Self-Love & Inner Healing: Becoming Your Own Safe Place - 1

Self-love isn’t about perfection, confidence, or constant positive thinking.
It’s about learning to belong to yourself — gently, day by day.

This is the 1st of a 4-part series inviting you to soften self-judgment, heal inner rejection, and reconnect with the parts of you that have been waiting to be seen. Through guided reflections, embodiment practices, and compassionate inner dialogue, you will learn how to offer yourself the tenderness and understanding you’ve longed for from others.

Join Gabriella across four sessions, exploring self-compassion, the inner critic, emotional safety, and wholeness — helping you create an inner environment where you feel accepted, supported, and deeply at home. In this opening session, you’ll learn what self-compassion truly is — and what it is not. We explore how to soften the inner landscape and shift from self-judgment to gentle understanding.

No experience needed. Just your presence, your breath, and a willingness to be gentle with yourself.

Transcript

Hello,

Welcome.

I'm Gabriella.

Take a moment to settle in.

Let your breath drop into your belly.

Let your shoulders soften.

Today we begin with the foundation of self-love,

Self-compassion.

Many of us were never taught how to be gentle with ourselves.

We learned how to push,

How to improve,

How to strive,

But not how to soften.

Self-compassion is not indulgence.

It's not weakness.

It's not giving up.

A self-compassion is the courage to offer yourself the same warmth that you give to others.

It's a shift from the question,

What's wrong with me to what do I need right now?

It's often a shift from giving to receiving and being able to receive.

Take a slow breath here.

Notice your body.

Notice your heart.

Now imagine that your inner world is a landscape.

For many of us,

That landscape is harsh.

Storms of self-criticism,

Rigid mountains of expectation,

Icy winds of not-enough,

Barren wastelands of judgments.

As you breathe,

Imagine the weather in this landscape softening,

The winds quiet,

The cold ground begins to thaw,

A gentle warmth begins to spread over the landscape,

Over the horizon.

This is the power of compassion.

It changes the climate inside us.

You don't have to feel ready.

You don't have to feel worthy.

You don't have to feel healed.

You only need to be willing,

In this moment,

To be a little kinder to yourself.

Take one more breath here,

And whisper inwardly to yourself,

I am learning to soften.

I am learning to be gentle with myself.

And when you are ready,

Opening your eyes and coming back into the room.

If you have a journal and pen or pen and paper to hand,

Here are a couple of questions for you to answer now,

Or in your own time.

When do I find it hardest to be kind to myself?

What tone do I use when I speak to myself in time?

What tone do I use when I speak to myself internally?

For today's ritual,

I'd like you to place your hands on your heart and say one kind sentence to yourself.

That concludes day one.

I will see you in day two.