Meditation For Self-Compassion - The Heart Room Welcomes

This meditation is for when you feel out of sorts or have discomfort in your body and mind. Our body is our home, and we live within it, but often we avoid feeling what is there. I will guide you into the felt sense of your body, encouraging you to be with whatever is happening. You will be greeting, welcoming and perhaps sending loving kindness to all parts of yourself as they arise the room of your being.

Transcript

Welcome to the heart room meditation.

This meditation is really useful when something's up or you feel some chronic tension or you're just feeling a little bit out of sorts and when there's some discomfort we tend to distract ourselves by getting busy in our head and trying to sort it out from the head.

This meditation is guiding you to turn towards whatever is happening in the felt sense of the body.

I'm going to introduce a metaphor which may help you to do this.

When we go into the felt sense of the body imagine you're going into an inner space which is a room and in your room some of the furnishing and presences there we're very comfortable with but when we hang around for a bit things start to come out of the cupboards.

They come out from behind the sofa or through the door or through the window and these are things that we are not comfortable with.

Normally we would want to push them away.

However when we're meditating we're making ourselves into a guest house.

We're seeing how much room we can make for all parts of ourselves because anything that we habitually push away eventually goes dark.

It gets worse.

So this meditation brings things back out into view and into the light.

So in our meditation you'll picture yourself in this room and as things arise I will invite you to say hello to it so you're tolerating its presence in your room.

It could be the other side of the room.

You then have the potential of coming closer and saying welcome and that might be enough but then there's also the possibility of coming very close perhaps sitting together on the sofa at the table and extending warmth and tenderness.

So you can use this metaphor in your own way.

Let's find our comfortable position.

This could be sitting or lying down and take a deep breath in through your nose and out possibly out through your mouth so you relax as you let this long breath out and again.

As you let that breath fall out,

Fall down to empty and notice where there's unnecessary tension in your body.

Now this could be shoulders,

In your jaw,

Between your shoulder blades or perhaps gripping in the hips or belly.

Just drop.

Drop what you can choose to drop and take another deep breath in and out.

Sense into your body.

Just let yourself drop into the body and feel your sit bones on the seat.

Feel the hardness of the seat.

Is one sit bone heavier,

More deeply connected to the seat than the other?

Feel the sense of the ground through your feet or your lower legs.

Feel the ground beneath you.

Let your awareness now expand to your whole body and sense how it moves.

The breath moves the body.

Sense this whole body as your room that you sit within.

And as you sit in your room,

Perhaps something already arises that wants your attention,

That wants to come in.

It's there.

View this something.

It could be a tightness,

It could be an ache or it could just be a kind of nervous tension which means that you keep going back into your head and your mind won't shut up.

Well let your mind be as it is.

You cannot fight the mind but just keep gently bringing your attention to that feeling of tension in the body.

And breathe out and on that out breath say hello.

As you breathe out say hello and then see if you can welcome this sensation.

Surrender to it as you breathe out.

See if you can tolerate this something.

Whether it's very easy or something difficult.

Can you allow it to be there?

Use your breath.

Drop into the out breath.

And we'll come back to this something because we're going to work our way through the whole body.

So wherever this sensation is you may remeet it.

Can you bring your attention to your head?

How does your head feel?

What's happening all around your scalp and inside and around your head?

Be curious.

Can you sense the touch of the lips against each other?

Maybe you're wearing spectacles.

You can feel the pressure of the specks on your face.

Or there's pressure,

Tightness.

How do your sinuses feel?

And your jaw?

Ears?

So as you breathe out saying hello to these sensations of head.

Hello head.

Hello sensations.

You're welcome.

You have a right to be here.

You can come into my room.

And you may want those sensations to be the other side of the room.

Or you may feel that's okay.

Come and sit with me.

And you can just give a little bit of warmth and kindness.

Acceptance.

And then how does it feel through your throat,

Your neck and your shoulders?

What do you sense across your shoulders?

What are the sensations up here,

The sides of your neck and in your throat?

Maybe there's something uncomfortable there that you don't like very much.

And notice your response.

Is it welcoming?

Or do you tighten up or pull away?

Take a breath out and say hello.

Okay,

Hello.

You're welcome here.

You have a right to be here.

And you're part of me.

Perhaps as you relax,

As you breathe out and allow what's there to be there,

You can extend some warmth and kindness.

Like reaching out a hand.

Now feel the way that from your shoulders your arms fold where they're resting.

And they land on your hands or the end of your arms.

Feel both arms,

Their weight,

Their presence.

Into the wrists,

Into the hands.

Notice the incredible amount of sensation in your hands.

Just feel this tingling sensation of arms and hands.

And perhaps you feel pain in your arms or discomfort,

Ache,

Achiness or something.

Or even too much tingling.

Whatever it is,

Breathe out.

