Today,
We'll be drawing on the qualities of the element of water.
And how it rinses away any excess clinging to us.
How it,
Over time,
Can wear holes in even the hardest of surfaces,
Such as stone.
Water will always find a way.
To cool.
To cleanse.
To reveal what lies beneath.
And most of all,
To connect and to nurture.
May we be like water in this way.
Connected.
Nurtured.
Releasing and rinsing away what is no longer for us.
Self-compassion is a quality that can allow us to move more like water.
Releasing ourselves from old burdens.
So we can flow in this life.
And move with greater fluidity.
Letting go of resistance to allow our emotional life and new awareness to finally move.
Such as they are.
For whatever reason,
It's easier to have compassion for others than for ourselves.
This is sometimes a challenge.
And in fact,
If you feel resistance right now at the idea of being compassionate towards yourself,
That's normal.
But most of us aren't used to it.
So today,
We're going to spend a few moments allowing ourselves to arrive in this time and in this space to soften and create a safe place to explore.
From there,
We'll move into a focus on self-compassion.
Using the breath as an anchor and water as the element that inspires and supports us.
Remember that at all times in this visualization,
Even when you brush up against something inside yourself.
A memory,
An emotion.
A wound?
You are safe.
You are held.
Floating inside of the container of yourself.
It is said that we only have reason to fear when we are in separation.
Because water connects us all,
As long as we're drawing on this element.
We have no reason to fear.
We can be brave enough to explore ourselves.
And be a compassionate witness for ourselves to understand what we need.
How can you provide for yourself the soothing effect of water?
Cleansing.
Nurturing.
Cooling.
The parts of yourself that have burned too hot.
That need healing.
What can you release?
As you know,
You can always come home to the breath.
You can always come home to the body.
It is your vessel.
And it is worthy.
And it's also available to you at any time.
So to get started as with any meditation.
We're going to prepare the space both externally and internally.
If you don't have control over your external space.
In other words,
What is happening around you or to you,
You do have control over your response.
And you can prepare your internal space regardless if needed.
Let those around you know that for the next little while,
You'll be occupied with this meditation.
And if you're sharing space with someone and they wish to join you,
By all means.
Please do invite them.
But set aside the next handful of minutes to practice this approach to being intensively,
Intentionally compassionate towards yourself.
So we will begin by first imagining a silvery stream of water.
Soothing.
And at just the right temperature.
Flowing down in a gentle stream until it reaches the top of your head.
But rather than flowing across the surface of your skin.
This gentle,
Healing rivulet of water becomes part of you.
And slowly trickles down through the center body.
Appealing.
Cooling.
Cascading down into the earth.
Your body instinctively recognizes that this is an element that is there to heal and to support.
And receives it with gratitude.
Loosening to allow the silvery liquid to relax any tight spots and fill in any places that need extra cushion or soothing.
Your muscles,
Bones,
Tendons,
And ligaments rearrange themselves to accommodate this gentle stream of water.
Now flowing from the top of your head through you.
And straight into the earth.
Such that it almost holds you upright.
Gently and connects you to both the earth below and all that is above you.
Allow the shoulders to relax down.
Not hunching towards the ears.
Allow the arms to simply hang in the sockets,
Letting gravity do its work.
And just take a few deep breaths.
If you notice tension there,
Allow it to soften.
Allow the breath to fill the belly.
And with each exhale and subsequent inhale.
Allow just a little bit of tension to release.
Give it to the waters.
And notice how when you think you've relaxed to the utmost.
You can still go further.
It is true that we can always let go a little bit more.
There's always more that can be released with the exhale.
And so let this next breath be very relaxed.
Breathe in deep through the nose.
And perhaps hold it for a second at the top.
And then release with a vocalization if you like.
Exhale that air.
Push that air out.
Allow the belly to empty of air.
And feel into the calm vacancy in the lungs.
Feel the relief of the release.
And then take another breath,
Just like that one.
In through the nose.
Hold it at the top.
And then out.
And once again,
With each exhale,
Allow any tension that you become aware of to be released.
Carried away on the vehicle of the breath.
And as we sit here connected both above and below.
By this strangely perfect stream of silver liquid trickling down from the heavens to the very top of the head.
Perhaps start becoming aware.
Of any sensation there at the top of the head.
At first,
You may not notice any sensation and that's perfectly okay.
Every day,
Each meditation is a little bit different.
