Kindness To Yourself Meditation

Kindness to yourself meditation let's begin to settle down and just feel in the contact of the chair or the floor that supports you just remember it's okay to move during the practice or to change your posture and maybe spend a few moments noticing sounds around you notice how the body feels right now noticing your thoughts and emotional atmosphere and inviting a soothing a breathing rhythm to emerge but gently slowing down and deepening the breath and allowing yourself to arrive in this moment mindfully welcoming whatever arises allowing the breath to soften and deepen and then letting the breath to flow by itself I know I invite you to connect with the atmosphere of kindness by letting a memory come to mind of an experience when you felt kindly welcomed and at ease and your heart was filled with feelings of joy contentment and gratitude allowing the memory to come to life inviting all senses to be involved what was there to hear to see to smell to feel how does this affect you right now in your body heart and mind and from this sense of kindness you're invited to repeat a wish to yourself what could be a kind wish that connects well with you what could be a wish from the heart and allow yourself to be surprised maybe a wish will arise spontaneously and if not you can always use one of four traditional phrases which are generally deep needs of all of us may I feel safe may I feel healthy may I feel happy may I feel at ease and phrases like this can flow with the breath if you wish on the in-breath saying the first part may I and on the out-breath the second part be happy letting the words flow through your body and your whole being sensing the giving and receiving side and the given aspect can be encouraged by consciously allowing a soft face and a gentle smile the receiving aspect by touching your heart area with one or both hands supporting the intention to take the wish to heart and don't hesitate to change the phrase into words you find you can more easily receive or relate to and remembering that the practice is not about getting what you want you cannot force the wish to come true and it's not about making up good feelings but about cultivating goodwill towards yourself and after a while you may just repeat a key word such as safe happy calm or contented and if words like health or happiness seem too far-fetched then as healthy as can be or may be strong have courage be patient or feel supported maybe more appropriate allow the wish to flow through you like a healing energy and whatever you experience right now joy or sadness feeling touched or resistant energized or fatigued just mindfully acknowledge whatever is here it's all a part of the practice there are no wrong experiences and in any time if you find yourself caught up in distractions or reactions it's just an opportunity to be present with whatever shows itself welcoming it with an open mind and allowing the soothing breathing rhythm to return and if there's space again returning to repeating the kind wishes and sometimes if you notice you're fighting a particular experience a paradoxical wish can be just as kind for instance let me feel this tiredness this anger this sadness just as it is so just continuing with this practice until you hear the sound of the bell