Making yourself comfortable and preparing to turn your attention inwards.
This is a meditation to help you to heal your heart and to nurture the seed of self compassion within.
Gently allowing yourself to bring your attention first to your breath.
Noticing how it feels as you breathe in and as you breathe out.
Becoming aware of all of the sensations as your breath moves through your body.
Focusing how your ribs and your belly expand and relax as you breathe in and breathe out.
And as you breathe out you can say to yourself,
Letting go,
Letting go,
Letting go of the breath.
Relaxing,
Releasing,
Letting go.
And you might find as you do this your breath begins to slow down.
Your body becomes a little bit heavier and your thinking begins to quiet.
Letting go,
Letting go.
Expanding on the in breath,
Releasing on the out breath,
Settling.
Gently now focusing your awareness on your heart center,
The center of your chest.
And if you wish you can place your hand physically on this part if it helps you.
And get in touch with a part of you that's suffering in some way.
It could be a part of you that's afraid or angry or sad or lonely.
Whatever it is,
It's a part of you that's suffering.
And gently offer that part of you words of encouragement.
Such as,
It's okay.
I hear you.
You're okay.
Or you can use a very gentle mantra such as,
May I be safe.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
Whatever words are reassuring and comforting to you.
Repeat them silently to yourself.
Gently and softly.
Just befriending yourself.
It's okay to feel this way.
I see you're suffering and I'm here for you.
Wrapping this part of you in wings of compassion,
Gentleness,
Of love.
You're not trying to get rid of the suffering.
You're just holding it in your awareness and the eyes of compassion.
And this may feel quite awkward and unusual and that's okay.
That's perfectly normal.
The more that you do this,
The easier it will become.
What you practice grows stronger.
And then bring to mind three people you're grateful for in your life.
It could be your family,
Your friends,
Your pet.
It could be somebody who's passed away.
There's three people you're grateful for.
And imagine them sending you love.
And imagine you sending them your love.
Feel how it feels to extend your love to these three people,
Either one at a time or as part of a group.
And you can send them your love by saying,
May you be well.
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
Whatever words that you wish.
And then focus on the love that they're sending towards you.
And really focus on receiving that love.
Oftentimes it's easy to give our love away.
It's really difficult to receive it.
So feel how it feels to receive their love,
How much they love you.
Receive it into an open heart.
Feel their love surrounding your heart,
Opening it,
Healing the wounds.
And now focus on sending your love to them and receiving their love from them.
This flow of love from you to them and them to you.
This circle of love.
May we all be well.
May we all be safe.
May we all be happy.
Staying with this visualization for as long as you wish.
And then if you're ready,
If you wish to come out of this meditation,
You can begin to do so now.
If you wish to stay with this,
You can stay with this.
And if you're bringing that to an end,
You can gently bring some movement into your fingers and toes and thanking three people who came to your imagination today,
Came to your meditation.
Thank them for being there.
And notice they're now tuning in to how you're feeling.
Sometimes there's a change,
Sometimes there's not.
The answer doesn't really matter.
It's asking the question,
Asking your heart how it is.
Or anything that you need today to nurture that seed of self-compassion that you're growing within.
Listen for the answer.
And then gently coming out in your own time,
In your own way.
So,
Thank you for visiting us today.
