Thank you friends.
Now just choosing that seat with the feet firmly on the ground.
If you're sitting on the floor,
Your legs are crossed with your hands on your knees or in your lap.
Let's keeping that back reasonably straight.
That's it.
Then just dropping the chin down.
And if you like you can close your eyes or just leave them slightly open.
And let's just feel some sort of sense of gratitude for showing up today,
For looking after yourself today.
Putting yourself first and understanding that looking after your health will mean looking after the health of your family.
And that is simple but also profound.
Let's take in three beautiful deep breaths.
Just slowly breathing in through the nose,
Taking in that air,
Breathing in.
And slowly releasing out the nose.
Breathing in once again.
And exhaling.
And last breath.
So breathing in through the nose and exhale out the mouth.
Take in as much air as you can.
Hold it for a little while and then slowly release.
And just coming back to a normal comfortable breath.
Just breathing calmly and peacefully.
And we might just say to ourselves now,
I am enough.
I am enough.
I am enough.
You are enough.
Today we practice just letting go of striving,
Striving to be perfect.
Striving to be the best.
And reflecting on all the things that we are doing well or have done well.
We are in a very difficult time friends.
And trying to be better than who we are at this particular time might not really be serving us.
We are doing what we can.
We are doing our best to keep it together.
And perhaps you have more pressure and more work than you have ever had before.
Self compassion is to just care for yourself and to treat yourself as if a loving parent or a grandparent or a friend would treat you.
What would they say to you at this time?
My darling,
We'll get through this together.
You are doing so well.
I love you just the way you are.
Could we say these things to ourselves?
That little inner voice that pushes us to be perfect and the best.
Could we replace it with that loving kind parent or grandparent or auntie,
Uncle or spiritual leader or whoever really for you.
And maybe you've never heard these words.
Could we just say them to ourselves?
From time to time when we start to feel overwhelmed and anxious or even upset.
Connecting with your breath and just breathing in a feeling of being enough.
You are enough.
Breathe in acceptance for every part of you.
Breathe it into your heart this morning.
Breathing it in acceptance for who you are.
Breathing it into your heart and letting it fill your entire body.
Accepting every part of yourself.
What's and all.
You are enough.
Every breath,
A beautiful gift from that part of you that smiles at you.
As you breathe,
You can go so deep within finding that inner child.
Imagine you could take that little child that is you and hold them and say it's all just going to be alright.
I'm so proud of you and I love you so much.
And we're comforting that little child that's inside of us that is afraid and scared in a big world at this time.
And you say to that child,
We've got this.
I'm here for you.
We'll get through this together.
Breathe in non-judgment for yourself.
Letting go of all the things we should have done or could have done or would have been.
Accepting ourselves and say,
I am enough.
Breathing in non-striving.
Give up the need to be better than you are right now.
Yes,
We can always improve,
But just let go of that striving to be perfect.
To lose more weight quickly,
To learn a skill quickly,
To be the lockdown hero or champion.
You are doing enough.
You are being enough.
You are enough.
Acceptance,
Non-judgment and non-striving.
Three beautiful qualities for self-compassion.
Introspection is what we grow through awareness and mindfulness.
And with that introspection we can catch ourselves saying things to ourselves as if they were coming from a harsh person,
Maybe someone in our life.
They didn't speak kindly to us,
But that has become our inner voice.
And we can change that.
Let's just drop the chin now to the chest and take in a lovely deep inhalation.
Breathing in.
And up the nose,
Release.
Breathing in.
And release.
Last one,
Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.
And release.
Just keeping your eyes closed for a little bit.
Did this practice make you feel any better or did it disturb you in some ways?
Just be curious as to how you feel about self-compassion.
And if you like you can give yourself a big hug.
Look after yourself today friends.
Be kind to yourself today.
And in that kindness to yourself it will naturally extend to others.
Be well.