Just as we can't walk through the same river twice.
We're different each time we slow down for these moments of stillness.
Our experience is also malleable.
And will be shaped by those very slight,
Almost undetectable internal adjustments.
And so just sit here and notice the top of the head.
If you can become aware of any sensation,
Make a note.
And if not,
Then note that.
And from there,
Let's allow the awareness to sort of smoothly cascade forward over to the forehead.
As if we're taking a cue from the way water itself moves.
And here in the forehead,
Moving into the face,
There are so many muscles.
So let's notice any sensation here.
And perhaps ask yourself if the forehead is relaxed.
Are the brows creased?
Are the temples tight with tension?
Invite them to release.
Give them permission to release.
And let's now move the awareness down to the eyes.
They feed us so much information at all times.
And perhaps even now.
If you've had a particularly stressful day.
Sometimes they don't quite want to close.
Or they flutter.
One eye may twitch while the other remains still.
Sometimes the corners are creased without us being aware.
Until we place our focus there.
So just notice,
Notice what's happening with the eyes.
And then notice if you can perhaps relax just a little bit more.
And allow the eyes to soften.
Allow the eyes to rest in their place in the larger field of awareness that is the softness of the face.
And as we go,
Just name whatever it is that you observe.
Using a very small percentage of your attention.
And then move further down the face.
Let's move now into the jaw and into the mouth.
This is a part of the body that does so much for us and carries a lot for us as well.
And so just notice if the jaw is clenched.
Close tight.
So many of us carry tension here.
If you discover tension,
Invite it to release by using the breath as your vehicle.
With the next exhale,
Allow the jaw to slacken.
Allow it to possibly even hang open a little bit.
Nobody's watching.
And here,
Perhaps you might place the tongue just behind the front teeth so that the jaw can be in a relaxed position.
And just take a few breaths like this.
Maybe the lips gently part to allow the air to escape.
Again,
Breathe in through the nose and hold the breath at the top of the inhale.
And then exhale audibly or not.
You Then,
If we move down into the neck and down into the shoulder area,
Kind of explore around.
And notice if there are any points of tension.
And once again.
Continue using the vehicle of the breath.
Your means of release.
Here,
Notice again if in your concentration on what we're doing,
If the shoulders have inched up ever so slightly.
If they're now carrying more than they should.
Give them permission to release.
To rest in these few minutes that we have together.
And now again,
Drawing on the flowing inspiration of water.
Perhaps cascade your attention down into the hands.
Which should also be at rest.
And here is a wealth of opportunity to detect sensation.
The hands have so many nerve endings.
So much sensation is possible there.
Given that they are so engaged in much of our day-to-day.
And so,
With this sensation and awareness of sensation in the hands,
Notice any tingling.
Notice if you can detect warmth.
The life force moving through them.
Perhaps you might even detect your own heartbeat in the palm of your hand.
Allow the fingers in the palm to just relax completely.
And if the fingers or the hand want to curl in their relaxed state,
Just allow them to curl.
You don't have to have the palm perfectly flat as long as it's in a relaxed state.
Just notice if it's relaxed or if any muscles are working against that relaxation.
Whatever you detect in this moment.
Just give it one word.
Make a note.
Perhaps you might say tingling or warmth.
Perhaps you still don't really feel anything and you might say numb.
Or you might say heartbeat.
If you detect your pulse and once you become aware of the sensation,
Take both hands with their vibrations and energy.
Place them just over the center of the chest,
Over the heart space.
Which is above the sternum in the center of the chest.
And now allow yourself to feel your own heartbeat.
Your own mortality.
The rhythm that works for us continuously.
Whether we're aware or whether we're grateful.
Hear how your heartbeat echoes in the hollow of your chest.
Which has also been bathed in this cooling silver liquid.
It is this space that we will work in today.
And so with the breath once again.
Just become aware of this heart space,
This container.
Bathed in the soothing waters we invited into ourselves.
And first,
We'll start by noticing any sensation here.
Notice the same sorts of things that we've been looking for in other parts of the body.
And perhaps you can experience yet more here because the breath is coursing through the body here on its way in and out.
Once again,
With the hands still over the heart space,
Feeling the energy flowing between the two like a river.
The hands and the center of the chest.
The warmth of that point of contact.
And now as we sit here in this restful place that we've created for ourselves.
We're going to do something that maybe most of us are not used to doing.
We're going to intentionally call to mind our current transition.
