Close your eyes and find your posture of dignity.
Lean back against your chair.
Feel your feet firmly planted.
Find your breath.
Find that awareness of the ever-changing breath.
An awareness that connects with warmth to all that is.
A heart that connects with warmth to all that is.
And now bring to mind some situation that brings up self-blame.
Bring to mind anything that's hard for you to forgive in yourself.
And notice any feelings that this brings up.
Notice how you feel when you think about this.
Is there discomfort in the body related to this?
Is there a tightness or an inner pain?
Just notice the effect that the self-blame has physically.
The narrative of blame is hard on your body,
Not just on your mind and heart.
It's also hard on you physically and it takes your energy.
Begin by acknowledging that the narrative of blame is not your fault.
Our mind is like a sponge and blaming is something we absorb from the outer world.
This blaming is not your fault,
But it is our responsibility.
And it's in our power to transform that.
Putting a hand on your heart and saying,
I choose to release.
I choose to offer myself nothing but self-compassion.
I choose to forgive myself.
Feeling into the heart,
Feeling the warm energy of hand to heart and heart to hand,
And setting the intention to completely release any blame that's there.
And open up with spaciousness and loving awareness to yourself as you are.
Saying,
Every part of me belongs.
The part I like and the parts that I judge,
They equally belong in this heart.
Right now,
Everything belongs and that is the wisdom of the heart.
No need to think,
Just feeling fully.
Feeling fully the hand on the heart,
Feeling into the words and letting the heart open to itself naturally.
Send the wish,
May I keep myself safe.
May I be content and free from inner and outer harm.
May I experience ease of well-being.
May I care for myself just as I am in every moment.
Relaxing into this feeling,
Into this intention,
Into this warmth.
Saying for yourself,
I release myself from blame and can treat myself with warmth and understanding.
I am here to become friends with myself as I am.
Keeping your hand at your heart,
Say these words for yourself.
May I experience ease of connection,
Ease of well-being,
Ease of true care for myself.
Blame has no place in my mind or in my heart.
Connection and awareness do.
I release myself from blame entirely and more than that,
I also release all beings from blame.
All beings on this earth,
I let them be the way they are.
I choose to be gentle towards them.
I release them from blame entirely.
I am grateful to be in a world where people are the way they are.
I am grateful to exist in community.
And putting the hand back down,
Setting the intention to treat others with understanding so it contributes to their health,
Their happiness,
Their well-being.
And doing the same for yourself.
And now let's imagine that we can send the breath right into the heart and that you can breathe out right from the heart.
For the last few moments of this practice,
Breathing in and out of the heart.
