Practicing Self-Compassion

How do you practice self-compassion? In these times of stress, anxiety, and feeling displaced from our regular rhythm, we can feel overwhelmed. We can forget to offer ourselves the wonderful presence of self-compassion to help move through our day. This short guided practice will give you a timeout to refresh, renew, and remember who you are.

Transcript

Hi everyone, I'm Nora Speakman. Thank you for joining me today. Whether you're sitting or you're laying down, I just want you to get into a relaxed place and a space where you can just focus on letting go and some time of relaxation. We're going to begin with our breath work to get our mind and body and spirit to just let go. So we'll start with a nice deep inhale. And I like trying to breathe in for seven seconds. Hold for four and then do a long exhale. Let's do that again. A long, Nice deep inhale. And we hold and release as long as you can. Let's do that one more time. Deep inhale and hold and then a long release. We're inhaling love. We're inhaling peace. We breathe out the old. The new is here. We're in the present moment. Some people can get a little carried away with trying to keep their mind clear of thoughts. I think if there's a thought that takes you to some clarity or another space, Go ahead and follow it. There's nothing wrong with that. And if you choose to take your thoughts and sort of put them on a boat and let them drift away, You can do that too. Either way is okay. Today I want to focus in our guided meditation on self-compassion. Self-compassion is so important, Especially as we move through these times of lots of fear, Lots of uncertainty. We're hearing in the news about the coronavirus and we're being displaced in lots of ways. Our rhythms are being interrupted. So I just want to take a moment. I want to focus with our deep breath, With our breath work that just gives us a place of return to base, Return to just a space where we can be, Where our heart rate is not accelerated, Where our mind is not racing, Where our muscles get to relax. So let's just let go of all that tension as we move into thinking about self-compassion. And as we do this, I just want you to notice, I want you to notice the things that come to mind when you consider not being very good to yourself. Are there certain phrases? What are you hearing in your mind through your inner critic? Do you hear I'm not worthy? Do you hear all of the should haves where I would have or I could have? What are you listening to? Just want you to pay attention to that. And then I want you to just consider where it is in your body that you experience that tension. We are three-dimensional. We are mind, Body, And spirit. What we hear in our mind affects our body. When we become aware of that, We can free ourselves from that tension and that space of being bound up. Maybe you notice that in your neck. Maybe you notice it in your tummy getting tightened. And I want you to consider what are the situations that bring about that sort of existence where we beat ourselves up a little bit. What is that about for you? Do you worry about disappointing those in your life you love? Does that make you tighten up? Is it financial stress where you feel like you should have given yourself more security? What is it that creates in you this lack of self-love? And now what I want us to do is I want us to remember our authentic design, Our authentic identity. I want us to remember that we are enough. I want us to consider how loving we are to others. I want us to remember that we are only in control of ourselves. We cannot. We cannot control others. We cannot have expectations that are unreasonable or unmet. Those things put us in a really hard place and they cast within us that anxiety and that tension. We are loving beings. We do the best we can. So I just want you to consider in this time while we're resting through this, While we're moving through, Are these affirmations of joy. The affirmation of love and doing the best we can. And today that's enough. It's enough to do the very best that we can. And I'm wondering as we lay here, As we sit, As we're relaxed, Can you think of maybe a way to change the situation that puts us in that position of tightening up our body and allowing thoughts to run through our mind? Perhaps there's a practical solution to change the pattern. Maybe we just need to ask for help. So I just want you to think about how to partner with clarity and wisdom as we try to think of moving through the situations that may bring that extra stress. How can we be kinder to ourselves so that we are not in those positions? I want you to consider it this way. If a friend or a relative who you absolutely adore was sitting with you, What advice would you give them from a tender heart? I want you to give yourself that opportunity to love yourself that way too. I'm wondering if you can think of some things that would be a nice outlet for you as you give yourself space, As you give yourself room to feel. Maybe it's a nice long walk in the cool of the morning. Maybe it's going out for a run in the heat, Feeling the sunshine on your face. Maybe it's going to take your dog for a long walk and just spending that time with someone who loves you unconditionally like that. Whatever it is, I want you to experience that. I want you to remember the feeling that that brings you, And I want you to offer yourself that today. And as we move through now, As we come to a close of our time of meditation, Of just giving ourselves even this gift of spending some time and thinking through these effects and the impact in our day, I want you to have a posture of gratitude for giving yourself this time with me. Whatever it feels like inside of you to give yourself the greatest virtual hug, I want you to do that. And now we'll take some deep breaths as we come to a close, And as we inhale, I want you to feel the spaces within your body that are freer, That feel more alive. I want you to notice that. And we breathe out, And we let go. So take another breath in, Deep as we can. Hold and release. And as we're releasing, We are letting go. We are moving through. We are freeing ourselves. And another deep breath in. Hold and release. And another wonderful, Beautiful hug for ourselves for completing this time together. I thank you so much for the gift of your time, And I wish you a wonderful rest of your day. Until next time.