Our current integration.
And any challenges we've been having as we seek to integrate.
To allow all parts of ourselves to be expressed in our current embodiment.
Perhaps we want to call to mind something we've been trying to let go of but having a hard time with.
Perhaps there's a situation where we're struggling to find support from others for the shift we want to make.
The situation we call to mind here should not be as severe as a trauma.
We want to think of something that we can work with here and now in the space of this meditation.
So just call to mind a situation that meets those criteria.
Take a few moments now to find something that you'd like to explore.
And once you're holding it in your mind,
Just sit with it for a few moments.
Perhaps notice where you feel it in the body.
You might even consider moving the hands that are such a hotbed of energy to wherever you notice the sensation of that memory or that thought in the body.
And just continue sitting with it.
Call on the element of water to support you if you like.
And so,
As you sit here with this thought.
This memory.
Just name what comes up.
The thoughts,
The emotions.
Just note what's happening in the body without getting lost in the story of it.
And if emotions come up,
Don't take them on as part of yourself.
Don't follow them where they beckon.
They are temporary and they will pass if we allow them to do so.
So just notice what's happening within yourself.
You now have this awareness of this thing.
This emotion.
This experience of the present moment.
This thing that you're contending with.
And for most of us when we bring up this unpleasant emotion.
This thought of the struggle we're encountering as we seek to integrate.
We may also find some resistance around it.
And we all have ways of coping with these kinds of emotions.
The kinds of emotions that we think we don't want.
And so these coping mechanisms,
This resistance to the emotions.
We must let that fall away.
Let it go,
Just as we let go of the emotions themselves.
Our task here is just to receive whatever it is that's happening.
To welcome it.
Allow the water to support you here.
As it helps carry away anything you're ready to release.
While also bringing you closer to what is for you.
This experience may be very layered.
You may feel like you've happened upon the emotion.
You've named it.
You've named the struggle.
But then.
.
.
You find that there's still more.
And perhaps you realize instead that it's a layered experience with multiple emotions involved.
One emotion gives way to another.
And then perhaps another.
Allow them all to flow.
Perhaps you visualize yourself sitting in the middle of a flowing river as your emotions wash through and around you.
Your task here is to simply allow them to continue flowing.
And so whatever you find,
Just let it be.
Let it come exactly as it is.
Your job is to simply allow it to pass.
Allow it to remain wild and untamed by your evaluation.
And now,
We're going to explore these thoughts and emotions.
You're now floating in the river.
A being of water.
Yourself at home amongst these emotions.
Feeling into their textures,
Their shapes,
Their colors.
Accompanying sensations.
And just imagine that the thought or emotion that you've chosen as your point of focus the places or sensations in the body where you can feel it.
Visualize yourself pulling this emotion,
Sensation,
Or thought form out of the water.
And holding it up so it's illuminated by sunlight.
And now we're going to spread out space around this thought form.
Sensation,
Emotion.
So you can really examine it closely.
Imagine that you've now placed it.
Out to bask in the warmth of the sun.
So you can really see it.
And now,
We can observe what's happening with all of this space around us.
It's not touching you or any other aspect of your experience.
You're simply curiously examining it.
You don't have to do anything to change this thought form,
Emotion,
Or sensation.
You're simply investigating and observing what's happening.
And as you investigate,
Do so without judgment or evaluation.
Or reaching any kind of conclusion about whether the emotion or feeling is justified,
Valid,
Reasonable,
Or not.
None of that matters.
What matters here is that you're noticing what's happening and you're making an effort.
A valiant,
Courageous effort to be close to yourself in this moment of struggle.
In this moment where you're coming up against something that is challenging you.
At this point in your efforts to integrate.
And then,
As you've investigated and become familiar,
And allowed yourself to invite the very thing that you might want to avoid.
To sit with you and share space.
To befriend a part of you that perhaps doesn't feel as good to become aware of.
Now is the time to ask yourself.
As you've become familiar,
Examining this part of you that is here in the sun on the riverbank.
What do I need?
To stay sitting here with us.
What do I need to soften my impulse to run or distract or escape or resist the experience of this feeling,
This thought form,
This sensation?
And if you struggle to answer that question related to what you may need.
Maybe ask yourself.
If I was having a conversation with a friend who was telling me about this situation.
Telling me about this challenge.
How would I advise that friend?
How would I reassure them in a meaningful way of their worthiness or self-compassion?
