Welcome,
I'm Lisa McCruan,
And today I'd love to guide you through this meditation on choosing softness.
Let's start with this quote by Lao Tzu.
He said,
Water is fluid,
Soft,
And yielding.
But water will wear away rock,
Which is rigid and cannot yield.
As a rule,
Whatever is fluid,
Soft,
And yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard.
This is another paradox.
What is soft is strong.
Often in our culture,
Softness is seen as a weakness.
And here Lao Tzu reminds us that what is fluid,
Soft,
And yielding eventually wears away what is rigid and hard.
In our world,
Being out in the world can feel really harsh.
It's loud,
Fast,
Always calling us to be on.
And choosing softness is a way of staying human.
It's a way of nourishing our nervous system,
Soothing the senses,
And it's an act of kindness for our own selves.
And then we go out into the world with this softness,
Which is a strength,
And it's a blessing to others.
I've seen in my work as a psychotherapist what happens over time when our senses don't receive kindness,
When they don't receive softness,
When we don't feel held by warmth and beauty and belonging.
Something in us can grow rigid.
And I've also seen how the body,
How our energy,
Our whole nervous system,
And our way of orienting towards ourselves in the world changes when softness returns.
How the armor around our hearts can loosen.
How our breath can deepen.
And how aliveness returns.
So I'd love to offer you this simple ritual of orienting towards softness.
Let's begin by taking a posture that feels comforting and nourishing to you right now.
Whether that's seated or lying down,
Whatever feels gentle and kind to yourself right now.
And then soften or close the eyes.
You might place one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly.
And either silently or softly out loud,
Say to yourself this intention,
Right now I am choosing softness.
Let that land here for a moment.
Let's invite in some softness.
No efforting,
No forcing,
Nothing harsh.
Practicing gentleness.
So gently inviting the eyes to soften.
Giving them a reprieve,
Letting them rest easily.
Invite the shoulders now to soften as you breathe gently in and out.
Feeling the shoulders drop down away from the ears.
And letting them rest.
You might notice how then this creates expansiveness across the chest and collarbones.
Now invite the lips and the tongue to soften.
Letting the jaw unclench.
And again as you breathe in and out,
Offer the invitation to the heart space and then to the belly to soften.
And then invite the breath to soften.
There's no need to control it or to deepen it.
Just letting it be how it is.
And now what we'll do is just choose one sense to invite in softness to.
So you might choose the sense of sight.
Letting your eyes rest on something simple and beautiful.
Something of nature that's around you.
Something that delights you.
You might invite softness through the sense of sound,
Through hearing.
Orienting toward a sound that is nourishing and greets you warmly and kindly.
You might orient toward softness through the sense of touch.
Wrapping yourself in something soft and warm.
Or just rest your hands gently on your body.
You also might orient toward the sense of smell.
Maybe have some essential oil.
Breathing in something comforting.
And pleasing.
Or then now the sense of taste.
You might slowly sip or take a bite.
So choose just one sense and let your body receive this experience of softness through that sense.
You might notice that a part of you wants to rush or multitask.
That's okay,
That's okay.
Just bring your attention back to building this capacity to linger for a few breaths or a few minutes.
Letting your nervous system register what it's like to stay with softness.
You might even notice and name what begins to shift.
You might feel something in your body releasing or softening,
Relaxing.
Your breath might becoming more smooth or gentle.
You might notice that there's less intensity of an emotion.
Less gripping in the mind.
Just name that.
And whatever arises is just fine.
We're just noticing,
Allowing for the practice of softness to leave an imprint on the nervous system.
And the body,
Mind and heart.
You could even just say to yourself like,
Oh,
Something in me is softening.
Or I feel more spaciousness in my heart space.
Or simply just this feels kind.
And if your hand is still on your heart and one hand on your belly.
You might just offer yourself a quiet vow.
A gentle vow.
Something like beauty matters to me.
Softness is kind.
And I can choose this again.
And feel the breath moving through the vessel of your body in and out.
And when you're ready,
You can slowly return.
Carrying this softness with you,
The imprint of choosing softness.
You can carry that with you.
Thank you for practicing with me.
