So before we get started,
I invite you to just make sure that you are ready to go deep into this session.
Turn off any types of distractions,
Any kind of notifications that may pull you away from this moment,
This experience of getting deep.
And find yourself either lying down in a comfortable space or you can also sit up.
So go ahead and find the space for yourself.
I invite you to close your eyes and just take a few deep breaths,
Slowing down your day,
Slowing down your mind,
And coming to the present moment.
Feel your breath as it enters and fills your body,
Nourishing your lungs,
Your blood,
Your whole body.
Feel yourself exhaling that release,
Relaxation,
Surrender.
And then feel that short moment between your exhale and your next inhalation,
Just that little pause in between,
A point of stillness.
Observe yourself breathing here,
Noticing how your body feels.
Maybe a little bit more relaxed.
If you're still feeling fidgety,
Shake things out if you need to.
Let that energy work its way out.
And notice your mind beginning to focus.
If any thoughts come up that try to distract you,
Try to pull you away,
Just remind yourself that you can return to those thoughts again later.
What's most important now is that you are with yourself and your mind,
Your body,
And your breath are all aligned.
That's the most important thing right now.
As you feel yourself breathing,
Bring your attention to your hips.
If you're lying down,
Just feel your hips sinking into the cushion,
Or the mat,
The floor,
Whatever it is that you're lying on.
Just letting it sink into the floor.
If you're sitting up,
Also feel your hips stable and relaxed and releasing into gravity.
From here,
Align your spine,
Every single vertebrae stacking up.
Whether you're sitting up or you're lying down,
Just lengthen your spine up to the top of your head.
And then bring your attention to your shoulders,
Push them back behind your chest,
And then let them sink with gravity into the earth.
Lengthen your neck so you have a little bit more room to breathe between your nose and your lungs,
Kind of like extending like a bendy straw.
And feel how the body shifts with this slight change in position,
How it opens up your airway,
Allowing you to take deeper breaths,
Fuller breaths.
And feel how both the inhale and the exhale are a lot smoother with this tiny bit of extra space that you've made in your neck.
And continue to feel your body and tune into your mind.
Just observe what thoughts are coming up.
And then observe what feelings are coming up.
And I generally,
I usually say don't identify them,
But you know what,
This time let's try to identify some of these emotions.
Make some frustration,
Worry,
Doubt,
Anger.
Perhaps you feel content,
Passionate,
Happy,
Positive,
Free,
Whatever it is that you feel,
Just allow yourself to feel it.
And I'm going to share some of these words,
Some of these emotions.
And as I say it,
I'd like you to feel just really briefly,
Just really briefly what these emotions feel like.
Just make it come a little bit alive.
And then I'm going to move on to the next emotion and then to the next emotion.
And then see if perhaps some images come up.
Before we dive into that,
I want to remind you that you are in a safe place.
You are holding yourself together.
You are held by the earth.
And your energy is firm,
Strong,
Supported.
Also bring to your inner world a feeling of joy,
Freedom,
Love,
Empowerment,
Passion,
Eagerness,
Enthusiasm,
Happiness,
Optimism,
Hopefulness,
Belief,
Contentment,
Positivity,
Boredom,
Neutrality,
Pessimism,
Frustration,
Irritation,
Impatience,
Doubt,
Worry,
And anxiety,
Anger,
Rage,
Jealousy,
Hatred,
Insecurity,
Guilt,
Powerlessness,
Freedom,
Guilt,
And self-pity,
Joy,
Hatred,
Love,
Anger,
Empowerment,
Rage,
Passion,
Doubt,
Eagerness,
Worry,
Hopefulness,
Pessimism,
Belief,
Frustration,
Contentment,
Positivity,
And presence.
Return to your breath and notice what you feel.
And notice what you felt as we really briefly move through those emotions.
If you noticed a difference in how your body felt.
And now we'll focus on three specific emotions and we'll deepen each of these.
So the first one is compassion.
Compassion is having someone's back.
Compassion is empathy,
Being present with another person.
And so to make this really come alive and to deepen for you,
Bring a moment when you felt compassionate about someone else.
Perhaps it's someone you love,
Someone you care about,
Or it could even be someone in the street that you felt something about,
Felt something for.
Just really caring about that person's well-being.
Just choose one out of the many,
Many,
I'm sure,
Moments where you felt compassionate.
Just choose one that you can sink a little bit into and make this compassion for this other person really come alive.
Notice where you feel this compassion in your body.
Breathe into it,
Expanding it a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more.
And feel this feeling of compassion towards another person really sink into your body.
Remembering how it feels when you care deeply about someone's well-being.
Now scan your memories and look for a particular moment when you felt someone else being compassionate towards you,
When you felt really cared for,
Held by,
Understood,
And seen by someone else.
What was that like?
And where do you feel this in your body?
Breathe into it,
Making it stronger,
Greater,
More full,
More real.
Sometimes when these moments happen to us,
We try to push them away right away.
And we often don't give ourselves the opportunity to really take it in.
So we have the opportunity now,
This moment when someone was compassionate towards you.
Make it come alive and take it in.
Make it yours.
This is your moment of compassion.
