So finding a comfortable position,
Sitting or lying down and closing your eyes.
Taking some relaxing breaths.
Coming home to your body.
Placing your hand on your heart or another supportive place,
Another place where it feels supportive or soothing.
Just for a few moments to remind yourself that you are in the room.
And that you meet your experience and yourself with kindness.
So I want to invite you to recall a difficult situation and a mild to moderately difficult situation that you are facing right now.
So this is an exercise.
So please choose on a scale from 1 to 10,
Choose perhaps number 3 because we want to practice.
And it's a difficult situation in your life right now.
Perhaps you made a mistake or you are worried about accomplishing a task or you feel stressed about something.
So not choosing something very difficult or something too small,
Choose a problem where you can feel a bit stress in your body when you think of it.
And visualizing the situation.
Perhaps you are alone or somewhere else is there or was there.
What happened,
What was said or what might happen.
Visualizing the situation.
And as you relive the situation,
Notice if any emotions arise within you.
And if so,
Seeing if you can label these emotions.
If a name is coming up for these feelings or emotions.
Perhaps there's anger or sadness.
Perhaps there's frustration or confusion.
Perhaps there's fear or guilt.
Sometimes there are many emotions,
So seeing if you can name the strongest one you feel in this situation.
And repeating the name of this emotion to yourself in a gentle understanding voice.
Like if you were validating for a friend what he or she was feeling.
Oh,
That's sadness.
That's confusion.
And now expanding your awareness to your whole body.
Recalling the difficult situation again.
Scanning your body for where you feel it most easily.
Perhaps there's some tension or discomfort somewhere in the body.
And feeling just what is feelable in your body right now,
Nothing more.
Taking care of yourself.
If something is too strong,
You can just stop listening to my voice or making the shopping list for tomorrow.
And feel what is feelable and choose a single location in your body where the feeling expresses itself most strongly.
Perhaps there's some muscle tension,
Achy feeling or a heartache.
And in your mind,
Inclining gently towards that spot.
And now softening into that location of your body and letting the muscles soften,
Letting them relax as if in warm water.
Softening.
Softening.
Softening.
And please remember that we are not trying to change the feeling,
We're just holding it in a tender way.
Or if you wish,
Just softening a little around the edges.
And now soothing yourself because of this difficult situation.
If you wish,
Placing your hand over the part of your body that feels uncomfortable.
And just feeling the warmth and gentle touch of your hand.
You can even imagine warmth and kindness flowing through your hand into your body.
Maybe even thinking of your body as if it were the body of a beloved child.
Soothing.
Soothing.
Soothing.
And perhaps there are some comforting words that you might need to hear.
You can imagine you had a friend who was struggling in the same way.
What would you say to your friend?
Perhaps,
I'm sorry you feel this way.
I care deeply about you.
Can you offer yourself a similar message?
This is so difficult to feel.
May I be kind to myself.
And if you need,
Feel free to open your eyes whenever you wish or let go of the exercise and just feel your breath.
And finally,
Allowing the discomfort to be there.
Making room for it.
Perhaps even releasing the need to make it go away.
Allowing yourself to be as you are.
Just like this,
If only for this moment.
Softening,
Soothing,
Allowing.
Softening,
Soothing,
Allowing.
And now slowly letting go of the practice and focusing on your body as a whole.
Feeling your whole body,
Your whole experience.
Allowing yourself to feel whatever you feel.
Being exactly as you are in this moment.
And now gently,
Softly opening your eyes again.
