Hello and welcome.
My name is Sarah.
Thank you for joining this meditation.
We will be practicing compassion in times of grief.
Please begin by taking a comfortable posture.
This could be seated,
This could be lying down,
This could be tucking yourself in with a blanket in the fetal position,
Taking a few moments to feather your nest and bring comfort.
We use this time to hold space for the density or sometimes the all-encompassing nature that grief can be.
So let's begin by taking a few fuller breaths,
Allowing ourselves to come into our body and to use the awareness of our breathing as a focus practice.
A nice breath in through the nose into the belly and then exhaling out through the nose or the mouth and then again nice inhale,
Exhale.
One more time,
Nice inhale and exhale.
Let's take a brief body scan,
Beginning with the crown of the head,
A relaxing of any tension in the scalp,
The brow,
Softness around the eyes and an ease to any tear-stained cheeks,
Finding softness in the lips and jaw,
Relaxing any tension in the shoulders and allowing that softness to extend through the length of the arms,
A spaciousness around the heart.
Let's take a breath into that place together,
Nice inhale,
Exhale,
A moment of relief,
Awareness in the belly,
A relaxing of tension here,
A softness to the feet,
A softness to the pelvis,
The length of the upper legs,
The lower legs,
A softness to the feet.
We bring our awareness to the body as a whole and with compassion we lean into,
We lovingly stroke and tend to our feelings of grief,
Becoming aware of where you're feeling this grief the most in the body.
You can visualize this place taking a few fuller breaths,
Directed into this region.
You can even touch this place with the hands,
Relaxing and being with this energy making room.
I know sometimes that can be overwhelming and that can be scary but with just a few moments,
A few mindful breaths,
We can make space.
Whether this grief is because of the loss of a loved one,
The loss of a pet,
The loss of or a change in the state of your life,
Whether the timing is recent or whether it's many years ago,
We don't judge this.
We tend to the love that is here.
We get a sense for the loving in our loss.
Grief has a way of expanding as well as contracting and we need not try to control or change either one of those experiences.
We practice a few moments of compassion.
We sit lovingly with ourselves even if we don't really like how we feel.
We remain close to the love that is here.
We offer ourselves a few moments of softness,
Room to feel,
Room to breathe,
Room even to cry if you need.
There is no one judging you in this moment so please lean into the tenderness.
Lean into these moments of deep deep compassion.
If you like,
I find it helpful to sometimes give myself a hug,
Wrapping your arms around yourself in a loving embrace.
This can be a tight,
Felt squeeze or it can be a little softer.
Maybe there's a gentle rock or a sway that naturally comes with this embrace.
Leaning into the sense of being held,
Let's take a nice deep breath,
Inhale and exhale.
You can keep on giving yourself that hug if you like.
You can release some of the squeeze or the tension behind it.
Get a sense of your body as a whole.
Breathing in this compassion and allowing it to disperse as you take a few moments more to rest.
Thank you so much for investing your time in this way.
I really do hope that this has brought you a few moments of relief.
Please do take away this sense of love and compassion throughout your day.
Namaste.
