Hello and welcome to this meditation track.
My name is Lucy and I'll be taking you through a kindness to others meditation today.
This meditation is recorded specifically for the baby loss community and it's been recorded to help support people's mindfulness practice.
This is the practice of self-compassion and kindness to others is a part of self-compassion and understanding the common humanity of your experience and really recognising that you are not alone.
So please finding somewhere to rest comfortably you can do this meditation in a seated posture making sure that it's completed at a time that you will be undisturbed.
You may even wish to pop headphones in for this meditation track.
So inviting you then to really just settle into the posture that you've chosen today.
Settling down.
Making sure that you are comfortable using any cushions or blankets if needed.
And beginning today's practice by taking three slow deep breaths.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Noticing any tension and maybe even releasing the out breath with a long sigh.
So inviting you now to connect with your body.
Beginning with a gentle body scan so taking your focus to the very top of your head and naturally working your way down releasing and relaxing any tension.
Relaxing the eyes and the forehead.
Releasing the jaw.
Releasing the shoulders down.
Relaxing your arms.
The muscles in your back.
Moving further down releasing any tension in the lower legs.
And feeling your feet firmly planted onto the floor.
Feeling connected with the earth.
Grounded in this moment today.
So for this practice of kindness to others it's first of all important to cultivate kindness for ourself.
Because if we don't know what that means then we can't truly show kindness to other people.
And by showing ourself kindness it actually does help to alleviate the suffering of other people.
Because we can learn to forgive ourself.
To be kinder to ourself.
So that when other people take action that maybe we don't agree with or do something that's upset us.
And if the other person has not intentionally done that.
If they simply don't know.
Then it can be easier to forgive and to accept that they too like us are human.
And this is just one example of how kindness to ourself can spill out into the world and help other people.
But ultimately it helps us to contribute to the world.
So that the world can be a nicer place.
And peace can happen.
But first of all we find peace within ourself.
So checking in with the body,
With your mind,
How do you find yourself today?
What emotions are there?
How does the physical body feel?
Being curious to your experience of what it's like to be you right now.
And that being you may be difficult.
You may be going through a turbulent time.
You may not want to be in your body.
In that mind of yours that maybe creates lots and lots of tension right now.
Sleepless nights.
Racing thoughts.
So the invitation here is just to bring an acceptance into this present moment and everything you are right now.
Exactly as you are.
A real sense of compassion and acceptance to your experience right now.
We feel the way we do because we are human.
It's part of our human nature to suffer and to overthink and to feel deeply.
And while this is painful,
This is also a gift.
We often don't like the suffering part of our life but we want to feel the joy.
But we can't choose which one we feel.
Both things have to coexist.
Part of your suffering is what it means to be human.
Part of feeling exactly as you are right now is what it is to be human.
So showing yourself compassion for the human that you are today.
Wrapping your arms around yourself if that's what feels right for you.
Placing a hand on your heart.
And now inviting in to your imagination now.
People in your life.
People who you are close to.
Those connections may be connections at work or in your family.
Maybe friends that you have.
It may even be that you feel strongly connected to an animal.
Just bring that being into your imagination now and imagine them standing in front of you.
All the people that you can bring to your mind,
Imagine them standing in front of you.
And they're looking at you with nothing but love and kindness and support.
And you look upon them now with the same love and kindness and support.
Recognizing that they too are human like you.
They too make mistakes like you.
And they also suffer.
Maybe not in the way that you suffer.
Because what you are going through is often something that nobody can imagine.
Unless you truly walk in those shoes.
But other people suffer too with their own things.
And sometimes people may come across as ignorant or not compassionate.
They may not understand truly or offer that support that maybe you need right now.
But sometimes this happens because people simply don't understand.
They don't know how to support.
And that's not their fault.
There are many reasons why people don't know how to support somebody.
People are not taught how to grieve.
We're not necessarily taught how to communicate with one another.
We also truly show support.
So I'm standing and recognizing that these people that you see now in your imagination are human like you.
And are bringing in the awareness of more people now into your imagination.
Bringing in other people that you know.
Maybe people that you don't know so well.
And also bringing in other members of the baby loss community.
Now you may not know what these people look like.
But you can maybe bring in the essence of other people.
Maybe just a knowing that these other people are a witness to this space.
And then sending out all your love and care and compassion to all these people.
And see them offering this back to you.
Cultivating this sense of kindness and compassion for one another.
Again the invitation is to wrap your arms around yourself or place a hand on your heart if you haven't already done this.
Connecting with that feeling in the body.
That feeling of care and tenderness and love and support.
Showing yourself this kindness today so that you can send this kindness out to other people in the world.
Now remember this is a wonderful practice to do.
But of course kindness starts with ourself.
So to finish this meditation today I want to share with you a reading from Thich Nhat Hanh.
And this is called Listen to Yourself.
When you are suffering greatly,
If you have suffered a profound loss,
You need people who are able to just sit and listen to you with compassion.
But what's even more important is that we can listen to ourselves with compassion.
And to do this we need to learn the art of deep listening.
We stop whatever we're doing and come home to ourself.
We look deeply to recognize and to name our suffering and embrace it tenderly.
Listening deeply to our own suffering is an act of self compassion.
So I'm going to leave you with those words today and you'll hear the sound of a bell which will mark the end of today's meditation session.
In your own time moving the body in any way you need to,
Opening your eyes if they've been closed today,
Taking a stretch and sending all my love to you wherever you are,
Whoever you are.
Take care.
