Welcome,
My name is Ish and I'll be guiding you through a guided meditation on self-compassion.
Many of us have a tendency towards overworking and perfectionism.
Even in our meditation,
We might often over strain and exert ourselves and we tend to be lacking in self-compassion.
With this practice,
We are trying to have the intention of kindness towards ourselves.
This is a wonderful quality to cultivate,
Not only in your meditation,
But in all aspects of your life.
To get started,
Find a comfortable seat with your spine upright.
You may either close the eyes or keep a very soft,
Open gaze.
Then begin to place one palm in your heart area and then the other palm on your abdomen.
You may alternatively rest your hands at heart center in a prayer position or place both palms on your chest and begin to ask yourself,
What would it feel like right now if I were to hold myself with just a bit more compassion?
And start to notice your body's response to this question.
There isn't a right way to experience this compassion.
Simply just allow what comes up.
Starting to explore a bit more,
Ask yourself what it would feel like in your body to receive kindness in this moment.
If you are more visual,
You may imagine different acts of kindness,
Different people treating you well.
If you are more kinesthetic,
You may experience a warmness in the chest area.
If you are more auditory in nature,
Start to hear in your mind different affirmations and praises where you are receiving kindness.
If you notice that nothing is arising in this present moment or self-compassion or kindness seems a bit difficult to grasp,
This is completely okay.
For now,
We're just warming up and opening ourselves up to this possibility.
Start to direct your attention to the heart area and start to strengthen the feelings of compassion and kindness by repeating the phrases,
May I be kind to myself,
May I be gentle with myself,
And may I be compassionate to myself.
And continue to repeat these phrases,
May I be kind to myself,
May I be gentle with myself,
And may I be compassionate to myself.
You can further strengthen these feelings by smiling.
It could be a very soft smile or a wider grin.
You'll find that as you do so,
These warm feelings start to intensify and start to bring your connection back to your hands,
Whether they are in prayer position or rested on your body.
You can consider what the experience of compassion and warmth may feel like as a sensation in your body.
In the same way you might have experienced a certain opening or warmth in the chest or heart area,
Can you experience any kind of these similar sensations in the palms of your hands?
You allow your body to explore the physical experience of compassion and notice what it feels like to receive this quality of compassion.
And as an experiment,
See if you can spread these feelings of warmth and compassion all over your body,
Suffusing yourself with self-care and self-compassion.
And once again,
To strengthen this experience,
Begin to smile and your smiling will allow these sensations to bloom further.
And then start to take your palms and place them face down onto your lap and for a few moments start to rest in this general experience,
Simply noticing how your body feels in this moment.
Begin to notice if there's been any kind of opening within you to self-compassion today,
However small or large this opening might be.
And even if you felt that you haven't made much progress towards a feeling of self-compassion,
Just know that that's completely okay.
For some this may be a very challenging mental meditation,
Especially if we had experienced some challenges growing up.
However,
With enough practice,
This capacity of self-compassion will grow and bloom.
So we have taken the step in the right direction,
Plant the seeds of self-compassion and these seeds later bloom into a flower.
But it will happen only when the time is right.
And in a moment we'll end this meditation.
Just know that throughout your day,
You can always come back to these feelings of self-compassion,
Either resting your palms back on your body,
You anchor yourself or repeating the phrases from earlier.
This wonderful practice can be used in any moment in life.
Thank you.
