Taking good care of ourselves helps us to be happier,
Stronger,
And more resilient.
It makes us more resourceful and better at everything we do.
Healthy self-care ends up benefiting the people and situations we come in contact with on a daily basis.
And it all starts with the intention to care for ourselves,
Which we'll practice in this session.
So start by finding a comfortable posture,
Sitting or lying down.
Simply feeling the sensations in your body.
The sensations of the body sitting or lying here.
On the in-breath you might notice a sensation of energy or mental sharpness.
And on the out-breath a sense of ease,
Letting go and resting for a moment.
Noticing the sensations of breathing in and breathing out.
And when the mind wanders,
Gently bringing it back to these sensations with just enough effort to keep it there.
Over and over,
Steering the mind back when it wanders,
Strengthening this capacity for a stable,
Mindful attention.
And when the mind wanders,
Gently bringing it back to these sensations with just enough effort to keep it there.
And noticing if the mind has wandered,
It can be quite subtle in steering it back.
If you'd like to spend a few more minutes stabilizing attention on the sensations of breathing and have the time,
Pause the recording now and resume when you'd like to move on to strengthening self-care.
In addition to strengthening stable collected attention and ease in the here and now,
It's very helpful to strengthen a sense of caring.
Ultimately these two are really the same,
A stable,
Caring awareness.
So leaving the breath behind at this point and imagining in your mind's eye a small child,
Pet,
Or maybe a baby that you know or have known and cared about.
Bringing them in your mind's eye before you and seeing them in detail.
How they look,
Maybe their face,
Their eyes.
Getting the feeling of what it's like to be near them.
And the feel of how much you care for them.
And noticing that they're breathing.
You could imagine holding them and feeling them breathing,
Maybe they're sleeping.
And feeling a tender attentiveness to their breathing.
Maybe in sync with your own breath now.
And bringing this same care to the sensations of your own breathing.
Remembering that you've been with yourself for your entire life through good times and bad.
The triumphs,
The bumps,
The ups and downs of your life.
And remembering now some of your most difficult times in the past.
Some of your deepest sorrows.
Remembering those now and breathing with them.
You were there with yourself back then.
And now bringing to mind some of your most joyful times from your life.
Remembering those now and breathing with them.
And now you've been there with yourself.
Getting in touch with a sense of self-care to the extent that it's available.
Bringing this care to the sensations of your very own breath.
Some people find that repeating phrases silently to yourself can help develop this caring.
Try this now if you'd like and see how it works.
For many people this kind of a phrase practice does take quite a long time to see an effect.
We repeat phrases silently to ourselves.
I'll say some aloud.
You can repeat them in your mind's voice.
So starting sending some wishes of well-being to ourselves.
May I be safe.
May I be strong.
May I care for myself.
May I live with ease and well-being.
So we'll be repeating these phrases for a bit.
May I be safe.
May I be strong.
May I care for myself.
May I live with ease and well-being.
And maybe imagining yourself with these various qualities as you repeat the phrases.
May I be safe.
Imagining yourself safe.
May I be strong.
As in physically healthy and strong.
May I care for myself.
May I live with ease and well-being.
And just noticing if any sense of self-care comes up.
It often doesn't and if not that's completely fine.
We just stay with this practice.
We don't force anything.
It's not like trying to make ourselves feel some way.
It's more like planting seeds.
May I be safe.
May I be strong.
May I care for myself.
May I live with ease and well-being.
There's no need to rush.
We can pause after each phrase.
Maybe listening for an echo.
Feelings or thoughts.
May I be safe.
May I be strong.
May I care for myself.
May I live with ease and well-being.
And so repeating these phrases on your own for a few moments if you'd like.
And if the mind wanders as it tends to do,
Just refreshing the phrases and coming back to them.
Okay.
With this kind of practice it can take some time for the seeds of self-care to germinate.
So you may want to stay with this kind of an exercise for some weeks and even a few months to see if it's helpful for you.
And feel free to modify the phrases so that they resonate with you.
And at the end of a practice like this it's nice to extend the field of care really to everyone.
Modifying the phrases we could say,
May we all be safe.
May we all be strong.
May we all care for ourselves.
May we all live with ease and well-being.
May we all be safe.
May we all be strong.
May we all care for ourselves.
May we all live with ease and well-being.
And so dropping the phrases for the last few moments of this exercise and just resting in this sense of caring until the bell.
Bell.
