I'm excited for today's practice.
We are doing on the topic,
The theme today is around self-love.
And when we think of self-love,
I like to think of it in two different ways,
In actions and being.
So there's a doing and there's a being part.
And so sometimes when we think of self-love,
We think of actions that we can do.
And this is more in the realm of,
I think,
Of self-care.
We do nice things for ourselves.
We say nice things to ourselves.
We meditate.
We take a bath.
We take time for ourselves.
And so these are all actions,
I believe,
Of a way to give ourselves love.
And then there's this other side,
Which if we are to connect with who we are at our core,
Is this energy of love.
It's more of the state of being.
So you can almost just drop the self out of that and just experience love that's just this energy that's just coming into our experience.
And we allow it to come through a little bit more.
And often when I think about what the blockage is,
And we all have blockages to our heart for many myriad of reasons.
And when I think of when someone says that they have a hard time loving themselves,
That's often what I hear a lot.
It's hard for me to really love myself.
I do feel a lot of shame.
We feel a lot of all these things that are blocking our hearts from really seeing.
So if we were to see the magnitude of who we truly are,
There would be no blockages to that at all.
So coming back,
When I think of a blockage to self-love,
I feel it's more a topic of self-worth that we at some level are not believing that we are worthy of,
Whether it's other people's love.
And sometimes often we are typically our hardest critics,
So we're not worthy of our own love.
And that's what we're going to work on releasing.
What are those blockages?
To feel unconditional love.
Because often we set conditions,
At least I know I do.
If I get everything done today,
Then I will feel a sense of self-love or accomplishment.
And I get there's an energy of self-motivation and pushing ourselves at times.
But this practice today is really to work on recognizing what's always already here.
And so there's a quote that's going to be guiding us in our practice at different times.
And I don't know,
It's an unknown author of the quote.
So you can't improve what is perfect.
You can only see it and come to realize your own perfection.
And so let's allow that to be our work today.
To see if we can let go of what is stopping us,
Blocking us from experiencing our own perfection.
All right,
So do what you need to get settled,
Take some movements,
Shift positions.
Trying to find the connection to the ground,
Your chair,
Your cushion.
Seeing if you can find where gravity and energy just holds your body up on its own.
So maybe that means kind of moving your torso right,
Left,
Forward,
Back.
And you'll see that there's resistance when you go back,
Resistance when you go forward.
And there's this one area where gravity just allows the body to come into its natural state.
Relax the shoulders.
In the brow,
Muscles around the eyelids,
The jaw.
And as you connect to the ground,
Start to invite in softness.
Feeling any muscles that are tight.
Feeling both rooted and alert.
Maybe moving down,
But there's lightness through the upper body.
Noticing if there's a tension in the belly,
It's often where I hold tension and see if you can let that go.
And as we work into bringing our breath into our awareness,
Sometimes we use the navel as a focus point,
Sometimes the nose.
Today I want us to focus on the chest area.
So allowing the chest to soften,
Maybe you notice it broaden.
And start to feel your breath as it gently rises.
And on each exhale,
There's a relaxation.
Feeling this rhythm.
Feeling the awareness around the chest,
Around the heart.
And as you settle with your breath,
You're welcome to invite in an energy of healing into your heart and into your body.
Or maybe the energy's peace or stillness.
Whatever you feel would serve you right now,
Invite that in as you just bring the awareness gently,
Breathing in,
Noticing the chest expand.
Breathing out,
Noticing it relax.
And so we're going to be musing.
We're working through opening our hearts today.
I'm going to use a metaphor of a flower to help us do that.
So you can imagine at the center of your heart is the space where the flower blooms.
And the stem is your spine that's going into the base,
Rooting into the ground.
So recognize that we have some work to do,
So this flower is not yet opened.
Let's see if with each breath you can imagine the stem,
Your spine,
Further taking root.
And allowing yourself to find stillness.
And if you can quell the mind chatter,
Maybe there's some presence as well.
Connecting back to your body when your mind takes you elsewhere.
Silence is a seed for love.
And when you slow down,
When we connect with our body,
Our heart,
Our energy,
Love starts to grow.
It reveals itself.
So as you continue to slow down,
Imagine that you are starting to come into a greater state of presence.
Feeling the stem of your flower root even deeper.
Maybe you invite in this feeling that your whole body saturated in the energy of presence.
Maybe you bring an image of like a sun rays shining on a flower,
Saturating every part of it with its rays.
Feel that energy coming through you.
Maybe you even feel it like the warmth of the sun.
And as voices want to take you out of presence,
Thoughts,
Plannings,
Maybe today to re-anchor you,
You use presence like a mantra.
Just saying that word,
Presence.
And coming back to that awareness in the heart.
We'll be working with what might be blocking this heart.
Before we do,
The first step is for us to just give ourselves the permission to love and to be loved.
I invite you to do that to yourself.
Can you just give yourself permission?
You don't have to do it yet.
Just acknowledging that it can be possible.
You can love and be loved.
If there's any resistance or any feelings of not deserving it,
Not worthy of it,
See if you can sense any resistance in your body,
Almost like there's these energetic blocks that are not allowing you to feel the fullness of your heart.
