Welcome to this practice in giving yourself permission to be human.
I'm Mary Beth Hyland,
Author of Permission to be Human,
The Conscious Leader's Guide to Creating a Values-Driven Culture,
And teacher here on Insight Timer.
The following practice was previously a live guided meditation here on Insight Timer that I've now repurposed so that you can listen to it on demand.
Should it resonate with you,
I invite you,
Please join us for our future weekly live sessions.
You can also check out the course and join our official Insight Timer group here called,
You guessed it,
Permission to be Human.
Each of these practices is based on the Permission to be Human pledge,
Which is six lines of statements that are intended to be received as promises made to yourself so that you can shift from being overly critical,
Unkind,
And judgmental of yourself to then activating higher levels of self-awareness,
Self-compassion,
And self-care.
Throughout the practice,
You're invited to notice what your thoughts,
Feelings,
And physical sensations are when you hear each line of the pledge,
And then meet that awareness with self-compassion,
Particularly if you find that you're triggered into judgmental thoughts of yourself.
Simply choose to observe those thoughts and feelings instead of being carried away by them.
From that place of self-awareness,
You can then ignite self-compassion by simply noticing and responding with a statement like,
I hear you.
I know this is an area of my life that I want to get more curious about,
And I'm grateful to have that awareness now so that I can keep giving myself permission to be human.
And finally,
Igniting that self-care in a form of taking action towards what arose.
How can you meet yourself where you are and take a baby step towards a new possibility?
That is the gift of giving yourself permission to be human.
And in today's practice,
We'll have the special gift of diving more deeply into the promise to meet yourself where you are,
Not where you want to be.
Let's begin.
Give our bodies a little bit of a twist.
Maybe you want to give your neck a roll,
Your shoulders,
Your wrists,
Your ankles,
Whatever is going to serve you and just letting your body know like,
Hey,
We're here.
We're in this.
And once you feel ready,
You can come to stillness,
Just deciding if you want to have your palms up or palms down.
Palms up is for receiving energy.
Palms down is for grounding.
Choose whatever is going to serve you best in this moment.
And as long as your passage is clear,
You begin to take long,
Deep breaths in and out of the nose.
Just beginning to slow yourself down.
Just noticing how on each exhale,
You can ground yourself a little more deeply into this present moment,
Letting go of anything that's not serving you.
Noticing how your belly rises and falls with each breath.
Noticing how your rib cage expands and contracts.
Now,
Bringing your awareness to your face.
Just taking a generous scan and noticing where are you holding on to tension.
Perhaps it's around your eyes or your jaw.
So allowing yourself to use your breath to soften in any place that could use it.
Breathing to yourself,
I breathe in peace.
I breathe out stress.
I breathe in peace.
I breathe out stress.
And now moving your skin down into your neck and shoulders.
You can release some stress with the exhale.
Perhaps you can even feel your shoulders moving down.
Making any adjustments with your body that feels good at any point is always your choice.
Breathing in peace and breathing out stress.
Breathing in peace and breathing out stress.
Down through your seat and your legs.
Meeting yourself where you are.
Being kind and generous.
Only all the way down to your feet.
Continuing to breathe in peace and breathe out stress.
And on your inhale,
You can join me in bringing one hand or both hands on your heart.
Taking a moment here to connect with your heartbeat.
What do you notice?
Perhaps you can notice how strong or soft you may feel your heart beating.
The beat and tempo.
Taking a moment here now to send our breath straight to our heart.
Just like we can see this line,
This light following through from our nose down through our throat,
Into our chest and down to our heart and back out.
With each inhale,
Just straightening out your spine as much as you can in a comfortable way.
Almost like you're feeling your head being lifted up into the sky with a nice string right at the center.
Feeling at the top of your head,
Feeling that spine just elongate in the process.
Starting to feel your feet on the ground.
Throughout this practice,
I invite you to continue with your elongated breath to the best of your ability and using it as an anchor as many times as you need throughout the practice.
Part of giving yourself permission to be human is acknowledging that you will wander in thought.
That is a part of the human experience.
All you need to do when that happens is notice and then come back to your breath.
Feeling so present with your breath.
Then coming back to your heart,
Being able to feel that connection in your palm.
Then gently bringing yourself back to my voice as many times as you need.
No judgment,
Just self-awareness,
Self-compassion,
And self-care.
Let's begin.
As I recite each line,
You are invited to repeat it aloud or in your mind and simply be aware of what comes up for you.
No judgment,
Just curiosity.
Staying present to the best of your ability and gently bringing yourself back as many times as you need.
I promise to honor what makes me perfectly imperfect.
I promise to meet myself where I am,
Not where I want to be.
I promise to suspend judgment and ignite compassion.
I promise to set healthy boundaries to protect my energy.
I promise to prioritize my well-being by embodying my values.
And in doing so,
I promise to give myself and others permission to be human.
Continuing with these long,
Deep breaths,
Feeling the belly rise and fall.
Let's now go deeper into I promise to meet myself where I am,
Not where I want to be.
Where have you recently been unkind to yourself for not being further ahead?
Perhaps feeling behind,
Perhaps comparing yourself to others.
Simply notice what comes up without judgment,
Just curiosity.
I promise to meet myself where I am,
Not where I want to be.
I promise to be.
What might you say to me?
What might you say to your best friend who came being unkind to themselves and they came to you wanting support and advice for this very same experience?
What would you say to them?
How might you comfort them?
How might you be a good friend?
Really allow yourself to visualize this exchange.
Now give that very love and compassion from yourself to yourself.
Allow yourself to receive that love you would give to a best friend.
Allow yourself to receive it right into your heart because you have this already within you.
Just have to give yourself permission to be human.
Now bringing a slight smile to your face,
Knowing you get to choose this.
What a gift.
Knowing that every moment is a choice in what you're saying to yourself in your mind.
Knowing that every time you fall out of alignment,
All you need to do is notice.
Come back to your breath.
Come back to your heart and grant yourself permission to be human.
What a gift.
Let's take three deep breaths here.
And at the sound of the chime,
I invite you to really fully bring this visual,
This possibility,
This love,
This peace,
This inner harmony.
Really pull all that in with a deep inhale in.
Hold your breath at the top.
And then a big exhale out through the sound of the chime.
And when you feel complete,
You can begin to wiggle your fingers and toes.
Maybe you want to roll your neck,
Your wrists.
And slowly bringing yourself back with ease and grace.
