Kind Friend (7 Min)

Feeling a bit lonely, worried, or off-balance? This practice helps us evoke feelings of connection, kindness, and self-appreciation. Part of a series of heart-centred practices, to help you connect with love, confidence, compassion, and resilience, and honour the temple of your heart.

A beautiful way to support yourself when you feel lonely or disconnected.

Transcript

Hello,

Paschal Indy here.

Here's a short compassion practice designed to help us evoke positive emotions.

For the next few minutes we'll be imagining a kind friend.

So first of all finding a comfortable sitting,

Standing or lying position and taking a few nice long deep breaths.

Exhaling fully and then allowing the breath to settle into its own natural rhythm.

And now bringing to mind kind friend.

Somebody who brings a smile to your face.

Maybe an animal friend or even somebody from your imagination.

So taking a moment to choose which kind friend you'll bring into this practice.

And imagining that friend here with you,

How that feels to be with them.

Many people find they naturally start smiling at this point in the practice.

What do they look like?

How does their voice sound?

Do they have a special name for you?

Maybe you remember a certain sense of touch like the way they hug you or the way they place a hand on your shoulder.

And if the practice becomes a bit difficult for you,

It's totally fine to let go,

Relax and bring your attention back to your breathing.

Do they have a certain familiar smell?

Really allowing ourselves to soak in these qualities of kindness,

Friendship,

Connection.

And resting there.

Relaxing even more deeply on each out breath.

And if we like,

We can use a few phrases to help support these qualities that we're evoking.

You might like to repeat the following phrases over to yourself silently.

May I be well.

May I be happy.

May I be safe.

May I be well.

May I be happy.

May I be safe.

And if your mind wanders off from time to time,

No worries.

Simply inviting it to come back to the practice.

Let's continue for a couple more minutes in silence.

So imagining our kind friend is here,

Soaking up these qualities of love and friendship.

And repeating those phrases if we like.

And if we like,

We can continue.

Perhaps bringing our kind friend to mind again at other times in our day.

Thanks for taking time to reconnect.