Welcome.
This is a space for you to be received in your body with compassion for it,
With respect.
It's not about throwing a passing glance of attention at a place in your body.
It's not about controlling it or whipping it into shape.
It's not about ignoring it.
It's about allowing yourself to inhabit yourself entirely for a while,
Initiating a flow of compassion,
Curiosity,
Tenderness and respect.
And even if this feels a little foreign at first,
I want to encourage you that over time,
Paying attention this way will allow you to develop a really close and healthy respect for your body,
A really good awareness that serves you in finding spaces of peacefulness and pleasure in your body that can really help parts that are experiencing distress or discomfort.
What we do with a compassionate body scan like this is we promote full circulation through our entire being and that releases energy from stuck and holding places,
Releases it into flow and those places feel better.
So allow yourself to come into a space where you can truly rest and let yourself land.
Let yourself be received by the earth,
By this moment,
By you and your own willingness to care for yourself.
Know that this is a powerful choice,
A wise choice and offer some gratitude to your body for showing up,
For bringing you here.
Take a big breath in and fill up and as you breathe out,
Release any holding.
Take a couple more breaths like this,
Really enjoy the feeling of stretch and filling,
Making more space for yourself on the inside and then that gentle tide of breath that leaves your body with what's old and stale,
Not needed now and feeling the gentle weight of your body resting on its surface,
Nothing to prove,
Nothing to fix,
Simply being here.
Take some breaths,
Feeling your heart,
Feeling the rise and fall of your chest.
Place a hand softly there on your heart,
There are places inside of us that long to be met,
There are parts of your heart that are aching to be met.
Notice how soft your breath is,
Notice that it's nothing to control but something that's already loving you,
Breathing you and let that breath become a balm,
A soft tender balm,
Stroking the aches in your heart,
The ones you feel and know about,
The hidden ones too.
A soft tender balm stroking the sore places,
Bathing you in kindness and continuing feeling where your body has aches or longings,
You can move your hand there,
That may be your belly,
It could be your throat,
It could be your lower back,
It could be your forehead.
Place some touch there,
Send your breath there,
Feeling the softness to this breath,
Feeling compassion itself breathing you,
Balming you,
Stroking the sore places within,
Stroking this ache,
Bathing you in kindness,
Restoring peace here,
Letting it touch the parts of you that feel raw,
The places holding sadness,
Worry,
Fatigue.
Let breath find them,
This breath of compassion and soothe them like a warm cloth,
Like a soothing hand,
Their free breath whispering I care.
And with your exhale a sigh of release,
It's okay,
You can let go now to this part.
Continue around your body to where you are finding aches,
Worries,
Places that are holding on,
Breathing with I care and that sigh of release,
It's okay,
You can let go now.
You might imagine this breath as a color or a light or a touch,
Whatever feels most comforting.
It doesn't come to push anything away but to soothe,
To cradle,
To bring peace.
With each breath allow soft loving thoughts to arise.
It could be thoughts like I am here for you,
I see you,
You're worthy of gentleness and care,
You're not alone,
Your breath is moving through you like an inner embrace,
Noticing,
Soothing,
Inviting tenderness,
Bringing love and peace.
Let it hush the noise,
Let it melt the holding,
Let it gather you back into your deep center where compassion thrives,
Where caring lives,
Where love is at home with itself.
As long as you stay with this breath let your body begin to unfurl even a little,
Like you're softening into your own arms.
This is your breath,
This is your compassion,
This is your medicine and you can rest here for as long as you need,
There's no rush,
There's no end point,
Just inhabiting,
Letting yourself soften into and surrender to these waves of breath,
This balm,
This blessing.
And when you are ready to return,
If you are,
You can bring your hands to your heart and feel their warmth there and whisper something kind to yourself.
You've been met and you've been held and you have remembered.
Compassion,
All its power and wisdom and being blessed by it.
And that's an amazing thing.