Hello something.

Call it whatever it is.

And you're welcome.

Come into my room arms.

And thank you.

Thank you arms.

And between your shoulders and your arms,

You have your heart space deep in your chest.

Be aware of your ribs moving.

Be aware of your lungs moving.

And the heart is in there,

But sense deep inside into your heart space.

How does it feel in there?

Does it feel heavy or tight or closed?

Or is it beginning to soften at all?

Maybe there's a grief,

A sadness or an uncertainty.

As you breathe out,

Allow it.

Let yourself feel what is there.

Dwell in your heart.

And if it's helpful,

Bring your hand to your heart.

Perhaps you can perceive the heart space as a glow.

Perhaps you can't feel anything at all and it's difficult to connect.

So if that's the case,

It could be helpful to imagine a person or an animal or a thing that you do feel very tender,

Unconditional,

Love for or a child.

Just whatever comes to mind.

And if nothing comes to mind,

Just stay with how you are.

It's fine.

There's a natural unfolding here,

But it takes its own time.

Drop your awareness down into the belly.

How's your belly feeling?

You might want to put the other hand on it.

How does the upper belly feel?

The diaphragm?

Can you feel it moving?

Feel how it feels and how it connects into the whole feeling of your chest.

Feel the diaphragm and the upper belly in the chest as one.

And welcome it.

Hello,

Diaphragm and chest.

You're welcome.

You're very welcome here.

You're so welcome here.

And breathe out,

Just letting it be.

Letting what's there be there.

And again,

If you find you're distracted and you bounce off up into your head,

Just gently bring yourself back.

Keep rejoining the body,

However many times it takes.

And get curious about the sensations now in your belly.

What can you feel down the left side of your belly?

Right down into the left hip.

And what can you feel down the right side of your belly?

Down into the right hip.

And what do you feel in the middle and both sides together?

And whatever arises,

Subtle or really strong,

Pleasurable or uncomfortable,

Allow it.

Welcome belly,

Welcome sensations.

You can come into my room.

Hello,

Tight knot.

Hello,

Fuzziness or numbness.

Sensing into the belly.

Welcoming belly.

Welcoming belly.

Welcoming back as well.

Belly and back are joined.

Just drop down into the pelvis.

You can feel it sat on your seat.

And it's got this bony shape and inside it's your room.

The whole of your body is the room.

Let yourself drop into this bowl,

The basement of your body.

Let your awareness fill into the left side.

Hello,

Left side of pelvis.

Greetings wherever you meet there.

And gently inviting it in with warmth,

Kindness,

Or just a welcome.

Feel into your right hip,

Right buttock,

Right boniness,

Right belly.

On to the crease of the groin.

Hello,

Right hip.

You're welcome too.

Come on in.

Take a seat.

Perhaps you can reach out a warmth and kindness to that.

So you have the whole pelvis.

And sensing the flow through into each thigh.

Hello,

Thighs.

Hello,

Thighs.

You too are welcome here.

And you're welcome here.

Hello,

Thighs.

You too are welcome here.

How are you feeling?

Really sense the presence of your thighs.

There may be very little sensation but you do know they're there.

So how do you know they're there?

The sense and presence of your thighs are welcome.

As are your knees.

Hello,

Knees.

There might be pain in the knees.

Not just tingling.

You are welcome.

Your welcome knees.

Really sense them.

Be curious.

How do you know your knees are there?

Drop into your lower legs.

And then your right hip.

And then your left hip.

Drop into your lower legs.

How do you know your lower legs are there?

What do you feel there?

What's happening?

Stay curious with your legs.

Particularly if you have a busy mind grounding through the legs.

What can you feel?

Might be just little tiny tingles.

Or maybe the lower leg is pressing against the floor or a chair.

Go to find your ankles and your feet.

And your toes.

Feel the touch.

On the earth.

The ground.

What can you sense in your feet?

Hello,

Feet.

You're welcome here.

You're such an important part of my body.

Thank you.

And send kindness and love and warmth down into your feet,

Your legs,

Your hips.

Whole lower body.

You're welcome.

Whole lower body.

Then expand your body to whole body.

Expand your awareness to your whole body.

Feel this mass,

This shape of your body.

The sense of the skin that's wrapped around your whole body tingling and touching.

The soft mass of your body breathing.

And hold the whole body in the warmth of your heart.

And hold the whole body in the warmth of your heart.

You could smile to your whole body,

Whole being.

You are welcome.

I am here.

And I care for you.

And you could place your hands over your low belly.

Feel that connection.

Bring your hands up to thumbs on your breastbone and palms together.

And lift your heart and drop your chin.

And smile down into your belly and into your heart.

When you're ready to just open your eyes.

Take your time.

But you can relax your hands down.

And get on with your day and have a beautiful one.

Thank you.