Hi everyone,
Welcome.
This is a meditation for channeling the heart and compassionate energy and it is especially helpful this day of Valentine's Day which is a bookmark in our calendar.
It's towards the end of winter and spring is coming and we mark this day with expectations of generating love,
Sharing love,
Showing our love to those in our life we care about.
And we also expect often that these people will and show us that proof of their love.
And in that comes a lot of charged emotions.
So let's meditate together on the power of the heart and specifically self-compassion.
Let's be our own Valentine today.
So I open this meditation circle by asking the energy of the heart to come into our life today.
And we will be using some Metta,
Loving kindness phrases and also some earth-based wisdom as we call forth our own love for ourselves.
Wherever you happen to be right now,
Make yourself as comfortable as possible.
Move around if you need until you find a position that is stable,
Comfortable and grounded.
You may want to notice the part of your body that's in touch with the earth,
The ground,
The floor.
Maybe visualize beautiful roots reaching down to Mother Earth and from the head,
Top of the head,
The very top chakra.
Imagining divine energy,
Divine light strands reaching up,
Bringing in lovely straight back but comfortable posture.
If closing your eyes is comfortable,
Please do do so.
Join me with eyes closed.
Otherwise gaze upon a neutral spot in front of you without really paying too close attention so that the eyes will be subdued and you can go more internal with your gaze.
Starting our practice to calm the nervous system with three cleansing breaths in the nose and out the mouth.
And if it's comfortable,
A sigh is invited at the exhale.
And then just allowing the breath to be normal,
Relaxed.
We bring our awareness in this moment to the in and out breath,
More particularly to the out breath,
Allowing that to be our calming breath.
Settling into the sitting posture on that out breath,
Allowing that weight to go towards the earth while our head is still reaching and acknowledging and inviting wisdom above and around us.
You may wish to picture in your heart a heart-shaped object such as a pink quartz heart,
A purple amethyst heart,
Or any other image or light or color that brings you warmth and helps you feel that heart chakra,
The heart center,
And bringing relaxation to your whole body through the heart,
The power of the heart to calm and ease.
Using meta phrases,
We will channel compassion and self compassion to ourselves.
May I be well.
May I be at ease.
May I be happy.
May I accept love from myself.
Continue those phrases silently or out loud on your own for as long as you wish.
May I be well.
May I be at ease.
May I be happy.
May I accept love from myself.
Notice your heart now.
Notice some feeling of warmth.
Maybe put your hand up to your heart and notice the beating of your heart.
Just an overall settled feeling right in that area,
The heart area,
Compassion area.
Be our own Valentine.
May I be my own Valentine.
Be mine.
So today being Valentine's Day,
A bookmark in the calendar,
When we show our affection to others with flowers and chocolate and special dining out cards and chocolate and smiles,
It's a day charged with emotion.
Love is such a powerful emotion.
A lot of expectations around this day.
Will they show me how much they love me?
What do I do to show them I really love them?
And many people who don't have someone to either receive or to give to feel deep grief and sadness on a day such as today.
So I invite us to be our own Valentine.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I accept love from myself.
May I accept myself as I am.
Checking into our bodies,
I invite us to notice any areas that may be tense,
Maybe a tiny bit rebellious or just sad or in pain.
Notice any areas,
Lower back or shoulders,
Neck,
Feet and breathe into those areas.
That means taking a deep breath in and on the exhale we visualize that breath going to the area that needs a little extra love.
In this moment all is well.
This very moment all is well in our being.
There may be chaos out in the world,
Conflict in our home,
Challenges at work or in our families,
But if we peel away those external difficulties we can find that all is well in this moment.
This very moment and the next moment.
It may be helpful to use the breath as a reminder.
Noticing the breath going in and out of the body.
Really noticing the exhale and inviting relaxation from that exhale.
That letting go,
Any tension inside.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I accept love from myself.
May I accept myself as I am.
Feel free to pause and continue for as long as you can this recording.
Just continue on for yourself,
Generating self-compassion,
Self-love,
Repeating those metaphrases for Valentine's.
When you're ready we will end this time together being in love with ourselves.
Thank you for your practice.
