated,
Something they've done or the act of practicing this meditation together.
And we'll formally close the practice in a moment but I'll offer some prompts that you can take with you beyond this recorded meditation practice to take a moment or two after to reflect with your partner.
You might share your experience with your partner.
What was it like to say I love you?
What was it like to reflect on how you might start a conversation about a conflict in the future?
Try not to get too bogged down in what the conflict was that you reflected upon and rather your takeaways from this meditation practice.
And of course,
Even the most simple reflection of saying I love you to your partner once more is enough.
Let's take a deep breath in together.
Let it out.
Welcome home.
Thank you so much for practicing with me.
