February is traditionally a month dedicated to love,
Particularly because of Valentine's Day.
And culturally,
We put a lot of emphasis on romantic love.
One thing I've noticed though is that when we don't love and accept ourselves,
It can be very difficult,
If not near impossible,
To have healthy romantic love in our lives.
Today's meditation is not about coming to a place of perfect self-love and perfect self-acceptance,
Where I believe that's going to be a beautiful lifelong journey.
Yet today is about cultivating deeper and greater self-love and self-acceptance.
For our meditation today,
I invite you to grab an optional bag.
A paper bag,
A small paper bag,
A small resealable plastic bag is perfect as well.
Not required,
Just a helpful prop we are going to work with.
Once you have that,
I invite you to get settled,
Seated upright for this meditation,
And close your eyes.
Let's begin with a deep breath into the heart center,
And a slow exhale through the nose.
A deep breath into the center of the brain,
And a slow exhale through the nose.
A deep breath into the entire physical body,
And an exhale through the nose.
With your eyes closed,
I invite you to acknowledge a part of your body that you tend to like,
Embrace,
Accept.
Perhaps it's a part of your body that brings you happiness,
Or that doesn't have pain.
A part of your body that perhaps you can look at in the mirror with ease and grace,
And not with judgment.
As you bring your awareness to this part of the body,
Send your breaths right there,
In through the nose,
And out through the nose.
Just observe all that is observable here.
Things like sensations,
Thoughts that come up around this part of the body.
If you are a visual meditator,
Perhaps in your mind's eye,
You will notice color,
Or colors,
Or even textures associated with this part of the body.
Notice any happy memories associated here.
And then I invite you to acknowledge a part of your body that you may dislike.
A part of your body that perhaps you judge or reject.
In your awareness to that part,
And again notice sensations,
Perhaps memories,
Pain,
Traumas,
Negative emotions stored here.
And for the visual meditators,
I invite you to notice any color,
Colors,
Textures that you sense via your mind's eye.
Then I invite you to silently acknowledge any of the reasons you are aware of that you simply don't like this part of your body.
It can be understandably difficult to go from very much disliking or rejecting a part of yourself,
To completely embracing and loving it.
So today,
Let's not strive for perfection.
Let's strive for ease and simplicity,
Which really doesn't require striving.
For our practice today,
If you do happen to have a paper bag or a resealable plastic bag,
Go ahead and have that handy opened up and ready to work with.
I invite you once again to close your eyes,
Bring your awareness back into that part of your body that you've disliked.
In a moment,
We're going to use the breath to not get rid of the negative energy,
The dislike,
The rejection.
We are simply going to use the breath to transfer all that energy from the part of ourselves we don't like into the bag.
We're not getting rid of it.
Simply moving it as if you were taking old stuff from one closet in your house and moving that old stuff to another closet in your house.
Again,
Take a big,
Deep breath into that part of the body you've disliked,
And then sigh all of that energy into the bag through the mouth.
Gently close the bag.
Take another deep breath into that part of the body that you've disliked.
Open the bag and sigh all that energy in there into the bag.
Gently closing the bag again,
Taking another deep breath into the part of the body you've disliked,
And then a big sigh into the bag.
And I invite you to close or seal the bag as well as you can and gently set it aside.
And then with your eyes closed,
Bring your awareness back to the part of your body you have typically liked and accepted.
Breathe into this part of yourself again,
The part you've liked,
Breathing in through the nose,
Out through the nose,
And again acknowledge whatever positive sensations,
Memories,
Emotions,
Energies are there.
This part of you holds more than enough positive energy to spare and to share.
Continue breathing into this positive part of the body.
And on your next nose exhale,
Imagine that you are sending the overflow of positive energy,
The extra above,
To that part of yourself that you've rejected.
Remembering that you made a little space in that part you disliked or rejected by sighing the old energy into the bag.
You didn't get rid of the energy,
You kept it in the bag,
But you moved it from that part of your body and into the bag.
So there's a little more spaciousness in that part of the body.
For the next few breaths,
Breathe into the positivity in the part of your body you've liked and nose exhale,
Sharing the extra positive energy with the part you've previously disliked.
Breathing into the positivity,
Exhale,
Sharing the positivity.
Breathing into the positivity,
Exhale,
Sharing the positivity.
And then bring your awareness fully to the part of yourself that you've previously disliked or rejected.
Just breathing deeply,
Slowly,
In the nose,
Out the nose,
With the breath and the positive energy you shared here.
You are allowing that You are allowing that positivity to take up residence,
Put down roots in this part of your body.
As if you were taking a room in your house that was previously dim,
Dirty,
Edgy,
And you've repainted it warm,
Happy colors,
And you've put new lighting in so that it's well lit,
And you've even opened the windows to let sunshine in.
When you feel ready,
I invite you to open your eyes.
Self-love and self-acceptance are not necessarily a final destination.
They are a lifelong journey with new layers of self-love,
New layers of self-acceptance.
The more we love and accept ourselves,
Even if it's imperfect,
The more we can give and receive love with the world around us,
Whether it's romantically,
Familially,
Or with friends.
