Welcome to today's meditation.
In today's meditation we focus on the notion of acceptance as a means to release judgment and criticism.
We spend so much of our lives in resistance of who we are,
In judging who we are,
And in believing that we should be more or different or better.
Find yourself in a comfortable seated meditation pose.
Your legs might be crossed or out in front of you.
Letting the hands fall heavy in your lap or by your side.
Gently closing down the eyes and bringing the attention to the tops of your shoulders and your spine.
Allowing the space of the body to feel open,
Tall,
Expansive.
Maybe you want to roll the shoulders up and back to release any tension that is sitting on the tops of your shoulders.
Bring your attention to your breath just as a simple check in to notice what's going on for the body today.
Remembering to listen to the cues of the body,
The messages of the body,
For any discomfort or any needs which it may have.
Take three deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.
And as you do so,
Really expand the breath.
So breathing in now and sending the breath all the way down to the pit of your belly,
Allowing the belly to expand,
The chest to expand.
And when you exhale,
Release from the mouth,
Flying all of the air out of the system.
Do that two more times.
Deep inhale through the nose,
Breathing in as much air as you can,
Expanding,
Expanding,
Filling the body with oxygen.
And when you exhale through the mouth,
Notice the belly draw into spine and the diaphragm rise as it pushes the air completely out of your lungs.
Do this one more time.
And release.
As you sit in your meditation pose today,
I invite you to consider the way that you speak to yourself,
The judgments,
The expectations,
The pursuit for perfection,
The pressure that we hold towards ourselves as a result of our childhood,
Our conditioning,
Society,
What we see,
What we read,
The way that we compare ourselves and our unique journey to someone else's unique experience.
All of us hold a critic or a judge inside us,
The part of ourselves which believes that who we are as we are is not enough,
Is not sufficient,
Is not worthy,
Needs to be bigger,
Better,
Stronger,
Faster,
More of this and less like that.
The critic or the judge,
Her role is not there to belittle you,
Not there to belittle you,
As contradictory as it may seem,
But her role is rooted in fear and resistance and worry.
She is there to protect you and to guide you,
And sometimes she does it just a little bit too intensely.
The opposite of the critic is to find the compassionate self,
The part of ourselves who honors our uniqueness,
Who honors the individuality of our being,
Who accepts the journey the way it is,
Who trusts the process to unfold as it should,
And who feels inherently worthy just because sometimes these parts can become imbalanced.
The critic or the judge becomes louder than the compassionate voice.
And as you sit in meditation today,
I will repeat and read out a series of acceptance affirmations.
There is nothing for you to do but to listen,
To absorb,
To breathe,
And to hear a contradicting voice that will awaken a part of you to bring the equilibrium back into balance within you.
Take a deep inhale together and allow the words to flood over your body,
Your mind,
To touch the tender spot of your heart.
I accept myself exactly as I am now.
I accept myself unconditionally.
I accept love from myself.
I am at peace with where I am.
I embrace who I am.
I am creating my own love every day.
I am enough.
I am whole.
I am consistently growing,
Evolving,
And changing.
I am open to seeing myself in a new light.
I forgive myself.
I am proud of who I am becoming.
I am doing the best that I can.
I release my past beliefs which no longer serve me.
I am deserving of love.
My love is infinite.
Today I choose me.
Tomorrow I choose me.
I can feel love whenever I choose to.
I am exactly who I need to be.
I accept that sometimes life can be challenging.
I trust myself.
I am surrounded by love.
Loving myself comes to me easily.
I am here to experience love.
I am worthy of celebrating myself.
Love is always flowing to me.
Love is unlimited.
Allowing these words to resonate in every part of your body and your being.
Knowing that there is a tiny,
Tender spot within you that knows all of this to be true.
Allow yourself to relish in that truth.
To just for a moment know that this is also who you are.
That we can choose which truth we wish to follow.
The path of judgment and criticism and resistance or the inner knowing of love,
Compassion,
Acceptance and trust.
Take a few more deep breaths.
Allowing the nervous system to feel safe within your body.
Allowing the critic to rest at ease.
Whenever you feel ready,
You can take your arms above your head,
Maybe take a full body stretch.
Moving the body,
Waking the body up from today's meditation.
Gently flutter open the eyelids when you're ready.
And perhaps write down a few of your own acceptance statements which may have arisen for you during today's meditation.
Your meditation practice is now complete.
