This is a lovely self-compassion practice that is short and can be practiced anytime,
Anywhere to cultivate a sense of tenderness,
Kindness and warmth towards yourself.
Just gently closing your eyes if that's possible or just resting your gaze,
Softening your eyes in the eye sockets and just becoming aware,
Just becoming aware of my voice and your breath and just being here.
And I'll just invite you to take a big deep inhale and a long slow exhale and just lean back into your shoulders,
Lean back into your skull.
There's this way in which the momentum of a life kind of draws us into the front of our body,
A lot of future focus and to-dos and moving forward.
So just take a moment to lean back inside your body.
And I'll just invite you to feel your breath inside your body.
That might be the rise and fall of your chest or a little expansion and deflation of the rib cage or maybe in your nostrils,
Some cool air entering your nostrils.
Just take a moment to find where you feel your breath most strongly.
Feeling your body being breathed.
You don't even have to think about your breath.
It knows what to do.
And I'll just invite you to call on kindness.
There's this intention of being kind with myself.
I'll invite you to bring a hand to your heart,
Imagining that the hand is warm and loving.
Might even feel a little bit heavy.
Just placing this hand right on your heart and begin breathing into your hand.
Breathing into your heart.
And on every exhale,
See if you can just soften into your hand.
Let your shoulders drop away from the ears.
Let your face and brow soften.
It's just this really simple gesture of deep kindness towards yourself,
Acknowledging your physical body and your presence,
Almost like you're greeting yourself.
Whatever is here is welcome.
This may be somewhat difficult or awkward or uncomfortable to turn towards your experience with kindness.
And that's okay.
It's just a new practice,
A new way of being with yourself.
So we even welcome any discomfort or feelings of resistance to it.
Just notice that and see if you can soften into that.
And then you might just offer yourself a loving phrase or a kind word.
You may intuitively just know what you need to hear or you may find it useful to just practice with one of these phrases.
May I be peaceful.
May I accept myself just as I am.
May I let go of expectations.
May I know my own light.
May I be healthy and strong.
Seeing if one of those resounds with you or coming up with your own.
Just gently breathing into your heart,
Breathing into your hand.
Long slow exhale and breathing through the end of the chime.
We're now closer and closer to the silence.