And from the words that you might tell that friend who you care so deeply about.
You might consider forming an affirmation for yourself.
That you can then repeat silently whenever you have need.
What would those words of affirmation be?
You might try on a few phrases,
See how they feel.
Perhaps even say them out loud and notice how the body responds.
And while repeating those words,
Perhaps also visualize yourself sitting next to that thought form,
Sensation.
Or emotion on the riverbank.
Also warmed by the sun.
Newly cleansed by the healing waters.
Very still.
Content.
And as you repeat those words of affirmation,
Surround yourself in your mind.
With the sunlight coming down.
Soothing.
Supporting.
Illuminating.
Notice how you're comforted by this light.
By the sound of the waters that graciously received you.
And supported you in releasing thoughts,
Emotions,
Or stories that no longer serve.
How you are so relaxed in the company of both light and water.
Just take a few moments further to visualize what it is that you need to be with this.
We are all worthy of compassion.
We are all worthy of love from ourselves and others.
You are.
The person you've been waiting for.
And you are enough.
Just as you are.
In this achievement-based society that we all live in,
It can be easy to feel less than.
We hop onto social media and see this curated image of other people's lives.
And then we look at our own and we come away feeling lacking.
And that's not real.
What's real.
What is true.
Is you.
In this moment.
Bathe in light.
Cleansed.
And freed by water.
You being here with you,
With yourself,
With these tough emotions.
And being strong and brave enough to sit with them and ask yourself,
What do I need to just be with these emotions?
How can I be tender toward myself?
As if I were a small child needing comfort.
Needing reassurance.
This place of reassurance,
Of support.
Is available to you at any time.
Right here in your own body.
In your own heart space.
Supported by the Element of Water.
And as we said before,
When we experience tough emotions,
Sometimes we do want to run away.
We want to follow the emotions.
We want to try to control it by swimming alongside the thought,
Sensation,
Or emotion and the story around it.
Until we're ragged with exhaustion and thoroughly overtaken by our unconscious coping mechanisms.
But ultimately.
This beer.
Our discomfort,
Our sadness,
Any of these emotions that are difficult to deal with.
These are not a form of weakness.
Acknowledging them takes great strength.
And they too can be a source of strength.
Our task is not to run away from them.
It is to expand the container of the heart space.
So that we can hold space for these emotions and ourselves as we experience them.
To really explore objectively what it is that we need.
And then give that to ourselves because we are deserving of it.
It's very brave to give yourself what you need after you've gone inward and asked the question of exactly what that is.
And so just take a few more moments to sit here with us.
Perhaps even after so many minutes,
The hands are still over the heart space or the part of the body that holds that difficult emotion.
And if they aren't there,
Perhaps now place them there.
Where you felt the emotion or the belief that you chose as your point of focus here today.
And again,
Let's just feel into that place and notice what you find.
If it's still there,
That's okay.
Just make new.
Whatever it is that you observe is okay.
There is no such thing as success or failure here.
You being here,
You reaching this point in this meditation.
Is a success on its own.
And is something to thank yourself for.
It is,
After all,
Called a meditation practice.
Not a meditation perfection.
And as you sit here,
Just take a few more deep breaths before coming out of this space that you've created for yourself.
Make note of any aspects of the experience that are still apparent to you now.
And now that we've done this work,
Take a great,
Big,
Deep breath.
Inhale.
Fill the lungs as they take in all the air.
And then with a nice relieving exhale.
Allow it to release.
Send it on its way and take a few moments to give yourself gratitude for taking the time.
Making the effort.
To stay here in the company of tough emotions.
This is where the gold is,
Like treasure that has sunk into the very bottom of a deep ocean.
And now we've undertaken the task of excavating it.
Deep-sea diving for buried treasure.
And with that,
While still taking deep breaths.
Begin allowing the limbs,
The fingers,
The toes,
The neck to move.
Or perhaps touch the shoulders.
Wake the body back up.
Coming back from this deep introspective space that we created for ourselves.
Again,
Remember the element of water.
In the thin silvery stream of calming liquid that allows you to remain connected to above and below.
And now,
You know how to meet and sit with this part of yourself.
To recognize when you're under a spell of resistance or self-defeat.
When you stop believing in your own worthiness for self-compassion.
Which is an experience that we all share in common as human beings.
Thank you for listening.
And thank you for coming to share this space.
And do this very important work.
Namaste.
