A warm welcome to this practice designed to support you along the path towards greater self-compassion,
Acceptance and understanding.
My name is Fleur Chambers and as always,
It's my pleasure to connect with you today.
So beginning as always by offering yourself a moment to get comfy.
And in the spirit of self-compassion and gentleness,
Could you offer yourself the gift of greater comfort?
Perhaps grabbing an extra pillow or a blanket,
Maybe lighting a candle or changing your posture so you feel more supported.
Whilst these acts seem small,
They are both symbolic and real gestures that send a message to your nervous system that it's safe to soften.
And as you close down your eyes,
Allowing your awareness to land on your breath,
No need to alter your breath in any way,
Just noticing.
Our sacred breath,
A gateway into the intelligence of our bodies and the wisdom of the present moment.
And now rubbing your hands together,
Feeling into the friction,
The warmth being generated.
And if it feels comfortable for you,
Placing your left hand on your heart and your right hand on your belly,
Feeling the warmth,
The rise and fall,
The expansion and contraction.
And can you allow this simple act of hand on heart and belly to feel comforting?
A small moment where you meet yourself just as you are,
Like sand moving in an hourglass.
Your awareness moving from your mind,
Deep into your body.
And from this position of groundedness,
Asking yourself,
How am I feeling today?
Opening to whatever emerges,
Welcoming what you hear as you would an old friend.
Can you drop a little deeper?
Asking yourself once more,
Really,
How am I feeling today?
Allowing room for honesty and surprise.
Really offering yourself this moment,
To be here,
Just as you are.
Allowing your hands to rest in your lap or by your side.
So often we resist certain aspects of ourselves and our experience.
We push down feelings of overwhelm,
Sadness or fatigue.
We tell ourselves we should be more patient,
Kind or productive.
The narrative that we need to be more of certain things and less of others,
Plays on repeat in our mind,
Creating heaviness in our bodies and colouring the way we see ourselves and our lives.
But what if here in this moment,
Within the safety of your meditation practice,
You created space for it all?
For the emotions you push down?
For the feelings you suppress?
For the mistakes of the past?
Space for the imperfect parts of you?
The regrettable actions?
What if you offered all your inner dimensions and your history,
A seat at the family table and a smile?
Long smooth inhale,
Long smooth exhale,
As you invite your lips to gently curl upwards.
As you welcome the warmth that lives within the essence of a smile.
And opening to this poem by Emery Hall entitled,
I have been a thousand different women.
Make peace with all the women you once were.
Lay flowers at their feet.
Offer them incense and honey and forgiveness.
Honor them and give them your silence.
Listen.
Bless them and let them be.
For they are the bones of the temple you sit on now.
For they are the rivers of wisdom leading you forward to the sea.
Breathing these words in like the first buds of spring.
Let their sweetness soften your body and open your heart.
And now allowing a version of you,
Perhaps from the past decade,
To appear in your mind's eye.
A younger you who here in this moment,
You are ready to see with kinder,
More gentle eyes.
Take your time,
Travel back,
Find a younger version of you.
The woman who was trying her best,
Who perhaps made some mistakes or acted in ways that no longer feel aligned.
This version of you who yearned to belong.
Noticing the clothes they were wearing,
The way they moved,
Their posture,
The emotions that they experienced.
And meeting this version of you in new and loving ways,
Sensing into what they need.
Perhaps a moment to be witnessed,
Seen and heard,
A hug,
Reassurance,
Forgiveness.
Perhaps you feel drawn to thanking them for the path they set you on,
Trusting yourself,
Breathing into this moment of connection and healing.
And now allowing your mind and heart to travel further back in time,
To meet a younger version of you,
Perhaps as a child or teenager.
And again bringing the details to mind.
How old were you?
What clothes were you wearing?
How did you move?
How did you feel?
Again meeting this version of you in loving ways,
Sensing into what they need,
Trusting in your capacity to offer it to them.
Unconditional love,
Understanding,
Security,
Breathing into this moment of connection and healing,
Imagining it like a golden thread weaving its way through time and space,
Greeting and soothing all the different versions of you,
Allowing your awareness to land within your heart.
And noticing how as you breathe in,
Your heart expands in all directions,
Front body,
Side body,
Back body,
All expanding with each inhale,
Allowing this physical expansion to encourage a sense of emotional or energetic expansion.
Your heart has an infinite capacity to love,
To break and heal,
To learn,
Grow and experience.
Your heart is dynamic and ever-changing.
It holds an intelligence and wisdom far greater than the mind will ever understand.
So here in this moment,
Asking your heart,
What would you have me know?
Trust in what you hear,
In what you receive.
Breathing deep into this wisdom and taking a moment to imagine what your days would look and feel like if you really embodied this heart wisdom.
What would you say yes to?
What would you let go?
Notice that as you create this image in your mind's eye in meditation,
Of you moving through your days in heart-centered ways,
You are sending an energetic message that you are ready,
Ready to live in this empowered way,
Rubbing your hands together once more,
Feeling into the friction and energy,
And placing them somewhere on your body that feels good for you.
Thanking yourself for this time,
For this opportunity to offer yourself unconditional love and understanding.
Opening your eyes when you're ready,
May you move through your day guided by the wisdom held within your heart.
