Hi,
This is Michelle Morrison and thank you for joining me in this mindful,
Self-compassionate meditation.
Let's begin by settling in.
Find yourself a comfortable seated position or alternatively lie down.
Wherever you are,
Be comfortable.
You might gently close your eyes if it feels safe to do so or lower your gaze.
Let your hands rest softly in your lap or beside you.
Begin to take a slow,
Deep breath in through your nose and then exhale gently through your mouth.
Again,
Take a slow,
Deep breath in through your nose and exhale gently through your mouth.
Take this time to do two more of those.
Now allow your body to settle in,
Feeling all the shoulders relax and the eyes and all the muscles around the mouth relax.
And then let your breath flow very naturally and softly through the nose if you can,
In and out.
Now bringing all our attention to the breath,
We notice the general rise and fall of our bellies and our ribs and our chest on the inhale and on the exhale we feel the softening of the chest,
The ribs and the belly.
So as we breathe in,
It's to the belly,
Ribs and chest.
And as we breathe out,
Chest,
Ribs,
Belly.
Let's continue this for a few rounds.
With each inhale,
Imagine breathing in calm.
You might even say to yourself,
Calm.
With each exhale,
Imagine releasing tension.
You might say to yourself,
Release on the exhale.
Breathing in,
Calm.
Breathing out,
Release.
Breathing in,
Calm.
Breathing out,
Release.
As you feel the body relax to the earth.
Just continue for a few more rounds in your own time.
Now continuing with the breath,
In and out through the nose,
We gently bring to mind a moment of recent difficulty.
It's a moment that brought you stress or a little sadness,
But nothing overwhelming,
Just enough to feel.
Let yourself connect to the feeling it brings,
Just for a moment.
As you feel the sensations and the feelings,
Say silently to yourself,
This is a moment of suffering.
Recognize that this is the first step in compassion,
Recognizing the moment of suffering.
Now take a gentle breath in and out again,
Connecting to the feeling of the belly rising softly,
The ribs and the heart.
Then letting all that go,
The exhale through the heart,
Through the ribs,
Through the belly.
Then you might repeat to yourself,
Anyone that experienced this would be suffering right now.
With this statement you're recognizing that suffering is a common human experience.
Others have felt like this with you,
This is part of our shared experience of being human.
Take another breath,
Feeling the gentleness of the energy moving in with the breath.
As you exhale out,
Feel like you release these feelings now you've conjured up.
If you're seated,
Feel your sit bones on the earth,
If you're lying down,
Feel the back of the body rest to the earth as you breathe.
Now offer yourself some gentle,
Kind words.
Choose whatever feels natural for you,
It might be statements like,
May I be kind to myself,
May I accept myself just as I am.
Or may I give myself the compassion I need right now.
Repeat one of these phrases really silently to yourself like a quiet wish just for you.
You may choose to place a hand on your heart and a hand on your belly if that feels comforting and soothing.
Just repeat that phrase,
That silent wish to yourself three more times as you breathe.
Now letting go of repeating the kind words to yourself,
Let's rest here for a few moments.
Breathing in and out,
Being aware of the arms and the legs and the movement of the breath through the belly,
The ribs,
The heart.
Feel like we're breathing in kindness,
We're breathing out judgment,
Tension or self-criticism.
We're breathing in gentleness,
We're breathing out whatever you're ready to let go of.
As we come to the end of this meditation,
Gently bringing your awareness back to the room,
Maybe wiggling your toes and fingers.
When you're ready,
Softly and slowly opening your eyes,
Take a final breath in and out and silently thank yourself for taking the time to care for your inner world.
Until the next time,
Take care.
