Hello and welcome to Move Into Mindfulness.
My name is Eve and today I will be guiding you through a meditation designed to help cultivate feelings of self love,
Kindness and compassion.
We will start with a simple grounding and breath awareness practice,
Followed by a visualization incorporating positive affirmations.
Let's begin by taking a comfortable seated or lying down position.
You may wish to keep your eyes gently open or let them rest closed here.
Listen to what feels best for you today.
This practice is all about nurturing and tending to ourselves.
In turn,
This enables us to have a greater capacity to support and show up for others in this world.
Once you're nice and settled,
I invite you to take a deep inhale through your nose to arrive in the space and exhale out through your mouth to let go of the day so far.
Repeat this twice more at your own pace.
Now begin to draw your attention to your external environment.
Notice any sounds you may be able to hear.
Any scents you may be able to smell.
Perhaps you can even detect what the temperature of the air in the room feels like upon your skin.
Whatever you notice here,
Simply observe,
Allowing any thoughts that may arise to come and go freely from a place of non-judgment.
Now begin to shift your attention inwards and observe the nature of your breathing.
Without trying to change it,
Simply notice the quality of your breath in this moment.
Allow your breath to flow freely.
Notice how with each inhale your belly and ribcage expand and with each exhale they relax.
Take a few more moments of mindfulness here.
Now gradually begin to become more aware of your body.
Start by sensing where your body is positioned in space.
Begin to feel the weight of your body making contact with the surface below you.
Notice how safe and supported you are here.
There is nowhere else you need to be and nothing else you need to do right now.
Simply allow yourself to be.
You deserve this time for you.
Now I invite you to refine your awareness to your heart space.
Focus all your attention on your heart center.
As you continue to breathe,
Begin to visualize a little green seed,
The color of your heart chakra,
Right at the center of your heart.
This little seed is a seed of self love.
Self love does not hinge on any external factors such as your achievements or how much money you've earned.
It is much much deeper than this.
It is loving yourself despite all of these things.
It's an unconditional kind of love that is your inherent birthright.
Each and every one of us in this world has a seed of self love within our hearts.
Just like plants in the natural world need sunlight,
Rain and nutrients to help them to grow,
Your little seed of self love needs your time,
Energy and care in order to grow into a big strong tree.
Your seed of self love is precious and rare.
It has its own unique requirements needed to thrive,
Because it is indigenous to you.
It is indigenous to the home of your heart.
So I now invite you to check in with your little seed and ask it,
What does it need in order to grow?
What do you need in order to grow?
How can you cultivate more self love in your life?
What would being more self loving to yourself look like?
Take a few moments here to see what arises for you.
Based on whatever came up for you,
I welcome you to set an intention.
This could be a more general long term intention,
Such as choosing to speak up for yourself when you want to share something,
Or it could be something more specific and short term,
Such as setting an intention to go to bed early this evening.
Trust whatever arises for you,
And if nothing comes to mind,
That is also okay.
Trust that your seed knows itself best.
Trust that you know yourself best,
And will receive what you need when the time is right.
Now keeping your intention in your heart,
Or simply holding space for yourself here,
I now welcome you to receive the following affirmations.
Consider them a metaphorical fertilizer that will help your seed of self love to flourish,
That will help you to flourish and grow.
I will say each affirmation twice,
Leaving a pause between each one where I invite you to repeat it either internally or aloud to your seed of self love.
As you do so,
You will be helping your seed to grow.
You will be helping it to sprout roots,
Grow a strong trunk,
Eventually branches,
Leaves and maybe even fruit.
With this in mind,
Let's begin our affirmations.
I am lovable and worthy of love,
Exactly the way that I am.
I am lovable and worthy of love,
Exactly the way that I am.
I am whole and complete.
I am whole and complete.
I am intrinsically valuable.
I am intrinsically valuable.
I choose to be kind to myself.
I choose to be kind to myself.
I deserve happiness and joy.
I deserve happiness and joy.
I honour and respect my boundaries.
I honour and respect my boundaries.
I am worthy of all the good things life has to offer.
I am worthy of all the good things life has to offer.
I am strong and capable.
I am strong and capable.
I trust in my journey and process.
I trust in my journey and process.
I am more than good enough.
I am more than good enough.
Now I invite you to take some deep breaths.
As you inhale,
Focus on breathing in all the love,
Light and positivity we have cultivated in our minds,
And as you exhale,
Visualize yourself grounding down into the roots that your little seed of self love grew throughout this practice.
As you allow your breath to return to its natural rhythm,
Begin to notice how your little seed of self love is now in fact not a little seed at all.
Notice how it has grown into a beautiful,
Tall,
Strong tree.
A tree of self love.
Your little seed has become so abundant that it is now able to offer delicious fruit that will nourish others,
Maybe even offer a branch for a little child to swing on,
Or timber for a chair that will support other people.
As this practice begins to draw to a close,
As you go out into your day,
Remember that you have the power at any moment to make positive choices for yourself.
You have the power to set intentions and return to affirmations or whatever else resonates with you to help nurture your tree of self love that you've so carefully taken the time to grow here today.
Just like how plants are subject to the harsh elements of nature,
We are also faced with challenges in our human life that are beyond our control.
However,
When the harsh winds of life blow,
May they be grief,
Loss of a job,
Relationship difficulties or whatever else,
Remember that your tree of self love may be shaken but nothing can uproot it.
In fact,
The more and more time you take to nurture your tree,
To love yourself,
The deeper your roots will ground you when faced with difficulties and the stronger your tree trunk will become,
Making it harder to shake you at all.
Now begin to tune in with how you are feeling.
You may wish to place your hands on your heart.
Notice if you feel any different to when you first started this practice.
Take a moment of gratitude to acknowledge yourself for showing up today,
For taking the time that you deserve to invest in yourself.
If you set an intention earlier in the practice of a way in which you could be more loving towards yourself,
I invite you to call this once again to your mind.
May you carry this with you throughout the rest of your day and know that you can return to this meditation as often as you need to help water your tree of self love.
Thank you so much for listening,
May you be surrounded and protected by love and light always.