Now remembering what it feels like to feel compassionate towards someone else,
For other people to be compassionate towards you.
Now bring into your presence a moment when you were compassionate towards yourself.
When you said to yourself,
I have my back.
I've got this.
We can do this.
I'm here for you.
And if it's difficult to find this moment when you were compassionate towards yourself,
Bring back those memories when someone else was compassionate towards you,
Or when you were compassionate towards someone else,
And repeat those same words or actions or feelings,
But this time from yourself to yourself.
Where do you feel this in your body?
Breathe into it.
Make it come alive.
Deepen it.
Expand it.
Make it yours.
Return to your breath.
And now we'll focus on another emotion and repeat somewhat on the same pattern.
This time meditating on acceptance.
So bring into your mind,
Your consciousness now,
A moment when you felt accepting,
Fully accepting of someone else.
Imagine this person and knowing,
Knowing as much as you know about them,
All their great qualities as well as their flaws,
And still accepting them,
Accepting their whole being for who they are.
And really see this person,
How much you accept them exactly as they are.
And you may notice them resisting,
Trying to push away so much acceptance.
And you understand because you felt that way as well.
But reassure them,
I accept you.
Remembering a moment into your mind,
To your consciousness when you felt accepted by someone else,
Perhaps even a group.
You felt that you belonged and that you were welcomed into the space.
Remember that feeling of relief,
Of peace,
Contentment,
Inspiration,
Connection,
Optimism,
Belonging when you felt accepted.
Where do you feel this in your body?
Breathe into it,
Expand it,
Deepen it,
Make it yours,
This moment of acceptance.
And you were accepted exactly as you are.
And now we'll continue to deepen this feeling of acceptance.
And this time we'll focus on you.
But before we get into the whole big you,
Let's try to break it down a little bit.
And move your consciousness to different parts of your body.
Bring your attention to your hands,
For instance.
Say I accept you,
Hands,
My hands.
Bring it to the top of your head,
I accept you,
The top of my head.
Bring it to your ears,
Ears,
I accept you.
Bring it to your big toes,
Big toes,
I accept you.
To the back of your knees,
Back of my knees,
I accept you.
To your elbows,
Elbows,
I accept you.
Your collarbones,
Collarbones,
I accept you.
And so on.
Bring this all over your body,
Telling all the different parts of you,
I accept you.
If you feel like you're running out of acceptance juice,
Make those memories come alive again.
When you accepted somebody and when you felt accepted.
And pull from that because it's the same source.
Bring your attention to your body,
All the different parts.
Now bring this a little bit deeper into your mind,
All the different spaces in your mind.
Like that house that we had explored with the persona on the outside,
The basement,
The living room,
The bedroom.
Go through each of your rooms,
Your inner rooms,
Accepting each one.
I accept you,
I accept you,
I accept you.
And continue to do this until you reach every room and you're able to step back and accept your whole self.
And then the next step is accepting the world.
This may be hard at first,
There's so many parts of the world that are hard to accept.
Let's start with the ones that you can.
The different areas,
Different pockets of people that you accept.
I accept this,
I accept this,
I accept this,
I accept this,
I accept this.
And notice where you feel yourself wanting to say that.
Because when you say that,
It's pointing away from you.
Just notice what are those things that you point that to,
The ones that are harder to accept as a part of you.
Just take note.
That's as far as we'll go today with that.
Accept as much as you can of the world,
Of the earth,
Of this planet,
And the solar system.
Accepting the constellation,
Accepting the Milky Way,
Accepting whatever you can of the universe just as it is right now.
And the last emotion that we'll deepen here is a feeling of joy.
Bring into your consciousness a moment of pure joy,
Happiness,
Bliss,
Freedom,
Ecstasy,
Pleasure,
Contentment,
Passion,
Pure positive presence.
Make this come alive for you.
Wherever you feel it in your body,
Breathe into it.
Understand it,
Deepen it,
And make it yours.
So we'll close out this meditation by doing one more thing with these three emotions that we explored today,
Which were compassion,
Acceptance,
And joy.
So bring all three of these forward into your consciousness and make a shape out of them,
Out of each of them,
Perhaps turning them into a tool or a weapon,
A potion,
Some kind of shape that resonates with you about compassion,
About acceptance,
And joy.
And see these three items in front of you.
And what I'd like you to do is place each of these items at a certain place inside this house in your mind,
Somewhere where you can access them really easily and yet where they'll be protected.
Find somewhere to place your compassion.
Find somewhere to place your acceptance.
Find somewhere to place your joy.
Somewhere where you know that you'll never misplace them,
You'll know exactly where they are.
They're visible,
Ready to access,
And only you have the keys to them.
And so before we come out of this meditation,
Step back and observe these three tools that you now have,
Compassion,
Acceptance,
And joy.
Now you know that anytime you need these,
When you're out in the world,
You know exactly where they are.
And you know the depth and the expansiveness of their power.
Bring yourself back to the present moment with your breath,
Your body,
Your mind,
Your breath all aligned here and now.
I'm going to count backwards from 10.
And when I reach 1,
You'll be fully awake,
Back into the present moment.
10,
9,
8,
7,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
And 1.
1.
1.