And this awareness to the resistance is an act of self-love.
Giving light to those places that.
.
.
In ways that we're battling ourselves.
Keep allowing that presence to radiate from your center,
Radiate from your heart.
Not like you'd imagine that these blocks,
They're manifested as a cloud that is above you.
As you continue to breathe into your heart,
Imagine that the rain starts to fall out of the clouds and cleanse your body.
Shifting,
Working to continue to release these blocks.
It's also nourishing the soil for your flower to blossom.
And let's take a conscious breath in together.
And breath out.
So we're going to move into a little bit of a visualization.
So I'd like you to imagine that you enter an empty room,
Any room that comes to mind.
And there are two cushions on the floor or chairs,
Whatever you meditate in.
And those chairs or cushions are facing each other.
I'd like you to go and sit on one.
And on the wall right in front of you,
You see a sign with a quote on it.
It says,
You can't improve what is perfect.
You can only see it and come to realize your own perfection.
So just allow yourself to look at that quote and see,
Can you take any of that in?
Can you not judge and just receive it?
You can't improve what is perfect.
You can only see it and come to realize your own perfection.
And then in a moment,
Someone else comes in through the door and they sit in front of you on the other chair.
And they look shockingly familiar.
And you realize that it is you.
You are looking at yourself.
And see if you can take a moment to just see yourself.
What initially comes up?
Judgment,
Shame,
Critique?
Or is there love,
Compassion,
Kindness?
And both are welcomed.
So as you see this person,
Can you just for a moment let go of the need or the thought that anything needs to change?
That they need to be fixed?
And sit and see if you can open up to what is perfect right here.
Underneath it all.
Because you can't improve what is perfect.
That's what most wisdom traditions are asking us to change how we see.
How can you see what is perfect right here in front of you?
And as you do this,
You see between you two is this little ball of beautiful bright light.
Almost like a fortune teller ball,
But it's just light.
Remember that flower in your heart,
Right?
This flower that we're blossoming.
Just like the sun does,
This light is going to help you open some of its petals.
And so imagine one of those petals opening up in your heart.
Maybe even physically you imagine your chest broadening.
And then I'd like you to again look at yourself sitting in front of you.
Eye to eye,
Heart to heart.
And we're going to work to send some intentions to help them come into an understanding of what is already perfect here.
And you can say this silently or out loud,
Sending that energy to yourself that you see sitting in front of you.
You don't have to prove yourself to anyone.
Your presence in this world is enough.
I love you for who you are.
Your light shines brighter than you can see.
You are so loved.
You don't have to prove yourself to anyone.
Your presence in this world is enough.
I love you for who you are.
Your light shines brighter than you can see.
You are so loved.
Maybe repeating just one of those that you need to share with them.
As you do,
Imagine that light at the center and between you growing a little larger.
Another petal in your heart opens.
And then switching it.
So we're going to have you imagine that you are receiving the love from yourself instead of giving it.
And so you're going to feel this coming from them.
See if you can relax any tension in your body.
And let yourself receive this without judging,
Without pushing.
You don't have to prove yourself to anyone.
Your presence in this world is enough.
I love you for who you are.
Your light shines brighter than you can see.
You are so loved.
You don't have to prove yourself to anyone.
Your presence in this world is enough.
I love you for who you are.
Your light shines brighter than you can see.
You are so loved.
Just notice was it easier to send or receive?
Once that light at the center grows brighter,
Another petal in your heart opens.
And I'd like you to both stand up.
I see both of you standing up.
Acknowledge what you said,
What's been said to you.
And with the light at the center of both of your hearts,
I'd like you to imagine that you're giving them a big hug.
And as you do this,
Almost like you're bringing that person back into your body,
Almost like it morphs in and the light is now right at the center of your chest.
So feel yourself standing there beaming in this beautiful light.
And again,
You look at the quote on the wall.
You can't improve what is perfect.
You can only see it and come to realize your own perfection.
Are you able to take that in a little bit more than before?
And then seeing if we can bring this all the way in,
Giving these words to yourself.
If you'd like,
You can put one hand over your heart,
Both hands over your heart,
One hand over your belly,
Whatever feels like it roots you in.
Keep your hands down if that's comfortable as well.
Sharing with yourself.
I don't have to prove myself to anyone.
My presence in this world is enough.
I love myself for who I am.
My light shines brighter than I can see.
I am so loved.
I love myself for who I am.
I love myself for who I am.
My light shines brighter than I can see.
I am so loved.
Seeing any one of those that feel true or ring to you.
And as you do,
Feel that last petal in your heart and your flower open.
And imagine that it's this full,
Beautiful,
Blossoming flower with the light of your heart shining it out.
Feel whatever that invokes,
Whatever comes up,
Whatever is here.
Keeping that light alive in your chest,
Keeping that flower bloomed,
You're going to leave the room of our visualization and bring that back into where you're seated right now in your room.
Feeling if that heart feels a little bit more receptive and open.
As the light moves through each pore of your body.
And then staying here as long as you'd like.
If you'd like to start to come back,
Go ahead and open your eyes and join us back in this space.
